February 4, 2025 • 36 mins
Ilaria Resta is the CEO of Audemars Piguet, one of the world’s oldest and most exclusive luxury watch brands, renowned for its tradition of craftsmanship and innovation. Before leading AP, Ilaria served as President and CEO of Firmenich, a family-owned Swiss company that creates perfumes for iconic brands like Saint Laurent, Gucci, and Hugo Boss, with annual revenues exceeding $3 billion. Her career began at Procter & Gamble, where she spent 23 years shaping some of the most recognizable consumer brands, including Tide, Pantene, and Head & Shoulders. Born and raised in Naples, Italy, Ilaria’s journey from modest beginnings to the pinnacle of luxury and leadership exemplifies her values of resilience, learning, and leaving a meaningful legacy. Ilaria offers invaluable insights into leadership, breaking barriers, and the art of building lasting relationships.
Timestamps:
00:00 – Introduction: Ilaria Resta on Love, Learning, and Legacy
01:47 – The Watch Market: Who Buys Luxury Watches and Why?
06:20 – Emotional Connections: Watches as Memory Holders and Style Statements
12:08 – Women in Watchmaking: Closing the Gender Gap in Luxury Watches
16:54 – Limited Supply: Why AP Watches Are Hard to Find and the Secondary Market
20:00 – Rule-Breaking in Watchmaking: Innovation and Pushing Boundaries
26:14 – Collaborations with Collectors and Artists: The John Mayer Example
30:00 – Work-Life Balance: Advice for Women and Men on Choosing Success
34:47 – Closing Reflections: Love What You Do, Learn Constantly, and Leave a Legacy
Resources:
Ilaria's LinkedIn
Audemars Piguet Website
Audemars Piguet Instagram
Coaching and Staying Connected:
1-on-1 Coaching | Instagram | YouTube | TikTok | LinkedIn
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Ilaria Resta (00:00):
The three most important qualities that we
(00:03):
should have is love what you do,or fall in love with what you
do. Second is learn, which isbecomes more difficult as you
grow once because you have lesstime, or you become more
arrogant in thinking you have.
You know it enough. You don'tneed to learn more. And then
legacy, I think what you need todo as you grow is defining for
each year. What is the legacythat will survive me that makes
(00:25):
business people, organization,relationship better than when I
came but set something that isachievable, measurable and
extremely concrete you you're
Randall Kaplan (00:43):
listening to part two of my incredible
interview with Ilaria resta, theCEO of the luxury watch brand,
Omar Piguet. If you haven't yetlistened to part one, be sure to
check that one out first. Now,without further ado, here's part
two of my awesome interview withalaria. So everyone wants to
know today who's watching, who'snot a watch collector. How much
do these costs? And let me justgo through some stats here on
(01:05):
you and your competitors. So westart with Rolex. The average
price of a new Rolex watch is$13,562
the average price of a Cartieris $6,340 the average price of
an omega is $7,296 the averageprice of a new Patek is $44,389
(01:29):
the average price of an AP watchis $53,786 and the average price
of Richard mill, which is themost expensive Watch you can
buy, on average, is over$200,000 who is your typical
customer and what's thepercentage between men and women
buying your watches?
Ilaria Resta (01:48):
We we don't have a typical customer as such, but
definitely I can back at you inin, in clusters, even though I
really don't like doing that,because there are so many
nuances in each in each bucket,definitely have the collectors.
So we have people that, overtime, are building a very
thought through collection. Itcould be by brand or multiple
(02:12):
brand specific complications, orlike a lifetime at a certain
center century, they'recollecting. There are different
theme, thematics of ofcollection then, and they
represent the most knowledgeableof our clients, and the ones
that actually transmit theirpassion externally. So they they
write blogs, they are on socialmedia. They are the ones who
(02:34):
will spot your watch and commenton it and share it. And it's a
very active community, and oftenthey know each other to be
collectors in the world. Thenthere is there are people who
buy to celebrate a certain stagein their life, people who use
watch as a memory holder. So anew promotion, the birth, the
(02:59):
marriage, and in this case,watches also represent an
emotional connection to theperson, to the moment. And they
capture, they capture memories.
And we had, for instance, theother day, I just learned a
couple came to our boutique andhe offered, in front of the
bootsui managers, a watchengraved with William ary me to
his girlfriend? And it's thefirst time we we kind of
(03:22):
assisted with this request formanaging a boutique. So that was
clearly the case of somebody whobuy for an emotional connection
to the watch in the moment. Andthen we have the stylers, people
who just love how the watchlooks. They choose watches for
the esthetic appearance, alsofor the complication appearance,
(03:44):
and they make it a statement forthemselves or for others to buy
a watch. And then there are manymore. What we are trying to do
is to have a diverse enoughreach to the prospect clients
and the clients in terms ofopportunities, we are
underdeveloped with women. Weare in the range of below 20% of
(04:04):
buyers of our watch are women,when we know that by 2030, 45%
of women will buy a watch in theindustry, mechanical watch. And
the scene is changing, becausein the past, women were not so
much into mechanical watches,and now they are getting more
and more interesting. And whatwe see actually is with the
younger generations of of kids.
(04:27):
They at the age already ofbetween 20 and up, they start
being interested in watchmaking,and they even bring their
fathers, who are not intowatchmaking, into this world.
And yesterday, we had an event.
The son was the one bringing thefather and educating the Father
on on the art of watchmaking.
And it's interesting, becausethis is an hyper connected
generation that you would say,why would they buy a mechanical
(04:50):
watch? And actually, they arerediscovering vintage in many
areas, including, includingwatchmaking.
Randall Kaplan (04:57):
Finding an AP watch is a process. Right? One
of the things that people likeme and everyone else, you go on
an AP store, nothing for sale.
You go on a Rolex store, nothingfor sale. I remember going into
my first AP store. My son showedme this royal watch. He had an
opportunity to buy one, and hesaid, it's very hard to get.
(05:19):
Like, can't be that hard to get.
I walked into the store said,Hey, I would like one of these.
And they look, they look at melike I was from the planet Mars.
When I finally did someresearch, I said, Well, I would
actually like one of those. I'min Aspen. I walk into the store,
I need Leslie Cameron, who's whowas great. And again, there was
(05:41):
a whole song and dance there,right? I knew I'd done some
research that I had to basicallyget to know her, get her to know
me. Trust me that I'm not goingto flip the wash. We'll talk
about flipping in a minute, andbasically talk about me and my
buying behavior. And I startedwith, I collect art. So I put
(06:04):
myself in the category. I'vebeen an art collector now for 25
years. I don't flip pieces. Ifyou flip a piece, meaning, for
those people who don't know whatflipping a piece is, you go to
an art show. Your relationshipwith art galleries that you've
developed over the years. Theremay be 10 or 15 pieces from that
show, and there may be four or500 people who want them. So the
(06:26):
people who get them get firstchoice are the people who are
loyal customers, who have goodcollections, and who don't flip
the art. If you can flip a pieceof art, and I bought a piece of
art from behind nicodem me, hi,I love you. Thank you for
letting me be a very goodcustomer. And this piece of art
was $80,000 and he promised itto me because I had bought a
(06:50):
larger piece of art from him,much more expensive, maybe a
year before, and he promised mefrom the same person who painted
this painting. And he said, I'llgive you the second piece of his
next show. The first piece wasgoing to Charles Schwab, who's
going to put it in a museum.
