The man who launched the Apple Watch in the UK is on a mission to reshape the watch world

One of the leading lights of this new world is 47-year-old Patrick Pruniaux, a former TAG Heuer exec who was recently lured back to Switzerland after launching the Apple Watch here in the UK In August 2017, he was appointed chief executive of establishment brands Ulysse Nardin and Girard-Perregaux, both owned by the Kering group of luxury companies Talking to the sneaker-wearing Pruniaux - a tall, tanned, athletic man - his Apple experience, rather than his knowledge of the watch industry, is shaping his thinking as he figures out how to set both brands on an upward course.

Exports of Swiss watches under CHF500 took a 5 per cent volume hit last year, a slide that's gathering pace, while an estimated 45 million smartwatches were sold around the world, half of them thought to have been Apple Watches Brands don't need to be reminded about the danger of sitting on their laurels - memories of the Quartz Crisis of 40 years ago, and the near-death of the Swiss watch industry, still sting So if you're a Swiss watch brand chief executive, particularly one inheriting a pair of traditional companies, what do you do? The debut Freak of 2001 was the first production watch to carry silicon escape wheels in the beating heart of a watch.

In March, Ulysse Nardin launched the Freak neXt, a concept watch and a talking piece clearly designed to reset the balance. . Source