November 12, 2024 • 60 mins
Ever wondered how a luxury watch brand keeps its pulse on time? Join us as we engage with Stéphane Waser, CEO of Maurice Lacroix, who shares the secrets behind the brand’s sustained success and its unique market presence. From Turkey to the uncharted territories of the US market, Maurice Lacroix has cultivated a reputation for offering high-end craftsmanship at accessible prices since overcoming the challenges of the quartz crisis in the 1970s. Stéphane takes us on a fascinating journey through the brand's unique origins linked to silk and brush trading, revealing how historical roots have shaped their distinctive identity.
Dive into the transformative years post-2008, where Maurice Lacroix pivoted from a product-centric approach to building a unified global brand. Stéphane reveals how the Aikon line, born out of meticulous market research and aimed at millennials, has become a cornerstone of their success, accounting for over 70% of sales. This episode uncovers how strategic shifts and innovations have revitalized the brand, allowing it to thrive amidst economic challenges and a changing consumer landscape.
Looking ahead, discover Maurice Lacroix's forward-thinking approach to sustainability and authenticity. Stéphane shares insights into the innovative use of materials like Powerlite and their commitment to social responsibility through initiatives in Northern Thailand. Forget celebrity endorsements; learn how the brand is opting for genuine connections with passionate individuals who embody their urban spirit. With a focus on Gen Z's values and transparency, Maurice Lacroix is setting a new standard in the watch industry, balancing traditional craftsmanship with modern expectations.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hello everybody, welcome to another episode of
Lonely Wrist.
Today, sitting in front of us,we have the CEO of Maurice
Lacroix Stéphane.
What's up, brother?
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Hi everybody Doing great Preparing some end of year
sales, so quite busy.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Do you guys have a big holiday planned?
I'm assuming?
Speaker 2 (00:22):
I mean there's a lot happening.
You know we're international,so we cater to 81 markets.
So you have all the Diwali'scoming up and then you have of
course the whole Christmasfestive season.
Then of course you then go toChinese New Year, russian New
Year, chinese New Year, sothere's a lot of festive and
holidays coming up.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Yeah, I literally was just in istanbul, like last
week, and it seems like everycorner has a maurice laquad
dealer, which is awesome massive.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Yeah, turkey is massive.
We are really well representedin turkey and it's it's been
doing very well.
Actually, turkey is one of ourtop five markets.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
It seems so, because here in Vegas which is weird
because there's only one dealerin Vegas and they have a very
limited selection and Justin'sin Raleigh and he said there's
one dealer there too.
But it was really hard to seeyour product until your rep came
(01:29):
and we spent hours just goingover the collection and,
needless to say, I was superimpressed.
It's a shame howunderrepresented you are, which
is the reason why you're sittingin front of me.
Hopefully.
Thanks for the invitation, sowe can let everybody know how
(01:51):
awesome you are.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Yeah, I mean we've been in the US since the 90s but
it's been ups and downs.
We did some.
What happened?
A lot in the last 20, 30 years.
We did some strategy changeswhich repositioned.
So at one point of time we'reretailing watches between five
hundred and thousand dollar.
(02:13):
Then there's one period we wereretailing watches between five
and ten and basically what we'redoing now is is back to kind of
where we were successful theorigins.
We are very comfortable in aprice range between $1,000 to
$3,000.
So that's where we're home.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Yeah, I mean, you guys are super young 1975, I
believe.
How did the brand kind of getits niche carved out?
And in the 1970s everybody wasmaking watch brands like it was
cool, right.
So it's a very saturated timeto start a watch brand.
(02:48):
Uh, let's talk about the earlydays of the brand and how you
guys were able to carve such aunique identity in a crowded
segment already yeah, I thinkthe um, you know, 1975 or the
70s, it was even morechallenging.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Because challenging because you had a lot of watches
and watch brands.
I think there were about 1,600Swiss watch brands.
Today there's only 650 Swissmade.
But in the 70s, what also waswhat we call the quartz crisis,
where the quartz started to sell, sell well, and then the
interest for mechanicalautomatic watches really went
(03:29):
down.
So this is also something verymost like.
Why I mean we like challengesand how did we make it the main
idea?
was that that period of time, um, you know, if you wanted some
very nice mechanicalcomplications, as we we call it,
or very high in watchmaking,you had to really put a big, big
(03:49):
, big lump of money on the tableto get that.
And what we have been doingsince the start, which is at the
center of the brand idea, isbringing very high in
watchmaking at accessible prices.
So in that period we were knownfor the masterpiece.
We have some beautifulmasterpiece.
Um, you know, we did retrograde, we did day and night
(04:12):
indication, also very simple bigdates and, um, what you also
call small seconds.
So you know, it's all very finewatchmaking details, but we
were bringing this at veryaccessible prices, around $2,000
, $2,500 at that time.
And this still continued.
(04:33):
And today, if you pick up one ofour best-selling collection
Icon, the retail price is about$2,000, $2,500 for a mechanical
watch.
But it's a lot of quality.
You got, of course, sappsapphire crystal open case back.
You have a screwed crown.
(04:53):
It's water resistant to 200meters.
But you also have a easy strapexchange system.
So you can, you know, you cango from a steel strap to a
leather strap or rubber strapvery easy.
So there's a lot of advancedbenefits of, and it's a lot of
quality, and usually when peoplelook at our products, you know
when they start to know us.