He's going to donate. So I gotthe second piece, and it was a
small piece of art, but therewere several small pieces, and
(07:11):
there were three of these. Thisone was the best. So he offered
to me, it was $80,000 thatnight, he said, The person who
bought the second piece will pay$250,000 for that piece. I could
have made a lot of moneyinstantly. I said no. And why
did you say no? Because my piecewas a lot better than the other
(07:33):
piece. Then it came back with anoffer for more money for that
piece, and I still didn't sellit, right? And it would have
been okay at that point to sellit, because it was going through
the dealer, but I still don'twant to sell it, so I still and
why? How's you, you know? Oh, Ilove it. It's in my house. I
look at it. I mean, art bringsme tremendous satisfaction now
(07:55):
carrying amazing watches, and Ihave a brigade that was the
first watch my mom bought mefrom graduation. I have a
Chopard watch, which is coolwith a rubber band. My wife for
my 50th birthday, for my 50thbirthday, but for my 50th
birthday, bought me a Hublotwatch, which is my daily
watches. Is very, verymeaningful. How does someone get
(08:16):
an eight to watch for the firsttime you answer
Ilaria Resta (08:23):
yourself the question you wouldn't
necessarily want to go in fortwo hour interview. That is not
going to
Randall Kaplan (08:29):
interview. See finally, what she's going to be
embarrassed, by the way, butwhat I'm going to say, but you
know, she going back and forth,you know, to the back room, and
I don't know what she's doing,right by some there's some due
diligence going on. I'm not surewho she's calling, but when she
came back for like now, I knowshe's calling you and so. So
when she came back, I glanced ather phone, and my my website was
(08:54):
her phone, so I knew what wasgoing on back there. So sorry to
embarrass you. Leslie, butwhat's the process here? Let me
Ilaria Resta (09:03):
answer you in a simplest possible way. If we
were in the business of revenue,all these were gonna happen. If
our obsession and objective is,you know what? Let's maximize
revenues. Let's get rich. Let'ssell we are in a business of
relationship and passion forquality and and I'm here again
(09:24):
to make sure that this way ofdoing business perpetrates for
150 years when you want to builda relationship with somebody,
you don't go and say, Okay, willyou marry and if you want to
marry you, you marry me to theperson you just saw in a bar.
Yes, you don't do that. Youbuild a relationship, right? We
are in a business ofrelationship as much as we are
in a business of time piecesselling, because the moment we
(09:48):
create a relationship, thisrelationship lasts for many,
many years and beyond you. Wereceive watches of the dates 100
years ago, and we service themand we repair them. We take.
Just because we discovermovements that we are not
producing anymore. And you enterin our family, and we are truly
we call our clients AP family,most of them, because they
(10:09):
really start getting to know us.
We know their collection. We cancurate it. And then if you come
to Le brasu, which I really loveto have, you to the bra Su, and
maybe you do a video recordingon the way we produce, you will
see that it's so much manuallydone, and there is so emotion in
the in the process of finishingand watch and letting go, where
(10:30):
I had one story, one womanwatchmaker, she asked me the
favor because I was doing my ownboarding, asking, What can I do
for you? What can I do better?
Is there anything? And he helpedme neither. She said, Yes, can
you please bring me back thewatch I helped to assemble to
say goodbye, because before heleaves, the level, level of
(10:51):
attachment these watch makershave with their creation is very
high, and it's for us, it'simportant that that we create a
relationship with the people,then they're bringing those
watches to their wrists. We needto make sure that we give you
also watches with the highestscience standards of excellence.
It takes months, if not years,to develop them. So we are not
(11:13):
in a transactional businesswhere you want you buy, you go
home and we don't see each otheranymore. This is not our
business model. You
Randall Kaplan (11:21):
know, it's interesting, when you talk about
the prices of watches, I mean$53,000, for the average price
watch. I mean, I was in thestore in Vegas. I was in Leo's
store in Vegas as well, and theywere showing me a $400,000
watch. Which is which? SomethingI'm not going to do right now,
at least, but, but, but, but,when you, when you think about
(11:43):
it, every customer is amillionaire, or they're not
being financially responsible,because when you're paying
$50,000 for a watch, that meansyou have to earn at least in the
US. You're in the highest taxbracket. You have to earn
$100,000 to have a watch. Andsome of the watches are 100,000
$130,000 so you're talking abouta lot of people who have a eight
(12:05):
figure net worth coming in tobuy the watches.
Ilaria Resta (12:08):
The figure you mentioned indeed is an average.
So we have, we span differentlyin price. This is not our entry
price for watches, but three or3000 of your
Randall Kaplan (12:18):
entry price, right? So probably,
Ilaria Resta (12:20):
yeah, we have less. We have lower as well.
Randall Kaplan (12:23):
By this, or can they show me the lower one? By
the way, maybe because
Ilaria Resta (12:27):
they know you so well that they want to cater to
your knee. Parallel website yousee, okay, that's intimacy with
clients, because we know you andwe offer you what you deserve.
But no jokes aside, the pricesrange depending on again,
complication and and developmentand materials. We just launched
(12:50):
the universal, which is the mostcomplicated the wrist watch that
won also the Grand Prix the LordRoger Vin and Geneva last year.
This, watch is more than everand more than a media, but it
takes at least two years toassemble manually by one
watchmaker that wakes up everyday to do only that watch in
(13:12):
Switzerland, you can go visitthe person and see your own
watch under development overtime, so the time and the price
is connected to what I call theoverall value question of the
time piece. And we're aftervalue creation with materials,
with the complication andinnovation behind so our
calibers are some are atrademark, because we do so much
(13:35):
research on micro mechanicbefore launching that that's
what those behind the price thatyou read,
Randall Kaplan (13:41):
you look at the Birkin bag per maze, you can't
get one unless you go in andagain, it's based on your spend,
right? There was a class actionthere was a class action lawsuit
filed in March of 2024 saying,Hey, this is monopolistic
behavior. A customer should justbe able to walk in and buy a
Birkin bag. When you saw thatlawsuit, what were you thinking?
(14:04):
Are you worried that AP may befacing the same issue along with
the other high qualitywatchmakers? We
Ilaria Resta (14:10):
don't ask people to buy certain amounts of
watches. We don't create thesethese connections. So I'm not
entering the case of her mess,because it's separate case that
I don't know enough to expressany opinion, and I don't want
to, but in our case, what wehave a certain capacity of
production, that is a choice,and the choice comes from
(14:32):
excellence. If we would do thesewatches assembled online with
zero human power, if we wouldcopy caliber of others. If we
wouldn't use these materials, wecould produce more. We decided
not to produce more. We decidedto produce less than the number
you gave before, because we areaiming at the highest, highest
standard of watchmaking, whichmakes us in the need of making
(14:56):
choices vis a vis our clients.
We welcome all our clients. Is amatter of time when we can serve
them within the time piece theywant, but when we are not into
the business of combining orbundling, which is not part of
our for
Randall Kaplan (15:14):
limited supply watches like yours, demand is
usually greater than supplyduring COVID, the pandemic,
wealthy people had nothing tospend their money on, so a lot
of them bought luxury goods thatwent way up in price on the
secondary market. You can't getone from the store. A lot of
stores weren't open, and thenthey wanted, they still wanted
to spend money. You had watcheslike the Royal Oak. You have a
(15:36):
lot of models, but going forfive times their value. And when
you see watches trading on thesecondary market for that kind
of price, there's an opportunityto sell your watch for a lot of
money. Luxury watches over thelast five years, depending on
the brand, the average luxurywatch has beaten the S, p5, 100.
(15:58):
Are watches good investments.
Ilaria Resta (16:00):
Watches have always been also another class,
like many other luxury brands.
And I think what matters is morethe innovation behind the watch,
the how much craftsmanship thereis behind the watch. So I don't
buy, and most of our clients inour lives you don't buy thinking
(16:20):
of an asset class, thinking theyreally think about the usage,
the importance of the watch intheir own collection and in
their life.
