How the Laser-Sharp Vision of Georges Kern Keeps Breitling Flying in the Face of Adversity

Kern has been on it since he arrived at Breitling three years ago from Richemont, where he was involved in the integration of brands including Jaeger-LeCoultre and IWC, and leading them on to exponential growth Kern felt that the 2017 Breitling had a very broad range of products targeted at a very narrow market - "The brand was much too complicated, too much choice is no choice" In mid-October another innovation saw all Breitling watches come with a digital passport, containing the watch's serial number, warranty and date of purchase - a 21st century certificate.

"There is no point in coming to the Geneva fair once a year to present your new products and disappearing again You need to create dynamism and desirability Especially in the luxury market.

Once you present a product you have to have it available immediately On the day of our Breitling Summits, the newly launched products are available on e-commerce and in our points of sale You can no longer afford to present products at a fair and eight to 12 months later, the customer can finally buy the product.

Forget it People want it here and now I realise this from my own Instagram.

When I post something the first question is 'When and where can I buy it?'" Breitling is one of the few big watch companies that's still family-owned, with 80 per cent of the business sold to a private equity firm in 2017 Kern sees Breitling operating as a local brand in each of its markets - "We're very British in Britain and very French in France" - that "Is not dependent on the tourist business".

Breitling does not release figures but Kern notes that sales in August 2020 were higher compared to August the previous year, while in 2018 Bloomberg estimated its annual revenue at CHF420m. . Source