They're always impressed withthe quality.
Get the price you're paying I.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
I would say I definitely felt that.
Um, you know, obviously I'veheld a lot of high-end watches
half a million to a milliondollar watches because I'm in
Vegas, I've got that luxury todo that but within a split
second it's easy to tell thatyou guys have a really
(05:37):
high-quality product.
I just noticed that so quickly.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
I'm curious, stéphane , what inspired the name behind
Maurice Lacroix, and is there aperson or a story behind it that
influenced the brand?
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Yeah, I mean.
So the family.
I mean the family that ownedMaurice Lacroix, because Maurice
Lacroix was in a family-ownedcompany in the 70s.
It belonged to a big tradinggroup and the main activity of
these people was basically silktrading and brush trading
(06:20):
industrial brushes and thiscompany has been existing since
18, 1812 or 1850, something likethat.
And um, when maurice lacroixcame to life, well, first this
company was also distributor ofswiss watch brands, very
prestigious swiss watch brandswhich are amongst the top 10
(06:44):
watch brands today and you knowthey.
So the whole silk trading andbrush trading was happening from
Asia to Europe.
And, being the Swiss company atthe beginning, people were
telling them you know, you'reSwiss kind of you get, bring me
this watch or that watch brand.
And basically they opened anagency for those brands.
So they were also distributing,so they were going to get the
(07:06):
silk, the brushes and thendistributing the watches to asia
.
And with the time they were sosuccessful at that, they opened
private label workshops.
So basically these, these samecustomers starting saying you
know, I like that watch, but Iwould like to have something
similar, 100 pieces of that withmy name, of my company or
(07:27):
whatever.
So that was kind of the 50s and60s was the swiss watts
industry was very strong onprivate labeling and in 1962
they, they basically purchased aprivate labeling workshop,
which I'm sitting here today.
It it's in Seigneur de Gillesin Switzerland.
That's good.
And so that was 1962.
(07:48):
And then the demand was so high.
So in the 70s they said, listen, I mean, we have so much demand
, we should do our own brand.
Right, and there was.
So you know, they had a boardof directors.
And what was the thing is?
From the board of directorsthey say, okay, we need to name
(08:12):
very French, because in the 70sFrance was the country in the
world, it was setting the trendsfor fashion, it was setting the
trends for luxury.
So everything that was Frenchin the 70s was the thing right,
and a bit like New York in the90s.
So that's why they said okay,and there was Maurice Lacroix
(08:37):
sitting on the board.
Maurice Lacroix, because youknow 1975, it's not that you
were doing 20 generations ofwatchmakers.
And they said, yes, let's takehis name.
And that's how it started.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
Ever since I had the chance to meet with your rep out
here, it seems that your brandhas been haunting me, because me
and Justin Justin was vegas notthat long ago but, um, you know
, occasionally I'll go to thislike, uh, it's like a pawn shop
(09:13):
and it's a very special pawnshop because they're owned by a
national chain of pawn shops and, let's just say, somebody pawns
a watch in like Iowa or likeMinnesota.
You know, there's not a hugeluxury mark like market there.
So what they'll do is they'llship the watches to Vegas, where
there's buyers for these highend watches.
(09:34):
And I went in there and yourmysterious seconds is sitting
there and I was like like thisis a crazy watch.
Um, still might be therebecause you know they're more in
the jewelry side than they arein the watches side.
Uh.
But then, um, I reached out to,uh, to andre, and I was like hey
(09:58):
, dude, like look at what I havein my hand.
And he was like how much is it?
And I I still need to get backto him about how much is it,
because it's, it's probablyreally cheap.
Um, you know, cause they letstuff go like super quick, but I
mean it, it's crazy.
And then when I went to Turkey,I just saw you guys on every
(10:18):
corner, um, and almost everybodyin the shops that sold your
watches was wearing your watches, and it was just really cool
because, you know, here at least, like I said, you guys are
really underrepresented, youknow.
So you have a huge challengeahead, especially in the North
(10:39):
American market, because youhave such a great product and
people just don't don't have theopportunity to get hands-on
with it yeah, I mean it's, it'sreally we have to do it step by
step.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
You know, um, us is one of our focus markets for the
future.
Um, what we also have to do, orhad to do, because it's it's
been a lot of structural changes, and so first we need to get
the basics right For next yearwe're going to have a strong
team in the market, and thenit's, I mean, at the end it's
(11:11):
about building the awareness.
I mean we already are presentin about 60 to 80 shops, but I
agree with you, you know, in theUS is so big, so you have to
make choices where to grow first.
And also online is quiteimportant.
I mean, basically today we do99% of our investments in terms
(11:33):
of visibility is online.
So digital social media and wesee also we have an e-commerce.
Of course, it's running sincetwo, three years, but last year
we took the opportunity to puton Salesforce to have better
efficiency in terms of, you know, targeting, also in terms of
(11:53):
the whole sale process, becausethat's quite key.
That's very smooth, especiallyfor the US, because you guys are
so mature in terms of watchmarket, in terms of shopping or
purchase experience online, soit really has to be seamless,
and so these are kind of theelements we're putting into
place to make it grow.
(12:14):
And of course I mean thingnumber one is to get us known,
because once you know us and youstart getting into our products
, people are really amazed whatthe quality we have, the variety
, uh, the programs we have.
So it's quite, you know we have, we have, we have love to offer
.
Uh, we also do manufacture, sowe have our own engines in some.
