Dusting off Swiss watch icon, LVMH’s Zenith embraces taboos

Bloomberg

A dusty attic at the Zenith watch factory in Switzerland bears witness to the company’s near-death experience and rebirth.
Four decades ago, a gutsy foreman hid the dies and punches used to shape the myriad tiny parts that make up a mechanical timepiece, defying orders from the US owners to junk them.
The move saved the company when the Swiss industry, after nearly ruining itself with a wholesale embrace of quartz technology, reverted to mechanical movements a few years later for its high-end pieces.
Zenith was able to tap its mothballed tools as watchmakers realised that survival depended on updating their heritage of craftsmanship, not jettisoning it entirely.
Now a new Zenith boss, Chief Executive Officer Julien Tornare, is leading the latest attempt to revive the watchmaker as the industry recovers from the biggest slump since the quartz crisis. He’s bucking some of the industry’s conventional wisdom, this time with the blessing of the brand’s current owner, French luxury conglomerate LVMH. Surrounded by reminders of 1970s foreman Charles Vermot’s actions, he’s taking care not to move too far from the traditions of a watchmaker known for conservative designs like its plain-faced steel Elite Classic 3 Hands starting at $5,100.
“If we don’t want to become a museum industry, we need to evolve,” Tornare said at Zenith’s headquarters in Le Locle, a small, French-speaking city in the Jura mountains that’s also home to brands like Tissot and Ulysse Nardin. “Zenith is lacking brand awareness, is perceived as a bit dusty, a bit old-fashioned.”
While exports are climbing back after a downturn caused by a crackdown on corruption in China, the rise of the smartwatch and terrorism in Europe, the industry faces a conundrum.
Steeped in heritage and the antiquated manual assembly of mechanical watches, it’s got to keep the history alive while embracing the demands of a new breed of buyers who might be eyeing Apple Inc.’s latest watch instead.
While LVMH sister brand TAG Heuer and some Swiss makers have introduced smartwatches, Zenith has no plans to do so, Tornare said.
Instead, he’s introducing a new mechanical watch that features the first new oscillator since 1675, streamlining the roster of retail partners and encouraging fans to customise Zenith’s watches, something that’s frowned upon at most high-end labels.
Zenith, a 152-year-old brand whose timepieces sell for an average 7,500 francs, this year became the first Swiss watchmaker to officially partner with the UK’s Bamford Watch Department, which modifies and personalises pieces for clients. Zenith supplies it with components and in turn gets to validate the final product. The aim is to cater to the whims of clients like one collector who seeks watches with three yellow parts in them, Tornare said.