By now you will have heard of some sweeping changes at Hublot, with Ricardo Guadalupe vacating the CEO role to become Honorary President; Julien Tornare, CEO of TAG Heuer, takes over as Hublot CEO. Antoine Pin, General Manager of Bvlgari Horlogerie, steps into the CEO role at TAG Heuer; no announcement has been made on Pin’s soon-to-be-open Bvlgari seat. All appointments take effect from September 1 this year. It seems only yesterday that we reported on changes at the LVMH Watchmaking Division, with Tornare moving to TAG Heuer, Benoit de Clerck taking his place at Zenith and Frederique Arnault ascending to the lead position in the aforementioned division. Well, that is all old news now and in a rather abrupt fashion; the press release had at least one unforced grammatical error.
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Most news reports, from specialists such as WatchPro and WatchesbySJX are tying this to the recent spate of bad news about performance woes in the luxury watch market. This was hardly unexpected though, with continued weakness in the Greater China market; taken together, China and Hong Kong are the top markets for watchmaking groups such as LVMH, Richemont and Swatch Group. On the other hand, looking only at LVMH, business has reportedly not returned to 2019 levels yet, except at Zenith, Bvlgari and Hublot (according to Morgan/Stanley estimates; LVMH does not breakout figures for watchmaking per brand).
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Given this potential reality, perhaps Guadalupe is indeed taking a break from the demands of being CEO. He has held this position for 12 years, along with another eight years as Managing Director of Hublot. Backroom talk suggests that Guadalupe and his team worked pretty hard to lift Hublot, which had seen impressive growth since the pandemic. It may very well be that Arnault and Guadalupe (and LVMH Watch and Jewellery boss Stephane Bianchi) decided that fresh ideas are needed. While Tornare can probably do just that for Hublot, the biggest challenge remains TAG Heuer, which is now Pin’s job.
“Hublot is one of the few watchmaking manufacturers that emerged and achieved such success in the 21st century by breaking design codes, communication barriers, and exploring new frontiers in watchmaking. I would like to sincerely thank Ricardo and his teams for their fantastic work building the brand over these past 20 years. Indeed, for 8 years as Managing Director followed by 12 years as CEO, Ricardo truly embodied Hublot and its development, particularly through his product vision, deep industry knowledge, and relationships with all business and industrial partners. I know that Ricardo will now continue to ensure respect for the values that have led to the Maison’s success,” comments Frédéric Arnault.
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“I am delighted about Julien’s arrival at the head of Hublot, which marks the beginning of a new chapter dedicated to the future of our Maison and the strengthening of its unique position among leading watch brands. I am also delighted to welcome Antoine into our Watches Division at TAG Heuer. His extensive international experience, expertise, and well-recognized passion for watches will be major assets in continuing TAG Heuer’s growth and elevation,” added Frédéric Arnault.
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