(12:39):
Some watches, like you talkedabout, mysterious, seconds yeah
yeah, we know, you havemysterious second with Mercury
gravity.
Uh, we have a square wheel, andthen we also have skeletons
which are our own engine, if youwant, our own movement, which
we assemble here in in thisfactory.
So it's, you know, it's, it'svery interesting program we have
(13:02):
there.
But that's the high end, it'snot the bulk of our sales, but
it's also things we do to showthe people how good we are in
terms of craftsmanship.
What can we do?
And the prices are quite goodon these kind of manufacturer or
in-house developments.
We're between 5,000 and 10,000Swiss francs.
(13:23):
So again, this idea of beingvery accessible, having great
watchmaking but at accessibleprices, is very important.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
Based upon some of the homework that we did.
You joined the company in themid 2000s.
Is that?
Speaker 2 (13:41):
accurate 2008.
January 2008.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
And the later Justin said 2008, but I didn't want to
be entirely wrong.
I'm sure, since you've beenthere since 2008, I mean you've
seen the company change a lotRight During your time at
Maurice Lacroix.
What have you seen change andhow do you feel like the brand's
direction has shifted?
Speaker 2 (14:07):
I mean you feel like the brand's direction has
shifted.
Yeah, I mean, you know the thenice thing.
So it's now 16 years.
We had the 2009 crisis, we hadthe 2014 crisis and we had covid
.
So you can imagine these areall challenges, which I mean,
which you always say you knowchallenges.
You can see it two ways.
You know you can see it in anegative way.
I like to see it asopportunities.
Um, so the when I joined thecompany you know it was, it was
(14:30):
more kind of a product brand butnot a brand.
So it was about you know, yeah,we had like so many different
lines, not very consistentmessage.
Um, in the us you had adifferent collection than what
you have in Europe and what youhad in Asia.
There was kind of no red lineor kind of global brand image.
So, 2008 with them.
(14:53):
So, and also in 2007, 6 and 7,we I don't know if you know
about this, but ETA, which wasdelivering all of the watch
movement, sort of threatenedthey would not deliver the
industry anymore.
So we were at a point where,like, okay, what do we do?
Do we just stop with the brandor do we try to do it ourselves?
We did ourselves, but the issuewith doing it yourself is then
(15:18):
it's small volumes, which meansyou know if you want to offer
the still offer products.
They are.
They were like five, ten timeswhat you were offering before.
So there there came also thecrisis in 2009 and what we had
to do we had to reposition thebrand.
So that was an opportunity tome where the ceo came and said
(15:38):
guys, we have to rethink this.
So this is when, when westarted building the brand, you
know, and building kind of whatis this brand about?
You know, who do we want tofocus to?
What's our space in this wholewatch industry?
What are the price points weneed to hit, and that sort of
kind of the 2010 to 2015 period.
(16:03):
What we were still missing thatperiod is we didn't have a hero
product, so we were trying alot of stuff.
So, uh, you know, that's whenwe launched the pontus s, that's
when we did the partnership inbarcelona and we did some.
We started a lot of digital,digital activations, digital
campaigns.
So that was quite new.
You know, being on facebook inthose years was like, oh my god,
(16:25):
you're gonna have a customer,he's gonna ask you a question.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
But we thought okay, you know, let's start let's
start the communication.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
There's something good to it.
You know, if people can talkwith us and maybe you know we
can talk to them know about thebrand.
So that was quite interesting.
And then in in what we did inthose years.
So in 2014, they gave me thebrand lead and then we were
talking a lot to retailers,talking a lot to distributors,
(16:56):
and they're all telling us bringback the old Calypso.
But if you look at Calypso, thatwas a watch from the 90s, very
successful.
So we were selling hundreds ofthousands of that watch in the
90s.
But if you look at the designin 2014, it was like can't bring
this, it's like too outdated.
(17:16):
But the head of design wasquite smart and we said listen,
if there's so many feedbacksabout this watch, there must be
something.
And if we sold so many of thosewatches, there must be
something.
True, right?
So we did a design study, wedid market research, because we
only had one shot.
So we wanted really, you know,to be sure it works and doing
(17:37):
market research, yeah, and doingmarket research in the watch
industry.
I don't know how familiar youare with the watch industry, but
it's not a common thing.
So it took us two years toredesign this calypso, which
became the icon.
And what was interesting withthe market research?
Um, suddenly, because before,like all the watch brands,
(18:00):
you're like okay, it's two,000.
So it has a certain price point.
So who has the money?
Oh, you're 55 and plus you havea career, you're a business
owner, whatever.
But the thinking was we'retalking to the older generations
.
And then suddenly, throughmarket research, they're like
you know that quartz chronographicon?
(18:20):
Well, if you're 20 years old,you are interested and you have
uh, you have already signifiedyour wish to to purchase it.
So we were like, okay, that'sinteresting.
And, um, so, digging more onmarket research, debriefing
everything, we, we saw that,yeah, there was really a market
out there, 25 plus, um, and thenwe sort of, yeah, who are?
(18:41):
Who are these people?
And it's like, oh, millennials,never heard of that.
So, getting into the topic ofmillennials, this then pushed us
.
Then we changed the wholecommunication, we repositioned
basically the wholecommunication and then also at
the end, we actuallyrepositioned the whole brand.
Speaker 3 (18:59):
And that's I was going to say the icon I think
has helped push that as well.