Randall Kaplan (16:31):
There's a huge secondary resale market for
luxury watches. It's estimatedto be $25 billion a year. That's
revenue that you could becollecting on certain watches
that you're not collecting.
There's been talk of youstarting a secondary watch
market, for lack of a betterword, where you're reselling
these secondary AP watches. Isthat happening or going to
(16:52):
happen?
Ilaria Resta (16:54):
We're working on, on, on a project that has the
mission to create the offer aservice to our clients in terms
of certification of our watchesand offering them the chance to
renew their collection if theywant, hence sell certain,
certain watches. We are honestlythinking still how and if this
proposition can work, and if, ifit works, in the next years, we
(17:18):
will launch
Randall Kaplan (17:19):
there's a company slogan which says, to
break the rules, you must firstmaster them. Is that true at any
successful company
Ilaria Resta (17:27):
depends on the company. It was true for us, and
it's still true for us. We are arule breaker in a positive
sense, in the sense that othermarket in the history has always
been so edgy to go and try to dothings that didn't make any
sense. And that's what I call itrule breaker. You don't have to
go back too many years ago, butwhen the royal lock was
(17:48):
invented, it was a rule breakeracross all aspects. I mean, it
was in still priced like gold,in a huge shape, because at the
time, the 39 diameter wasconsidered to be gigantic.
That's where the name jumbocame. It was a big, big watch in
a context where we were at thevery at the onset of the the, of
(18:11):
course, crisis. So coming withthat launch was like, Are you
crazy? I mean, what happened toyou? And in fact, it was
received with mixed feelings bythe market, and then it became a
good success a few years after,we launched the thinnest
perpetual calendar, again, in amoment where extremely expensive
in a content, because it's thehighest complication possible we
(18:32):
could do. Instead of focusing onentry price to fight the courts,
we focus on the highestcomplication to to set ourselves
to another league. And then ifyou look at all the marketing
campaigns, the collaborations wehave always been, if you want
infant rebel in the Watch makingindustry by doing things that
pushed outside of the edges ofwhat was considered normal. And
(18:57):
that's the way we work. If yougo and come one day to visit us,
you will see these personalitiesin the company. That's why I
believe there are certain peoplewho can work at odemar PK. Some
others cannot work anothermarket, because we have this
witty spirit, this sense of nottaking ourselves seriously, yet
our job is extremely serious andprofessional, this constant it
(19:18):
try to go further, break therules on materials that cannot
be produced because they willcrack you know, we use the
ceramics that can can bedestroyed easily. That takes a
lot of tire trial and error toproduce, and yet we do that. So
there is this common desire togo beyond that belongs to us.
(19:39):
We've
Randall Kaplan (19:39):
talked about extreme preparation, how
important that is to oursuccess. What are three of the
most important qualities that wecan have that lead to our future
success?
Ilaria Resta (19:49):
The future in
Randall Kaplan (19:51):
Yeah. What are the three most important
qualities, ingredients ofsuccess as people that we could
that we should have? Yeah? I
Ilaria Resta (20:00):
have mine that I keep repeating all the time, and
there are coincidentally three,is love, learn and legacy for
me, in any job you do, inanything in life you do, I have
these three guiding words. Is,is love what you do or fall in
love with what you do. Andnormally, is much more falling
in love than loving because it'svery rare. You will love always
(20:24):
what you do, the bosses, youwork for your colleagues, it
will be much more an active roleof falling in love that you need
to have. Second is learn, whichis becomes more difficult as you
grow once because you have lesstime, or you become more
arrogant in thinking you have,you know it enough. You don't
need to learn more and learn andmake learning accessible to
(20:46):
others the Learn, especially nowwith all the changes we see.
What I learned that 30 years agoworking at PNG is completely
relevant. Now, if I would stackto that learning, I would be
obsolete as a CEO. So learn,learn constantly, and a legacy,
I think what you need to do asyou grow is defining for each
year. What is the legacy thatwill survive me that makes
(21:10):
business people, organization,relationship, better than when I
came it doesn't need to be agrand use legacy. People say,
ah, save the world. Reduce COtwo emissions, sure, if you have
that chance do it, but setsomething that is achievable,
measurable and extremelyconcrete as a league legacy,
every, every, every, every year.
And that's how I judge my peoplein the performance evaluation,
(21:32):
the question I have, what's thelegacy you left behind that
wouldn't be here without you?
Randall Kaplan (21:39):
You talk a lot about women in the workforce.
You're one of only two femaleCEOs in the luxury watch
business you talk about, tell usbriefly, since we're getting to
the end of our show, about whatyou said about cheerless
acknowledgement on Women'sInternational Day, and what's
your message to women and in theworkforce who want to have very
(22:03):
successful careers, find
Ilaria Resta (22:05):
mentors and find the supporters along the way.
Don't be shy in asking for help.
I think what we women normally,and I hate to generalizing,
because there are differentwomen, there is this fear of
asking for help and puttingtheir needs because it felt
inappropriate. I think thebroader the net you cast to get
supporters, to get coaching, thebetter. The second for me is
(22:28):
really extremely, be extremelyvocal on what you want, because
sometimes we are relegated in arole because others are trying
to help us. It happened to mewhen I when I was expecting my
first, my first child, I cameback after maternity. I didn't
get a job in PNG, they put me. Iwas managing a business, and I
(22:49):
came back to become eventorganizer. I said, sorry. Why
event? Because we wanted to helpyou as the first child, you want
to be home more often. Maybe theintention was positive, I don't
even know, but definitely it wasa killer for me. So for my
second maternity I learned thelesson. I said, I'm going to
come back when my child is threemonths old. I want to have a job
(23:11):
as big, if not bigger than theone I'm leaving based on my
performance. You have nothing toworry about in terms of work
hours, because I will work asmuch as before, and then I got
the job, so I now had no issueof hearing in calling it out.
And if you feel an injustice hasbeen done to you, speak up,
because there are people whowant to help you. It's just what
(23:32):
I don't like is this constantfeeling of it has to be this
way, because it has been decidedon me this way and last advice,
and I really believe in it,start talking about your life in
terms of choices and notsacrifices, because as a woman,
there is this constant sense ofguilt or feeling that I'm making
sacrifices. I'm not there for mychildren. I'm not there at the
(23:55):
birthday party. If you leave allthese choices as a sacrifice.
Then, first, you're not incontrol with your life, and you
live miserably and you don'tachieve any anything, while
instead, make it a choice, makethe and define what is a real
choice for you, being in thedriving seat of your life, and
not the passive suffering of thenature of being a woman. That is
(24:18):
the advice I
Randall Kaplan (24:21):
wouldn't you have a huge job. You have two
kids, teenagers, one merely ateenager. Your husband worked
from home. You've talked aboutthe sacrifices on work life
balance and the guilt you have.
Do you have any general advicefor women or men? Stay at home.
Stay at home. Men, stay at home.
Women, both sides on what's theproper balance there?
Ilaria Resta (24:45):
Again, it needs to be a choice when, when this is a
sacrifice, the choice either tostay home or to live and work.
It doesn't work. It's a shortterm. It creates tensions,
tensions within the couple with.
