Breitling heading in the direction of cool

“IN (THE) luxury (business) you don’t respond to a need, you create a need,” says Breitling’s CEO Georges Kern in a Zoom interview recently. After nearly 25 years in the high-end watch business, the veteran should know. 

The straight-talking 58-year-old isn’t suggesting that Breitling’s luxury timepieces are fabricated in a vacuum, totally oblivious to the outside world. On the contrary, according to Kern, who swapped a highly successful career in the Swiss luxury group Richemont in 2017 for his present job, the watches which roll out of the brand’s factory in Switzerland reflect its belief of what today’s society is: cool and relaxed.

“It’s very much a post-Covid thing,” Kern says. “Everything is informal.”

Breitling’s extensive collections (nine listed on its website) have been given a “refresh” under his watch after, according to him, the brand lost its footing and slipped “a little” behind the times. 

Where the watches used to sport dials of neutral black, white, grey and brown, they are now also in green, red, yellow, orange and other bright colours. Gone is the chunky look. The watches are now more refined, sleek and slimmer. And they come not only in cold stainless steel, but also glittering gold as well as cutting-edge ceramic, carbon and titanium.

“We’ve changed a lot – in appearance, style, positioning,” Kern says. “We’re much more lively than before. It’s all style. (We’re into) … surfing, triathlon, cycling, rock climbing, but not classic Formula 1 (racing). We are the cool alternative to the conservative Swiss watch brands.”

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Last month’s relaunched Avenger (Breitling’s top-three bestseller line) offers a sample of the new look. The timepieces unveiled – a new chronograph, GMT and an automatic model – come in blue, green, black, yellow and sand-coloured dials encased in steel or ceramic.

“The Avenger today is very much a sports, chic watch, much less than a hardcore military watch,” says Kern. “You see it in the execution, the case, the finishings, the dial colours.”

The changes made go deeper than looks. Powering the new Avenger chronograph is a Breitling-made movement. As with many big watch brands that want to be taken seriously, Breitling has embarked on putting its own in-house movements in its watches.

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It is already producing more than enough in-house movements for its chronographs, with the spares sold to outside brands, including Tudor. The automatic models will also all be running on in-house movements in the next 12 to 14 months.

Breitling sure is riding high these days. According to Morgan Stanley’s 2023 watch report, Breitling’s annual sales jumped 25 per cent to 860 million Swiss francs (S$1.3 billion) last year, making the brand one of the world’s top 10 watchmakers.

Kern says there’s still plenty of room for growth as Breitling enters a new “esteemed” phase, where the emphasis is on its roots and on “more upscale” timepieces. Indeed, Breitling’s watch prices have climbed in the past five years, from an average US$4,500 to US$6,800.

Fresh funds were already injected into the brand when the new owner, Swiss private equity firm Partners Group, bought Breitling from Luxembourg-based CVC Capital Partners last year. Kern, who has his own capital tied to Breitling, has signed on for another five years – with “a lot of (his) money reinvested” in the journey ahead.

The revamp Kern started isn’t all over yet – there’s still one more big collection to go. “But fundamentally we have a proven strategy which works and (going forward) we just have to do more of the same,” he says. “(And) we now have to look for excellence.”