Was going to say the icon Ithink has helped push that as
well.
Uh, because a lot of like themillennials kind of the younger
generation, are looking at thatmore like modernized design.
Uh, you know, compared to someof the other pieces and uh, I
know that's been one of y'all'sprobably biggest sellers, I
would say the icon it is.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
It's more than 70 of the sales today.
So in seven years, six years,that's great, you know it's,
it's, and it's basically theicon which made, which kind of
put us back on the on the chart,that's awesome, good business
what was the shift from like theicon to like the icon tide?
Speaker 1 (19:38):
you know like, how did that transition?
Were you just saying, hey look,we want to offer something a
little bit more like priceapproachable, or you know like,
because the tide is a very coolwatch too.
You know like, yeah so tides?
Speaker 2 (19:55):
how did that come about?
I mean, so we were 216millennials, right, obviously,
these millennials in in to two,20, 21, uh, they were then 30.
So we knew there's anothergeneration out there.
So, getting into the Gen Ztopic, trying to understand what
these guys want, also in termsof, uh, purchase potential or
(20:18):
kind of sales potential.
It is a big market, um, but ofcourse, as always from the watch
industry, ignored because notthese kind of older people and
young people don't buy expensivewatches and so on.
But we think it's different andif you go into that and what
was happening is, sosustainability is big on their
agenda.
So you know they're highlyconnected.
(20:41):
They are also very demanding.
They have strong opinions aboutwhat they purchase and also
sustainability is a questionmark we have Plus.
At the same time, it wasinteresting we were getting more
and more requests fromcustomers about sustainability.
People were asking, kind of,what's your packaging?
(21:03):
How much plastic do you sendwhen you send out watches?
Um, what are you doing?
Uh, with your whole logisticdistribution costs?
Are you, are you lookingspecifically at sustainability
topics?
Um, I got questions like do youhave vegan watches?
You know?
Speaker 3 (21:21):
everybody's worried about the footprint.
Yeah, but it's also a fairpoint because of the oils.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
You know what oils are you using.
You know everybody's worriedabout the footprint, yeah, but
it's also a fair point becauseof the oils.
You know what oils are youusing.
You know is it, is it syntheticoils?
Um straps, of course, you knowcalf or imitation or substitute.
So I mean all these questionsand and I mean the thing is
sustainability being high on theagenda of the gen Z, we started
(21:45):
looking into is it possible todo something.
So it was not about doingsomething completely sustainable
, but doing something moresustainable.
And this is how we got intothis cold tide topic, because
plastic is a big problem andthen thinking of OK, you can
recycle it and make a cool watch, and the advantage of it is you
(22:07):
can give it any color you want,so that you know it kind of
becomes very funky because youcan start to do huge variations.
So that's how the tide cameabout that's pretty cool.
Speaker 3 (22:24):
I was gonna ask you um, how, how does uh, how does
maurice lacroix uh ensure thequality of its time pieces and
uh, what sets its manufacturingprocess apart, uh, from other,
you know, watch brands um.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
So I mean, what's what's different versus most of
the watch brands, but not notthe top ones, is?
I mean, we have a wholedevelopment in-house.
So I have technical developers,I have people working on designs
, then I have the wholedevelopment process internalized
, meaning, you know, workingfrom a design technical drawing,
(23:00):
from a technical drawing on theprototyping, prototyping, then
of course, pre, pre-series,pre-production, and then of
course, you're going to yourproduction.
Um, so this is quite particularbecause if you master the
development of movements andthen we have all our you know
assembly lines here and and alsowhat you do is you have quality
(23:22):
control incoming, which youtend to be more strict, that you
can be very flawless in termsof your production, very
streamlined, and then, of course, at the end of your production
line, again you've got qualitycontrols.
And basically what I was sayingis we're able of doing the
high-end watches and thishigh-end watches, so the most
(23:44):
expensive watches are designedby the same teams, developed by
the same teams but also checkedby the same teams and produced
by the same teams or assembledby the same teams than the guys
who will do the low lines.
So, meaning, the expertise, thecompetence we can do we have on
the high end.
We give the same attention onthe low end.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
Something I noticed too that, like, I guess you
don't really talk about anymore,or at least people don't give
you credit for, but you guyswere one of the first brands to
really kind of push this idea ofalternative materials, like,
and when I when I say like, whenI look back in, like power
light right, like in 2013, likeyou guys were working on power
(24:30):
light and people were like, whyare you spending money
developing materials like nobodycares?
You know, um, and then now yousee every single watch brand out
there has some type ofproprietary materials.
Um, I mean, that's credit thatyou guys deserve, that you don't
.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
You know you don't take the throne there, you know
yeah, I mean, we're being veryswiss, you know, very
understated very discreet but, Imean yeah, but this year we
worked a lot on materials.
I don't know if you follow a bitour launches, so, um, we did a
few very nice bronze executionsbeginning of the year on the
(25:10):
Pontus S and on the Icon.
We launched a few weeks ago thetitanium.
And, of course, one materialwhich is quite difficult to
master but we're about to launchis the ceramic Icon ceramic
through, but we're we're aboutto launch is the ceramic icon.
Ceramic so it's, and andceramic, you know it's, in terms
(25:31):
of the quality.
So there's a black one, a whiteone, and the black is matte and
the white one is really white,white.