Kids. And by the way, you saidthe wrong example to your kids,
my role. I see it in a positiveway. To say, I tell my kids
every day when I go to bed. Ihad a wonderful day. I learned
(25:08):
so much. Today in Miami, I wentto see Art Basel, and I saw this
piece of art. And by the way,the weather is like that, and I
send pictures. Yes, I'm notphysically there. Yes, maybe
sometimes it's tough, but youknow what I bring them? I
believe I bring them thevisibility of the world through
my eyes and the fact that it'spossible to have a satisfying
(25:30):
working life and being a motherat the same time. I want my
children to to consider this anormal fact. I felt guilty with
my mama, because for my mama,these shifts of life was
absolutely unacceptable. I wasthis Nomad going around the
world, leaving the poor kidsbehind in desperation. And how
could I do that when I couldhave been a teacher in
(25:51):
kindergarten like her. So it'sit's all goes back, make the
choices, get the most out of theweed. Big smile, or change the
life.
Randall Kaplan (26:01):
So you make these interesting watches named
after people like John Mayer hashis own watch, and these watches
are on, first of all, why? Andsecond of all, when are you
going to make the Randall Kaplanwatch?
Ilaria Resta (26:15):
First of all, we're going to make the Randall
Kaplan When. When you come toLibra Sue, you're sitting down.
We work. Jokes aside, John Mayeris a great example of a
collaboration that I feel isextremely valuable for us. John
is a Collector. Watch collector.
Is a watch connoisseur, and he'sbeen very close to us in
providing inputs and and kind ofpoint of view on the on the
(26:39):
voice of the collectors and andour esteemed clients who
understand watchmaking. So whenI met him, I told him and offer
this role, which is the role ofcreative conduct, is somebody
who brings, in a creative waythe external world of collectors
inside of the market, I cannothave discussions with the 1000s
(27:00):
of collectors, but John, in away, as he participates to lots
of forums on watchmaking, heknows what sort he knows what
people like, and I like to havealways an external voice to my
creative team. And then he wasextremely passionate for certain
material, for the perpetualcalendar, for a certain type of
blue and finishings. And he camewith this idea that I felt was
(27:23):
new for us. It pushed ourboundaries, and we decided to do
it. I don't like doingcollaborations that are just for
the name of a celebrity orsomebody who is famous, and then
we do a collaboration thatdoesn't bring anything to the
map. Again, these collaborationsI will not do, but any
collaboration like cause we'vedone a collaboration with the
(27:45):
with Brian Donnelly, the artist,of course, and that one,
Randall Kaplan (27:49):
and shouldn't to be clear, they have one watch.
It just came out. You had a bigparty for it, and I believe the
retail price is $220,000
Ilaria Resta (27:56):
for that watch, correct, right? It's a concept
to be on with the companion ofcause attached to the sapphire
crystal. And we developed forthat watch a new movement also,
which is a peripheral timedisplay. So we can show the time
with the with the with theindex, we show it with the
peripheral time arrows, not tooccupy the central space of the
(28:20):
watch, and leave everything tothe companion. That was a
wonderful collaboration,because, once again, cause came
with an idea to have thecompanion attached to the
sapphire crystal, looking at thewearer of the watch. But then
what do we do with the with theshowing the time? And we decided
to create this new movement. Soit's a new movement inspired by
(28:41):
the work. Of course, all right,
Randall Kaplan (28:43):
we're the end of our show right now. And I always
finish a show with a game that Icall fill in the blank to
excellence. Are ready to play,ready to play. The biggest
lesson I've learned in my lifeis stay humble. My number one
professional goal is leave alegacy on people in my
organization. My biggest regretis not having traveled more. My
(29:05):
biggest fear is not havingenough time to travel. The
proudest moment of my career isnow. When you landed this job as
CEO, what did your mom say to
Ilaria Resta (29:16):
you? I can't believe you're
Randall Kaplan (29:18):
you got this, but she could believe it, right,
yeah. She was very proud. Proud.
Yeah.
Ilaria Resta (29:23):
She said your dad would be extremely proud of you.
He was no longer with us.
Randall Kaplan (29:28):
The craziest thing that's happened in my
career is
Ilaria Resta (29:32):
many you know when, when you are with,
surrounded by people that left,or you, I mean, left your team
and they went somewhere else,and after multiple multiple
years, they write you loveletters, they bring you tears.
Is is just the most rewardingpart of my job, just to hear
(29:53):
back from people that you thinkwere forgotten and they're still
around for you and remembering.
Randall Kaplan (30:00):
You. The funniest thing that's happened
in my career is I always mix up
Ilaria Resta (30:04):
names of people, celebrities. I am I have bad
memory for names.
Randall Kaplan (30:09):
The best advice I've ever received is observe
first, then listen. The worstadvice I've ever received is you
should change
Ilaria Resta (30:18):
the way you behave in your posture. 10
Randall Kaplan (30:20):
years from now I'm going to be doing, I hope
this job. 20 years from now, Ihope I'm going to be doing
teaching university. If youcould pick one trait that would
lead to somebody's success, whatwould it be? A trait? One trait,
learning, desire. The mostimportant thing that's
contributed to my success is
Ilaria Resta (30:41):
learning, learning, desire, curiosity. The
Randall Kaplan (30:44):
one thing I've dreamed about for a long time
but haven't done is actuallyteaching at university. If you
could go back in time and giveyour 21 year old self one piece
of advice, what would it be keep
Ilaria Resta (30:55):
changing challenges in your work and live
when you feel comfortable. If
Randall Kaplan (31:01):
you could meet one person in the world alive
today, who would it be? Myfather? That's a beautiful
answer. So the last question Ihave, I actually have two more
questions. The one question youwish I had asked you but didn't,
is,
Ilaria Resta (31:16):
oh, it's very difficult. This one, it's all
the questions related to my, mypersonality. Who are you as a
woman?
Randall Kaplan (31:28):
Who are you as a woman? Oh, no, I shouldn't,
Ilaria Resta (31:31):
it's so personal.
I am in I am,
Randall Kaplan (31:37):
I am, like, curious cat. I am somebody who
really, really lives andbreathes knowledge and discover
places people. I'm a connectoras a new customer and someone
who's new to the luxury watchmarket. Are there any questions
that you'd like to ask me thatother potential or new watch
(32:02):
buyers would like to hear theanswer to,
Ilaria Resta (32:04):
how do you feel like wearing this watch with
feelings that does it give you?
Randall Kaplan (32:09):
I mean, I get up in the morning, and when I look
at the watch that I want to puton today, it makes me feel
great. You know, it's, it's notonly, uh, beautiful, and I love
looking at it because I likelooking at beautiful things. I
like art, but it's personal,because I'm wearing it on my
body, and at some point too,just coming from a humble
background, the fact I've donewell enough through all the hard
(32:32):
work to afford a hard watch, toafford an expensive, beautiful
watch like that is verymeaningful. I love looking at
this watch. I love looking atall my watches. They all speak
to me in different ways,different colors. This gold is
very I'm not a blingy person.
This has a little bit of a blingbling, but I love it when I go
into your store. Of course, Iwant to buy more, and I was a
(32:57):
bit impulsive when I went to LasVegas, and liar was kind enough,
and I know how lucky I am tosell me three watches. I have a
pre existing friendship withhim, so I was very grateful for
that. But it really is arepresentation to me of all the
hard work and success and allthe work that I've done, and it
(33:20):
is inspirational, you know, togo in there, it's like when I
started collecting all right, Igot this, oh my gosh, I gotta, I
really gotta do this. And I'mfeeling that way about watches.
AP, I'm just on a mission. Youknow, I've looked up attack is
and it's a beautiful watch. It'snot my thing. Rolex, beautiful
watch. Not my thing, either.
