Swiss Watchmaker Frederique Constant Turns 30, Braces up for a Younger Future

On the occasion of its 30-year-anniversary, Geneva-based Frederique Constant looks back at how the brand - producing relatively affordable luxury Swiss watches - has managed to stay true to its innovative spirit, making its mark on a historic, highly competitive industry reluctant to accept newcomers "In today's environment, where the retailer is suffering, social media and e-commerce are all coming together, it's very difficult for a new brand You need to push yourself to the limit constantly, to drive success," said the newly appointed managing director, Neils Eggerding, at a recent celebration in Paris for the brand's anniversary.

To secure the company's future and attract younger clientele, Eggerding, who is being groomed to become the company's next CEO, stressed the importance of involving young people in the business, as Frederique Constant has been known to do "We as CEOs, should make our companies more attractive for young people to join, especially in Switzerland, where it is very conservative They don't want to listen to younger people, and they're making a mistake," he said.

As Swiss watch exports continue to recover this year after a two-year downturn in exports, Aletta Stas, who founded Frederique Constant with husband, Peter Stas, spoke to Blouin in Paris about the challenges ahead, and the force behind the duo's passion for watchmaking In the lower end, they are quite present, so I think for traditional Swiss watch brands in the lower segment, that's a challenge With the whole Apple Watch coming into the world, we were actually a little bit scared about what would happen, so we came up with the idea of making our traditional, beautiful watch, but with Smart functions, so it still fits with the brand DNA.

The fact that there are technologies on the market, which you can integrate into something more traditional, is quite exciting. . Source