So it was so white that, youknow, we have the
anti-reflecting coating on thedial, because we want to dial,
too, match the pureness of ofthe ceramic bands and case.
So the white has to be reallypure.
(25:51):
And when you we did this at theend of the process, we saw that
the anti-reflective coating wasgiving it a yellowish, brownish
tint.
So we even worked on theanti-reflective coating to have
something really pure white.
So that's going to be quiteinteresting.
And the black one, matte, isreally cool.
And well, you know, ceramic isvery breakable.
So we had to reconceive thewhole watch in terms of the
(26:13):
strap, the, the bracelet,because in in a normal steel
steel watch, a steel strap, youhave pins, but if you put pins
in a ceramic braids it justsnaps, just shatters.
And also the design of our icon.
You have a kind of six grips orsix claws on on the bezel and
(26:36):
these are screwed from beneath.
Well, ceramic you cannot screwsomething from in beneath, it
just shatters too.
So we had to.
It's a monoblock bezel and alsothe strap is completely new
design.
But we wanted to keep the.
You have to keep the iconproportions or the design.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
So it's been uh, it's been actually two and a half
three years development to getthat and because it's more risk,
like well, it's one of the mostaccessible ceramic proposal in
the market ceramic is incrediblychallenging to work with and,
uh, I have a few ceramic watchesand you know, of course,
everybody's like, oh well, thewatch will just shatter and if
(27:12):
you drop it I, I haven't hadthat happen to me, thank gosh,
um.
But you know, I I have seensome of the stuff that you do,
which you know, with pbd and uh,and I guess, for me personally,
I have a bias against pbdbecause, uh, in the like, I had
one of the early bell and rosswatches and it's like you know,
(27:37):
you look at it and it'sscratched and it goes right to
the steel and you're like, okay,well, you know.
Or if you look at some of theum, the mid-70s pvds with like,
uh, like the course, yeah, theporsche design chronographs and
all that, and I mean they justlook like shit.
You know, uh in in modern, uh,in a modern collection, but uh,
(28:00):
but I'll be excited to see um.
And I guess you know, obviouslywe talked to a lot of watch
brands and we know you guys aresuper far out.
Like you know, you're lookingat your next five, ten years, do
you guys?
And you don't have to give usall the details, but I'm sure
you have something new thatyou're getting ready to drop.
You know that maybe might takethe icon away from the mainstay.
(28:25):
You know a new collection.
If you could give us a taste.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
So next year is the 50th anniversary of Maurice
Lacroix.
So I mean there's a differentway to look at it.
I mean some brands you knowit's a tendency to celebrate 50
years and you redo a best of ofyour last 50 years.
But we are younger brand, sowe've got 50 years of experience
.
But it's also for us to kickoff the next 50 years.
(28:55):
So there will be um.
It will be a very interestingyear to follow Maurice Lacroix.
There will be at the beginningof the year an opportunity we're
bringing back.
What we're missing today iseven a more accessible watch,
mechanical Kind of everydaywatch, but Maurice Lacroix
(29:18):
quality will be around $1,300.
That's one part of it.
Another area we haven't beenvery strong, but we have strong,
big opportunities, is ladies.
So, ladies, there will be avery beautiful launch next year.
We're actually what'sinteresting is we're relaunching
(29:39):
something, a shape we had inthe collection in the year 1992
thousands and we worked a lot ondeveloping, redesigning the
shape internally.
But interesting enough it's.
Speaker 3 (29:55):
It's very close to things we had 30 years ago but
it's not a square cubitus okay,all right, glad to hear that you
guys are focusing on likeladies watches too, because I I
feel like that's that's kind ofthe thing, is it's becoming of
the day that like ladies watchesare becoming more prevalent?
Uh, it's good to see ladieskind of getting into the market
(30:16):
more too.
Um, so that'll be exciting tosee we've talked.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
We've talked to some like females in the industry in,
like you know, the concept ofmaking a female watch is just.
It's like shrinking it down andthrowing diamonds on it, or
throwing mother of pearl andthey're like come on, like this
is bullshit you know so so whatpower do you?
Speaker 2 (30:37):
yeah, we have one collection with this, ladies
only.
Currently it's fiaba and um.
It's exactly what you say.
I mean design and men's watch.
Make it, shrinking it.
It's not aAPA and it's exactlywhat you say.
I mean designing a men's watchand shrinking it.
It's not a beautiful ladies'design and the same thing around
you know being I mean, we seeit every day being good at
designing men's watches does notmean you're good at designing
ladies' watches.
It's a huge challenge and it'syou know, and you look at some
(31:03):
brands who are very good withladies' watches.
I mean, basically you're goodat one or the other, but there's
very little brands who do both.
Yeah, but getting back to the50th anniversary, and then, of
course, I mean Icon has justbeen launched, if you want,
because it's been six years,seven years now.
(31:23):
So our focus still remains iconand and next year we just want
to bring icon to a next level.
So there will be some, you know, some reinforcement of the
current what we do, but we'llalso think about how can we
bring it also a new in new areas, new territories, without
(31:45):
alienating where we're good at,which is kind of the classical
icon today, and this has tocontinue.
Speaker 3 (31:52):
Now we know that you guys have influencers,
ambassadors, people like thatthat can help drive these
products.
How important are thesepartnerships for Maurice Lecoy,
and what qualities do you lookfor in these ambassadors and
influencers?
Speaker 2 (32:09):
I mean the whole thing about ambassador
influencers.