(33:42):
There's too many. And I likeunique watches. I like AP
watches. I know this is a bit ofa infomercial in many ways, and
rightly so. I mean, I'm a hugefan. I'm a huge customer. And I
think this episode too, and Ireally want to mention this
everyone listening to the showtoday, in all my podcasts, want
(34:08):
to do better, right? It's meantto inspire, motivate them to do
better. And a lot of that comeswith which means they want
better jobs. They want betteradvice, they want to do better,
and they want to make moremoney. And, you know, they want
to afford the home, they want toafford a car. And at some point,
when you can afford it, theywant nice things. It's
(34:28):
aspirational. And so for me,when I start looking at watches,
it's aspirational. You know, forme, so makes me feel great, and
I appreciate the question,
Ilaria Resta (34:43):
wow, I should hire as our spook first aid. Amazing.
Randall Kaplan (34:47):
It's been amazing. Thank you, Larry, I
appreciate you answering myemail. A cold email says a lot
about you. I'm a huge fan. Metoo. Are you? And I'm grateful.
I'm grateful for your time.
Thank you so much. For beinghere, it's truly a pleasure and
honor to meet you in person.
Ilaria Resta (35:03):
Thank you, Randall. A great pleasure to be
here, and I hope I helpedsomebody to get good advice.
Awesome. You.
The three most important qualities that we
(00:03):
should have is love what you do,or fall in love with what you
do. Second is learn, which isbecomes more difficult as you
grow once because you have lesstime, or you become more
arrogant in thinking you have.
You know it enough. You don'tneed to learn more. And then
legacy, I think what you need todo as you grow is defining for
each year. What is the legacythat will survive me that makes
(00:25):
business people, organization,relationship better than when I
came but set something that isachievable, measurable and
extremely concrete you you're
Randall Kaplan (00:43):
listening to part two of my incredible
interview with Ilaria resta, theCEO of the luxury watch brand,
Omar Piguet. If you haven't yetlistened to part one, be sure to
check that one out first. Now,without further ado, here's part
two of my awesome interview withalaria. So everyone wants to
know today who's watching, who'snot a watch collector. How much
do these costs? And let me justgo through some stats here on
(01:05):
you and your competitors. So westart with Rolex. The average
price of a new Rolex watch is$13,562
the average price of a Cartieris $6,340 the average price of
an omega is $7,296 the averageprice of a new Patek is $44,389
(01:29):
the average price of an AP watchis $53,786 and the average price
of Richard mill, which is themost expensive Watch you can
buy, on average, is over$200,000 who is your typical
customer and what's thepercentage between men and women
buying your watches?
Ilaria Resta (01:48):
We we don't have a typical customer as such, but
definitely I can back at you inin, in clusters, even though I
really don't like doing that,because there are so many
nuances in each in each bucket,definitely have the collectors.
So we have people that, overtime, are building a very
thought through collection. Itcould be by brand or multiple
(02:12):
brand specific complications, orlike a lifetime at a certain
center century, they'recollecting. There are different
theme, thematics of ofcollection then, and they
represent the most knowledgeableof our clients, and the ones
that actually transmit theirpassion externally. So they they
write blogs, they are on socialmedia. They are the ones who
(02:34):
will spot your watch and commenton it and share it. And it's a
very active community, and oftenthey know each other to be
collectors in the world. Thenthere is there are people who
buy to celebrate a certain stagein their life, people who use
watch as a memory holder. So anew promotion, the birth, the
(02:59):
marriage, and in this case,watches also represent an
emotional connection to theperson, to the moment. And they
capture, they capture memories.
And we had, for instance, theother day, I just learned a
couple came to our boutique andhe offered, in front of the
bootsui managers, a watchengraved with William ary me to
his girlfriend? And it's thefirst time we we kind of
(03:22):
assisted with this request formanaging a boutique. So that was
clearly the case of somebody whobuy for an emotional connection
to the watch in the moment. Andthen we have the stylers, people
who just love how the watchlooks. They choose watches for
the esthetic appearance, alsofor the complication appearance,
(03:44):
and they make it a statement forthemselves or for others to buy
a watch. And then there are manymore. What we are trying to do
is to have a diverse enoughreach to the prospect clients
and the clients in terms ofopportunities, we are
underdeveloped with women. Weare in the range of below 20% of
(04:04):
buyers of our watch are women,when we know that by 2030, 45%
of women will buy a watch in theindustry, mechanical watch. And
the scene is changing, becausein the past, women were not so
much into mechanical watches,and now they are getting more
and more interesting. And whatwe see actually is with the
younger generations of of kids.
(04:27):
They at the age already ofbetween 20 and up, they start
being interested in watchmaking,and they even bring their
fathers, who are not intowatchmaking, into this world.
And yesterday, we had an event.
The son was the one bringing thefather and educating the Father
on on the art of watchmaking.
And it's interesting, becausethis is an hyper connected
generation that you would say,why would they buy a mechanical
(04:50):
watch? And actually, they arerediscovering vintage in many
areas, including, includingwatchmaking.
Randall Kaplan (04:57):
Finding an AP watch is a process. Right? One
of the things that people likeme and everyone else, you go on
an AP store, nothing for sale.
You go on a Rolex store, nothingfor sale. I remember going into
my first AP store. My son showedme this royal watch. He had an
opportunity to buy one, and hesaid, it's very hard to get.
(05:19):
Like, can't be that hard to get.
I walked into the store said,Hey, I would like one of these.
And they look, they look at melike I was from the planet Mars.
When I finally did someresearch, I said, Well, I would
actually like one of those. I'min Aspen. I walk into the store,
I need Leslie Cameron, who's whowas great. And again, there was
(05:41):
a whole song and dance there,right? I knew I'd done some
research that I had to basicallyget to know her, get her to know
me. Trust me that I'm not goingto flip the wash. We'll talk
about flipping in a minute, andbasically talk about me and my
buying behavior. And I startedwith, I collect art. So I put
(06:04):
myself in the category. I'vebeen an art collector now for 25
years. I don't flip pieces. Ifyou flip a piece, meaning, for
those people who don't know whatflipping a piece is, you go to
an art show. Your relationshipwith art galleries that you've
developed over the years. Theremay be 10 or 15 pieces from that
show, and there may be four or500 people who want them. So the
(06:26):
people who get them get firstchoice are the people who are
loyal customers, who have goodcollections, and who don't flip
the art. If you can flip a pieceof art, and I bought a piece of
art from behind nicodem me, hi,I love you. Thank you for
letting me be a very goodcustomer. And this piece of art
was $80,000 and he promised itto me because I had bought a
(06:50):
larger piece of art from him,much more expensive, maybe a
year before, and he promised mefrom the same person who painted
this painting. And he said, I'llgive you the second piece of his
next show. The first piece wasgoing to Charles Schwab, who's
going to put it in a museum.
He's going to donate. So I gotthe second piece, and it was a
small piece of art, but therewere several small pieces, and
(07:11):
there were three of these. Thisone was the best. So he offered
to me, it was $80,000 thatnight, he said, The person who
bought the second piece will pay$250,000 for that piece. I could
have made a lot of moneyinstantly. I said no. And why
did you say no? Because my piecewas a lot better than the other
(07:33):
piece. Then it came back with anoffer for more money for that
piece, and I still didn't sellit, right? And it would have
been okay at that point to sellit, because it was going through
the dealer, but I still don'twant to sell it, so I still and
why? How's you, you know? Oh, Ilove it. It's in my house. I
look at it. I mean, art bringsme tremendous satisfaction now
(07:55):
carrying amazing watches, and Ihave a brigade that was the
first watch my mom bought mefrom graduation. I have a
Chopard watch, which is coolwith a rubber band. My wife for
my 50th birthday, for my 50thbirthday, but for my 50th
birthday, bought me a Hublotwatch, which is my daily
watches. Is very, verymeaningful. How does someone get
(08:16):
an eight to watch for the firsttime you answer
Ilaria Resta (08:23):
yourself the question you wouldn't
necessarily want to go in fortwo hour interview. That is not
going to
Randall Kaplan (08:29):
interview. See finally, what she's going to be
embarrassed, by the way, butwhat I'm going to say, but you
know, she going back and forth,you know, to the back room, and
I don't know what she's doing,right by some there's some due
diligence going on. I'm not surewho she's calling, but when she
came back for like now, I knowshe's calling you and so. So
when she came back, I glanced ather phone, and my my website was
(08:54):
her phone, so I knew what wasgoing on back there. So sorry to
embarrass you. Leslie, butwhat's the process here? Let me
Ilaria Resta (09:03):
answer you in a simplest possible way. If we
were in the business of revenue,all these were gonna happen. If
our obsession and objective is,you know what? Let's maximize
revenues. Let's get rich. Let'ssell we are in a business of
relationship and passion forquality and and I'm here again
(09:24):
to make sure that this way ofdoing business perpetrates for
150 years when you want to builda relationship with somebody,
you don't go and say, Okay, willyou marry and if you want to
marry you, you marry me to theperson you just saw in a bar.