First thing is the world haschanged and the point number one
is about authenticity.
So, exactly on these people, itbrings us nothing if we pay
somebody millions for a fewposts.
Of course it's out there, butpeople will know, especially the
(32:31):
younger generation.
They know, okay, it's paid, sois it really relevant?
So, point number one, it'sabout really having authentic
relationships.
So the friends of brand we haveare really people who are
interested in what we do.
They don't do it for the money,but what we try to do is we try
to create projects.
We like to develop thingstogether and so you know
(32:54):
partnerships we've done in thepast or things we're bringing on
next year.
There's two or threeinteresting collaborations and
it's all fun stuff.
And it's also fun stuff in this.
We like to be perceived as anurban brand because of our you
know these younger generations,uh, propentially, you know their
(33:15):
playground is the city, is theurban environment, and so you
know to speak to them, to berelevant to them, you want to do
things in the urban environment.
This is why we're big intobasketball, three by three, and
this is why we've done things inthe past like formula e because
it happens in the city, withthis, this kind of modern
volleyball, which was alwaysstadiums that were building up
(33:36):
in cities.
So you know, there's, it'salways the city, the city, the
urban environment.
Right, we have an ambassador.
She's a skateboarding,longboard skateboarder.
We have people who do urbandancing.
They're kind of street dance,hip-hop for tide.
We did a red bull dancer style,which is kind of a hip-hop
(33:57):
street style contest.
So you see, that's really the,the urban environment is where
we try to play and that's that'swhere we have our customer base
.
And then you bring in the watch, kind of the Swiss watch
message.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
I also noticed that you guys used to have more maybe
should I say his name.
I think you know where I'mgoing with this but you guys
used to have more sports-focusedinfluencers, specifically
tennis stars that are no longerwith you.
So I guess it seems like thementality has just shifted right
(34:40):
, because you're going afterseemingly a different audience
than you are now.
Yes, is that where thedirection change happened in
your ambassador program orfriends of the brand?
Speaker 2 (34:52):
Absolutely, absolutely.
Because going with superstarseverybody knows you pay the
millions.
And then how authentic is itthem pushing or being portrayed
or doing something on socialmedia with your brand?
You know it's so.
You go with that brand becausejust this person has been paid
(35:13):
millions to to work with it.
Or are you going to work withsomeone or appreciate a brand
where somebody who stands behindit really likes what we do and
there's a reason to the person,a reason why this person works
with you.
So we I mean we we definitelywill not work and not working
with big names.
(35:34):
And it's also, you know, it'snot the idea of the brand.
The idea of the brand is to doexactly what we did in 2004 and
is to take people in thebecoming and a system.
So you know, the whole campaignclaim is about your time is now
, and we always say, you know,success is a journey, not a
(35:55):
destination.
So it's all these ideas whichare very strong here and the
brand is younger.
You know, it's about yourbeginnings, it's about your
first successes.
If you have somebody of the, ofthe quality of you mentioned
before you're at the end of yourcareer, you've done it, you're
the best, you're number one,right that makes sense.
Speaker 1 (36:18):
You know, out of all the years I've been in the watch
industry and all the brandswe've worked with, I have never
heard somebody say thatauthenticity is important and it
is.
Speaker 2 (36:32):
it is the number one important point If you're a
social media today and insomething that, like our, our
first podcast guest was JosePerestroika.
Speaker 1 (36:43):
Do you know who Jose is?
No His his name is.
His alias is periscope okay buthe, yeah, he's an investigative
journalist and he kind ofexposes the, the big brands and
all of the, the bullshit thatthey put out and skew and um,
(37:04):
and you know a lot of thesebrands are really hiding a lot
of you know importantinformation from their customers
.
And we, you know we can useevery single watchmaker ever.
Who's ever lied about using anin-house caliber or you know, or
whatever right, but it's.
It's refreshing to hear you sayyou know, because I've never
(37:26):
heard anybody say that.
And you know, that's what Ithink.
When we started Lonely Wrist,like, the whole concept and
project was to first of all giveeverybody like an equal playing
field.
Right, we're like you know, wecould, you know, promote the big
boys.
Right, like you know, we could,you know, promote the big boys
right.
You know, all the Richemonts,all the Swatch Group products,
(37:48):
all the LVMH brands.
But we're giving everybody theequal playing field to come on
our platform, right, because wefeel like every watch brand
caters to a unique market, likea unique customer segment.
So creating an equal playingfield and then transparency, you
(38:10):
know, being honest, beinggenuine.
You know I used to sell watchesand I can't tell you how many
times I told people to not buy awatch because it was a piece of
shit.
You know, and I'm glad to hearyou say that, to be honest, um,
but I'm sure, as you, as youtransition into targeting a
younger crowd, you knowobviously switch watchmaking
(38:33):
kind of like hangs us laurels ontradition, right, like being
traditional.
So how, how do you guys balancelike being a traditional watch
brand versus like targeting anew generation of people?
Who who wears these all thetime?
Speaker 2 (38:49):
yeah, but I mean that's um, and the answer is
with the gen z's.
They're the best example andthey really give you the the
answer.
The thing is with gen z's, youknow they're, they're over
connected, they um, they learned, you know, get this right.
After two years you throw itaway and um, there's.
(39:10):
So there's different elementsbecause I mean, these people are
over connected, so they need toget a grip on something right.
And what is interesting withswiss watch making?
It's, it's Swiss watchmaking,it's a traditional Swiss
heritage, just like the work ofleather for the handbag industry
.
Or you have fashion, with thebig fashion brands, high-end
(39:35):
fashion, haute couture.
All these luxury categorieshave something always rooted in
very traditional things.
What they also learned about isit's not only about the
traditional part, but it's aboutthe quality part.
It goes together right.
And look at what's happening atthe moment the whole vintage
(40:00):
market, not only for watches,but look at what's happening
with Hermes bags, chanel bags,30, 40-year-old bags, which are
sold more expensive the price ofnew.
And what these youngergenerations have learned is,
first of all, you don't throw itaway.
After two years you pay a bitmore money, but over the years,
(40:23):
if you look at the usage and youcan also can take care of it,
especially watches.
You know you can.
You got a problem, you got abattery, you can.
You can repair it.
You can.
You have a problem with themovement?
You can fix it.
And you can use a watch 30, 40,50, 60 years.
So on one side you havesomething to hold on.
You learn that it's moreexpensive but quality, on the
(40:47):
long run you have more out of it.
And then there's, of course,the whole sustainability thing,
which is about not wasting orthrowing things away, but
repairing it, taking care of it.
And then there's also thecultural heritage part, which is
relevant.
I mean, look at the number ofprojects of artists who are
reinterpreting traditional waysof paint, of crafts, um, you
(41:13):
know, in different fields.
Um, also look at the high-endfashion.
You know, every year, of course, they have to come and bring
four or five collections, but alot of the inspiration, you know
.
Then you got the 40s, then yougot the 50s, then you got 60s.
I mean it's always getting backbecause you need to have
something to to hold on, and allthese things are quite
(41:35):
interesting with this, this newgeneration, and we there were,
we were all thinking, okay,smartwatch is coming out.
It's dead, but you know, at theend the watch, what is the
watch?
It's dead, but at the end thewatch, what is the watch?
It's not the extension of youriPhone on your wrist.
The Swiss watch tells a lotabout who you are.
It's like a handbag, it's likea piece of fashion that you
(42:01):
recycled in a vintage store.
It tells a lot about you.
It's a lot about taste,distinguishedness and also
character, attitude.
Are you going to buy a blackPVD or black ceramic watch and
you're going to be dressed allin black?
Or you like the color stuff, orare you more kind of the
(42:23):
elegant type, or are you more onthe disc elegant type?
Or are you more on the discreetside or are you on the showy
side?
So you know it's a veryintimate and personal
communication you have versusyour peers and in this society
where thing is so fast, soconnected, where you're losing
your values, I mean watchmakinghas some solutions or has some
(42:45):
things you can take out of it.
Speaker 3 (42:46):
Yeah, yeah, I definitely think that there will
always be newer technologiesthat come out that will always
try and take somehow from thewatch industry and try and flip
things differently differenttrends, if you will.
So, while we're on that subject, what trends do you see
(43:07):
emerging in the luxury watchindustry and how do you guys
plan to stay ahead of thosetrends?
Speaker 2 (43:17):
I mean, what we see a lot is about kind of the no
gender or kind of men's watchesbecoming smaller, ladies'
watches becoming bigger, and atthe end, what we see is women
sharing watches of their men'sand vice versa.
So that's, that's aninteresting one.
Then you have a lot ondevelopment, on more colors.
(43:39):
So I think people need moretime for expression, and one
which is huge.
But it's not only watchmaking,it's in all over, in all goods
categories, it's collaborations.
I mean, i've've I've never seenso many collaborations, not
only in watches, but in apparel,in fashion, yeah, you name it.
(44:03):
there's not one category, oneindustry that doesn't do
collaborations today it's a lotabout like who you know, With
who you work right, there's somegood examples and there's some
less good examples, but I thinkit's also nice to stretch the
brands and then to go inreaching out to new communities.
(44:24):
It's a bit about expanding yourbrand footprint.
There's actually a lot you cando.
And the good thing aboutcollaborations the more you do,
the more you learn, becausewe've been doing stuff with
designers like 10 years ago andat the beginning it was like,
okay, what are we going to dowith that designer or that
(44:45):
architect or that artist?
But at the end this person hasanother vision and what we've
done out of the collaborationswe ended up finding always very
interesting ideas which thenfound their way again in the
collection one way or the otheryears after.
Speaker 1 (45:05):
You've talked a lot about targeting a younger
demographic Gen Z, millennials,I mean, I didn't see anything
like this, but I'm assuming youguys are working on programs or
initiatives, things like that,that kind of contribute to the
(45:29):
community and support ethicalpractices and watchmaking.
Um, maybe not, maybe so.
If yes, uh, can you tell usabout some of those things?
Speaker 2 (45:42):
yeah, I mean the.
The best example was tide,where every you know 20 of the
production costs were going tothis foundation in northern
northern thailand where theyrecycle, get the bottles plastic
bottles out of the ocean.
So it served two ways.
One is that there's so muchplastic waste in those regions,
there's less fish, meaning localcommunities.
(46:04):
Uh, with the fishermen, theywere sending more their kids out
to um to get fish and notgetting education.
So what we were doing is wewere paying them the price we
would pay them for fish.
We were paying them in kilos ofbottles plastic bottles
recycled, which means you knowthey go out whatever they do
(46:27):
less fish, more fish or plasticbottles they would get a fixed
income and which allowed them tosend their kids to school.