Yes, you don't do that. Youbuild a relationship, right? We
are in a business ofrelationship as much as we are
in a business of time piecesselling, because the moment we
(09:48):
create a relationship, thisrelationship lasts for many,
many years and beyond you. Wereceive watches of the dates 100
years ago, and we service themand we repair them. We take.
Just because we discovermovements that we are not
producing anymore. And you enterin our family, and we are truly
we call our clients AP family,most of them, because they
(10:09):
really start getting to know us.
We know their collection. We cancurate it. And then if you come
to Le brasu, which I really loveto have, you to the bra Su, and
maybe you do a video recordingon the way we produce, you will
see that it's so much manuallydone, and there is so emotion in
the in the process of finishingand watch and letting go, where
(10:30):
I had one story, one womanwatchmaker, she asked me the
favor because I was doing my ownboarding, asking, What can I do
for you? What can I do better?
Is there anything? And he helpedme neither. She said, Yes, can
you please bring me back thewatch I helped to assemble to
say goodbye, because before heleaves, the level, level of
(10:51):
attachment these watch makershave with their creation is very
high, and it's for us, it'simportant that that we create a
relationship with the people,then they're bringing those
watches to their wrists. We needto make sure that we give you
also watches with the highestscience standards of excellence.
It takes months, if not years,to develop them. So we are not
(11:13):
in a transactional businesswhere you want you buy, you go
home and we don't see each otheranymore. This is not our
business model. You
Randall Kaplan (11:21):
know, it's interesting, when you talk about
the prices of watches, I mean$53,000, for the average price
watch. I mean, I was in thestore in Vegas. I was in Leo's
store in Vegas as well, and theywere showing me a $400,000
watch. Which is which? SomethingI'm not going to do right now,
at least, but, but, but, but,when you, when you think about
(11:43):
it, every customer is amillionaire, or they're not
being financially responsible,because when you're paying
$50,000 for a watch, that meansyou have to earn at least in the
US. You're in the highest taxbracket. You have to earn
$100,000 to have a watch. Andsome of the watches are 100,000
$130,000 so you're talking abouta lot of people who have a eight
(12:05):
figure net worth coming in tobuy the watches.
Ilaria Resta (12:08):
The figure you mentioned indeed is an average.
So we have, we span differentlyin price. This is not our entry
price for watches, but three or3000 of your
Randall Kaplan (12:18):
entry price, right? So probably,
Ilaria Resta (12:20):
yeah, we have less. We have lower as well.
Randall Kaplan (12:23):
By this, or can they show me the lower one? By
the way, maybe because
Ilaria Resta (12:27):
they know you so well that they want to cater to
your knee. Parallel website yousee, okay, that's intimacy with
clients, because we know you andwe offer you what you deserve.
But no jokes aside, the pricesrange depending on again,
complication and and developmentand materials. We just launched
(12:50):
the universal, which is the mostcomplicated the wrist watch that
won also the Grand Prix the LordRoger Vin and Geneva last year.
This, watch is more than everand more than a media, but it
takes at least two years toassemble manually by one
watchmaker that wakes up everyday to do only that watch in
(13:12):
Switzerland, you can go visitthe person and see your own
watch under development overtime, so the time and the price
is connected to what I call theoverall value question of the
time piece. And we're aftervalue creation with materials,
with the complication andinnovation behind so our
calibers are some are atrademark, because we do so much
(13:35):
research on micro mechanicbefore launching that that's
what those behind the price thatyou read,
Randall Kaplan (13:41):
you look at the Birkin bag per maze, you can't
get one unless you go in andagain, it's based on your spend,
right? There was a class actionthere was a class action lawsuit
filed in March of 2024 saying,Hey, this is monopolistic
behavior. A customer should justbe able to walk in and buy a
Birkin bag. When you saw thatlawsuit, what were you thinking?
(14:04):
Are you worried that AP may befacing the same issue along with
the other high qualitywatchmakers? We
Ilaria Resta (14:10):
don't ask people to buy certain amounts of
watches. We don't create thesethese connections. So I'm not
entering the case of her mess,because it's separate case that
I don't know enough to expressany opinion, and I don't want
to, but in our case, what wehave a certain capacity of
production, that is a choice,and the choice comes from
(14:32):
excellence. If we would do thesewatches assembled online with
zero human power, if we wouldcopy caliber of others. If we
wouldn't use these materials, wecould produce more. We decided
not to produce more. We decidedto produce less than the number
you gave before, because we areaiming at the highest, highest
standard of watchmaking, whichmakes us in the need of making
(14:56):
choices vis a vis our clients.
We welcome all our clients. Is amatter of time when we can serve
them within the time piece theywant, but when we are not into
the business of combining orbundling, which is not part of
our for
Randall Kaplan (15:14):
limited supply watches like yours, demand is
usually greater than supplyduring COVID, the pandemic,
wealthy people had nothing tospend their money on, so a lot
of them bought luxury goods thatwent way up in price on the
secondary market. You can't getone from the store. A lot of
stores weren't open, and thenthey wanted, they still wanted
to spend money. You had watcheslike the Royal Oak. You have a
(15:36):
lot of models, but going forfive times their value. And when
you see watches trading on thesecondary market for that kind
of price, there's an opportunityto sell your watch for a lot of
money. Luxury watches over thelast five years, depending on
the brand, the average luxurywatch has beaten the S, p5, 100.
(15:58):
Are watches good investments.
Ilaria Resta (16:00):
Watches have always been also another class,
like many other luxury brands.
And I think what matters is morethe innovation behind the watch,
the how much craftsmanship thereis behind the watch. So I don't
buy, and most of our clients inour lives you don't buy thinking
(16:20):
of an asset class, thinking theyreally think about the usage,
the importance of the watch intheir own collection and in
their life.
Randall Kaplan (16:31):
There's a huge secondary resale market for
luxury watches. It's estimatedto be $25 billion a year. That's
revenue that you could becollecting on certain watches
that you're not collecting.
There's been talk of youstarting a secondary watch
market, for lack of a betterword, where you're reselling
these secondary AP watches. Isthat happening or going to
(16:52):
happen?
Ilaria Resta (16:54):
We're working on, on, on a project that has the
mission to create the offer aservice to our clients in terms
of certification of our watchesand offering them the chance to
renew their collection if theywant, hence sell certain,
certain watches. We are honestlythinking still how and if this
proposition can work, and if, ifit works, in the next years, we
(17:18):
will launch
Randall Kaplan (17:19):
there's a company slogan which says, to
break the rules, you must firstmaster them. Is that true at any
successful company
Ilaria Resta (17:27):
depends on the company. It was true for us, and
it's still true for us. We are arule breaker in a positive
sense, in the sense that othermarket in the history has always
been so edgy to go and try to dothings that didn't make any
sense. And that's what I call itrule breaker. You don't have to
go back too many years ago, butwhen the royal lock was
(17:48):
invented, it was a rule breakeracross all aspects. I mean, it
was in still priced like gold,in a huge shape, because at the
time, the 39 diameter wasconsidered to be gigantic.
That's where the name jumbocame. It was a big, big watch in
a context where we were at thevery at the onset of the the, of
(18:11):
course, crisis. So coming withthat launch was like, Are you
crazy? I mean, what happened toyou? And in fact, it was
received with mixed feelings bythe market, and then it became a
good success a few years after,we launched the thinnest
perpetual calendar, again, in amoment where extremely expensive
in a content, because it's thehighest complication possible we
(18:32):
could do. Instead of focusing onentry price to fight the courts,
we focus on the highestcomplication to to set ourselves
to another league. And then ifyou look at all the marketing
campaigns, the collaborations wehave always been, if you want
infant rebel in the Watch makingindustry by doing things that
pushed outside of the edges ofwhat was considered normal. And
(18:57):
that's the way we work. If yougo and come one day to visit us,
you will see these personalitiesin the company. That's why I
believe there are certain peoplewho can work at odemar PK. Some
others cannot work anothermarket, because we have this
witty spirit, this sense of nottaking ourselves seriously, yet
our job is extremely serious andprofessional, this constant it
(19:18):
try to go further, break therules on materials that cannot
be produced because they willcrack you know, we use the
ceramics that can can bedestroyed easily. That takes a
lot of tire trial and error toproduce, and yet we do that. So
there is this common desire togo beyond that belongs to us.
(19:39):
We've
Randall Kaplan (19:39):
talked about extreme preparation, how
important that is to oursuccess. What are three of the
most important qualities that wecan have that lead to our future
success?
Ilaria Resta (19:49):
The future in
Randall Kaplan (19:51):
Yeah. What are the three most important
qualities, ingredients ofsuccess as people that we could
that we should have? Yeah? I
Ilaria Resta (20:00):
have mine that I keep repeating all the time, and
there are coincidentally three,is love, learn and legacy for
me, in any job you do, inanything in life you do, I have
these three guiding words. Is,is love what you do or fall in
love with what you do. Andnormally, is much more falling
in love than loving because it'svery rare. You will love always
(20:24):
what you do, the bosses, youwork for your colleagues, it
will be much more an active roleof falling in love that you need
to have. Second is learn, whichis becomes more difficult as you
grow once because you have lesstime, or you become more
arrogant in thinking you have,you know it enough. You don't
need to learn more and learn andmake learning accessible to
(20:46):
others the Learn, especially nowwith all the changes we see.
What I learned that 30 years agoworking at PNG is completely
relevant. Now, if I would stackto that learning, I would be
obsolete as a CEO. So learn,learn constantly, and a legacy,
I think what you need to do asyou grow is defining for each
year. What is the legacy thatwill survive me that makes
(21:10):
business people, organization,relationship, better than when I
came it doesn't need to be agrand use legacy. People say,
ah, save the world. Reduce COtwo emissions, sure, if you have
that chance do it, but setsomething that is achievable,
measurable and extremelyconcrete as a league legacy,
every, every, every, every year.
And that's how I judge my peoplein the performance evaluation,
(21:32):
the question I have, what's thelegacy you left behind that
wouldn't be here without you?
Randall Kaplan (21:39):
You talk a lot about women in the workforce.
You're one of only two femaleCEOs in the luxury watch
business you talk about, tell usbriefly, since we're getting to
the end of our show, about whatyou said about cheerless
acknowledgement on Women'sInternational Day, and what's
your message to women and in theworkforce who want to have very
(22:03):
successful careers, find
Ilaria Resta (22:05):
mentors and find the supporters along the way.
Don't be shy in asking for help.
I think what we women normally,and I hate to generalizing,
because there are differentwomen, there is this fear of
asking for help and puttingtheir needs because it felt
inappropriate. I think thebroader the net you cast to get
supporters, to get coaching, thebetter. The second for me is
(22:28):
really extremely, be extremelyvocal on what you want, because
sometimes we are relegated in arole because others are trying
to help us. It happened to mewhen I when I was expecting my
first, my first child, I cameback after maternity. I didn't
get a job in PNG, they put me. Iwas managing a business, and I
(22:49):
came back to become eventorganizer. I said, sorry. Why
event? Because we wanted to helpyou as the first child, you want
to be home more often. Maybe theintention was positive, I don't
even know, but definitely it wasa killer for me. So for my
second maternity I learned thelesson. I said, I'm going to
come back when my child is threemonths old. I want to have a job
(23:11):
as big, if not bigger than theone I'm leaving based on my
performance. You have nothing toworry about in terms of work
hours, because I will work asmuch as before, and then I got
the job, so I now had no issueof hearing in calling it out.
And if you feel an injustice hasbeen done to you, speak up,
because there are people whowant to help you. It's just what
(23:32):
I don't like is this constantfeeling of it has to be this
way, because it has been decidedon me this way and last advice,
and I really believe in it,start talking about your life in
terms of choices and notsacrifices, because as a woman,
there is this constant sense ofguilt or feeling that I'm making
sacrifices. I'm not there for mychildren. I'm not there at the
(23:55):
birthday party. If you leave allthese choices as a sacrifice.
Then, first, you're not incontrol with your life, and you
live miserably and you don'tachieve any anything, while
instead, make it a choice, makethe and define what is a real
choice for you, being in thedriving seat of your life, and
not the passive suffering of thenature of being a woman. That is
(24:18):
the advice I
Randall Kaplan (24:21):
wouldn't you have a huge job. You have two
kids, teenagers, one merely ateenager. Your husband worked
from home. You've talked aboutthe sacrifices on work life
balance and the guilt you have.
Do you have any general advicefor women or men? Stay at home.
Stay at home. Men, stay at home.
Women, both sides on what's theproper balance there?
Ilaria Resta (24:45):
Again, it needs to be a choice when, when this is a
sacrifice, the choice either tostay home or to live and work.
It doesn't work. It's a shortterm. It creates tensions,
tensions within the couple with.
Kids. And by the way, you saidthe wrong example to your kids,
my role. I see it in a positiveway. To say, I tell my kids
every day when I go to bed. Ihad a wonderful day. I learned
(25:08):
so much. Today in Miami, I wentto see Art Basel, and I saw this
piece of art. And by the way,the weather is like that, and I
send pictures. Yes, I'm notphysically there. Yes, maybe
sometimes it's tough, but youknow what I bring them? I
believe I bring them thevisibility of the world through
my eyes and the fact that it'spossible to have a satisfying
(25:30):
working life and being a motherat the same time. I want my
children to to consider this anormal fact. I felt guilty with
my mama, because for my mama,these shifts of life was
absolutely unacceptable. I wasthis Nomad going around the
world, leaving the poor kidsbehind in desperation. And how
could I do that when I couldhave been a teacher in
(25:51):
kindergarten like her. So it'sit's all goes back, make the
choices, get the most out of theweed. Big smile, or change the
life.
Randall Kaplan (26:01):
So you make these interesting watches named
after people like John Mayer hashis own watch, and these watches
are on, first of all, why? Andsecond of all, when are you
going to make the Randall Kaplanwatch?
Ilaria Resta (26:15):
First of all, we're going to make the Randall
Kaplan When. When you come toLibra Sue, you're sitting down.
We work. Jokes aside, John Mayeris a great example of a
collaboration that I feel isextremely valuable for us. John
is a Collector. Watch collector.
Is a watch connoisseur, and he'sbeen very close to us in
providing inputs and and kind ofpoint of view on the on the
(26:39):
voice of the collectors and andour esteemed clients who
understand watchmaking. So whenI met him, I told him and offer
this role, which is the role ofcreative conduct, is somebody
who brings, in a creative waythe external world of collectors
inside of the market, I cannothave discussions with the 1000s
(27:00):
of collectors, but John, in away, as he participates to lots
of forums on watchmaking, heknows what sort he knows what
people like, and I like to havealways an external voice to my
creative team. And then he wasextremely passionate for certain
material, for the perpetualcalendar, for a certain type of
blue and finishings. And he camewith this idea that I felt was
(27:23):
new for us. It pushed ourboundaries, and we decided to do
it. I don't like doingcollaborations that are just for
the name of a celebrity orsomebody who is famous, and then
we do a collaboration thatdoesn't bring anything to the
map. Again, these collaborationsI will not do, but any
collaboration like cause we'vedone a collaboration with the
(27:45):
with Brian Donnelly, the artist,of course, and that one,
Randall Kaplan (27:49):
and shouldn't to be clear, they have one watch.
It just came out. You had a bigparty for it, and I believe the
retail price is $220,000
Ilaria Resta (27:56):
for that watch, correct, right? It's a concept
to be on with the companion ofcause attached to the sapphire
crystal. And we developed forthat watch a new movement also,
which is a peripheral timedisplay. So we can show the time
with the with the with theindex, we show it with the
peripheral time arrows, not tooccupy the central space of the
(28:20):
watch, and leave everything tothe companion. That was a
wonderful collaboration,because, once again, cause came
with an idea to have thecompanion attached to the
sapphire crystal, looking at thewearer of the watch. But then
what do we do with the with theshowing the time? And we decided
to create this new movement. Soit's a new movement inspired by
(28:41):
the work. Of course, all right,
Randall Kaplan (28:43):
we're the end of our show right now. And I always
finish a show with a game that Icall fill in the blank to
excellence. Are ready to play,ready to play. The biggest
lesson I've learned in my lifeis stay humble. My number one
professional goal is leave alegacy on people in my
organization. My biggest regretis not having traveled more. My
(29:05):
biggest fear is not havingenough time to travel. The
proudest moment of my career isnow. When you landed this job as
CEO, what did your mom say to
Ilaria Resta (29:16):
you? I can't believe you're
Randall Kaplan (29:18):
you got this, but she could believe it, right,
yeah. She was very proud. Proud.
Yeah.
Ilaria Resta (29:23):
She said your dad would be extremely proud of you.
He was no longer with us.
Randall Kaplan (29:28):
The craziest thing that's happened in my
career is
Ilaria Resta (29:32):
many you know when, when you are with,
surrounded by people that left,or you, I mean, left your team
and they went somewhere else,and after multiple multiple
years, they write you loveletters, they bring you tears.
Is is just the most rewardingpart of my job, just to hear
(29:53):
back from people that you thinkwere forgotten and they're still
around for you and remembering.
Randall Kaplan (30:00):
You. The funniest thing that's happened
in my career is I always mix up
Ilaria Resta (30:04):
names of people, celebrities. I am I have bad
memory for names.
Randall Kaplan (30:09):
The best advice I've ever received is observe
first, then listen. The worstadvice I've ever received is you
should change
Ilaria Resta (30:18):
the way you behave in your posture. 10
Randall Kaplan (30:20):
years from now I'm going to be doing, I hope
this job. 20 years from now, Ihope I'm going to be doing
teaching university. If youcould pick one trait that would
lead to somebody's success, whatwould it be? A trait? One trait,
learning, desire. The mostimportant thing that's
contributed to my success is
Ilaria Resta (30:41):
learning, learning, desire, curiosity. The
Randall Kaplan (30:44):
one thing I've dreamed about for a long time
but haven't done is actuallyteaching at university. If you
could go back in time and giveyour 21 year old self one piece
of advice, what would it be keep
Ilaria Resta (30:55):
changing challenges in your work and live
when you feel comfortable. If
Randall Kaplan (31:01):
you could meet one person in the world alive
today, who would it be? Myfather? That's a beautiful
answer. So the last question Ihave, I actually have two more
questions. The one question youwish I had asked you but didn't,
is,
Ilaria Resta (31:16):
oh, it's very difficult. This one, it's all
the questions related to my, mypersonality. Who are you as a
woman?
Randall Kaplan (31:28):
Who are you as a woman? Oh, no, I shouldn't,
Ilaria Resta (31:31):
it's so personal.
I am in I am,
Randall Kaplan (31:37):
I am, like, curious cat. I am somebody who
really, really lives andbreathes knowledge and discover
places people. I'm a connectoras a new customer and someone
who's new to the luxury watchmarket. Are there any questions
that you'd like to ask me thatother potential or new watch
(32:02):
buyers would like to hear theanswer to,
Ilaria Resta (32:04):
how do you feel like wearing this watch with
feelings that does it give you?
Randall Kaplan (32:09):
I mean, I get up in the morning, and when I look
at the watch that I want to puton today, it makes me feel
great. You know, it's, it's notonly, uh, beautiful, and I love
looking at it because I likelooking at beautiful things. I
like art, but it's personal,because I'm wearing it on my
body, and at some point too,just coming from a humble
background, the fact I've donewell enough through all the hard
(32:32):
work to afford a hard watch, toafford an expensive, beautiful
watch like that is verymeaningful. I love looking at
this watch. I love looking atall my watches. They all speak
to me in different ways,different colors. This gold is
very I'm not a blingy person.
This has a little bit of a blingbling, but I love it when I go
into your store. Of course, Iwant to buy more, and I was a
(32:57):
bit impulsive when I went to LasVegas, and liar was kind enough,
and I know how lucky I am tosell me three watches. I have a
pre existing friendship withhim, so I was very grateful for
that. But it really is arepresentation to me of all the
hard work and success and allthe work that I've done, and it
(33:20):
is inspirational, you know, togo in there, it's like when I
started collecting all right, Igot this, oh my gosh, I gotta, I
really gotta do this. And I'mfeeling that way about watches.
AP, I'm just on a mission. Youknow, I've looked up attack is
and it's a beautiful watch. It'snot my thing. Rolex, beautiful
watch. Not my thing, either.
(33:42):
There's too many. And I likeunique watches. I like AP
watches. I know this is a bit ofa infomercial in many ways, and
rightly so. I mean, I'm a hugefan. I'm a huge customer. And I
think this episode too, and Ireally want to mention this
everyone listening to the showtoday, in all my podcasts, want
(34:08):
to do better, right? It's meantto inspire, motivate them to do
better. And a lot of that comeswith which means they want
better jobs. They want betteradvice, they want to do better,
and they want to make moremoney. And, you know, they want
to afford the home, they want toafford a car. And at some point,
when you can afford it, theywant nice things. It's
(34:28):
aspirational. And so for me,when I start looking at watches,
it's aspirational. You know, forme, so makes me feel great, and
I appreciate the question,
Ilaria Resta (34:43):
wow, I should hire as our spook first aid. Amazing.
Randall Kaplan (34:47):
It's been amazing. Thank you, Larry, I
appreciate you answering myemail. A cold email says a lot
about you. I'm a huge fan. Metoo. Are you? And I'm grateful.
I'm grateful for your time.
Thank you so much. For beinghere, it's truly a pleasure and
honor to meet you in person.
Ilaria Resta (35:03):
Thank you, Randall. A great pleasure to be
here, and I hope I helpedsomebody to get good advice.
Awesome. You.
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