And then we were also payingwarehouses infrastructures,
because there's parts of theworld where, especially Northern
Thailand, it's not the levelsof quality and infrastructure
(46:47):
you have in modern civilizationsas we use it in the US or
Europe.
So it's nice also to besupportive, develop that and at
the end you get the plastic yourecover finds its way into a
watch.
That's one of them.
But I always say sustainabilityor these initiatives.
(47:10):
It's not about the reports andthe greenwashing.
It's about doing them.
And the question is always it'snot what do you do, but when do
you start right?
And once you start, there's noway back.
And well, I mean, anyway, interms of sustainability, it
becomes a standard.
(47:30):
I mean, you know, look at thegenerations coming, they're very
high expectations, verydemanding.
It becomes a standard.
I mean, look at the generationscoming, they're very high
expectations, very demanding,and it's important that you
deliver on that agenda.
And I've seen, I've heard, I'veseen some customers saying you
know, oh, how does this?
Is this watch packaged?
Oh, does it come with that?
Okay, I'm not having that watchbecause I, this company shows
(47:54):
me they don't understand what myvalues are and I have other
expectations.
So, okay, the watch is fine,but the packaging, it's a no-go.
Speaker 1 (48:03):
So I don't support this cause something that I've
heard you talk about, whichagain is very refreshing, is
customer feedback.
You know, like you said, hey,look, here's what our customer
wants, here's what we've heard.
You know.
It sounds like you know,because you guys are I mean, I'm
going to use air quotes here,but a smaller watch brand um,
(48:27):
that you guys actually canlisten to your customers, like
if you look at some of the bigboys out there, like they're not
even going to listen to me orjustin or any of our listeners
or anybody.
I don't give a shit about any ofus you know, they're like hey,
and you know you can look at themost recent cubitus release,
where you know the ceo came outand said well, you're just a
hater like we don't care whatyou think you're never going to
(48:49):
want to protect, you know.
So the fact that you're actuallylistening to your customers is
something that is also veryunique in the watch industry,
you know so.
So, I mean, it seems likethat's very important to you.
And and how do you?
You know, I'm sure there'slisteners out there that are
(49:10):
that have your watches and haveyour products in their home and
on their wrist how do you engageyour customers and how do you
communicate with them?
Speaker 2 (49:21):
I mean, first thing important is we always say we
listen to customers.
It's not a marketing claim.
I mean you can go on thewebsite now.
There's my email address andeverybody who writes me an email
.
I respond to them and and ourour point of view is, you know,
a customer giving you a feedback.
It's not a critic, becauseevery feedback you get you get
(49:45):
is half a solution, it's half aproposal and you know, the
success on icon has been basedon market research and most of
the things we do is based onfeedback because our customer
know better than we do what theywant.
Our distributors, our retailersare facing everyday customers
with requests.
(50:05):
You know, and the best way todo watches and to develop
watches is to develop watches.
You sell.
A watch that sells is a watchthat has been decided.
When there has been a decisionbehind from a customer, he says,
yes, I want this brand becauseI like the design, I like the
(50:28):
brand spirit, whatever.
So ignoring your customerfeedback is sort of ignoring the
sellability of your product.
Speaker 3 (50:37):
I know earlier we were kind of on the subject of
working with ceramic and howdifficult it can be.
I'm curious, kind of rewordthis in a way, but can you share
one of the most challengingprojects that your team has
worked on in recent times andwhat made it so groundbreaking
(50:57):
for?
Speaker 2 (50:58):
the brand.
I mean ceramic definitely,because I mean it took us one in
three years and now we'redelivering the first batches.
But we also plan, you know, bigbatches.
We have high quality controls.
So our supplier are sweating atthe moment because they can
only deliver half of thequantities, but we've got big
(51:20):
orders there.
Titanium was also a challenge.
So all the materials, as longas you get out of the steel and
the gold, it's all materialswhich, okay, it's sexy.
They've got better, better umcharacteristics.
I mean yeah, but then againit's very complicated because
(51:42):
the titanium watch we have, forexample, um on the three hands,
so we have an ultraviolet colorand the other one is a
tone-on-tone gray, same color asthe titanium.
We have been smart enough tosay we want the strap to be
(52:03):
polished and brushed.
Speaker 3 (52:04):
Yeah, that was really a good idea.
It gives it that wrist rollability.
It looks better.
Speaker 2 (52:08):
It looks more qualitative, but it's been also
a very big challenge.
You to polish titanium, that isis quite challenging.
Speaker 1 (52:17):
I'm a I'm a huge fan of, uh, forged carbon, like I.
I start to see everybody doingcarbon, like forged carbon
watches.
I'm like, yes, yes, this iswhat I want you know, like this
is what I'm into.
Um, and I, I know, becauseeverybody just says how hard it
is to work with because it'sfragile, but you have to form it
(52:41):
right before it becomes strongand blah, blah, blah, blah, blah
, yeah.
Speaker 2 (52:46):
So if you're into forged carbon, I mean, we did
the collection in 2014 on thePontus Pontus S Regatta that was
forged carbon and for the onlywatch project we presented the
Gravity on forged carbon.
We still have a few cases.
So if you want to have yourcustomized and unique watch, you
can choose the color of thedial and we still have some
(53:07):
cases left.
Speaker 1 (53:10):
I have.
Ever since I got a chance toget hands on with the Pontus,
I've been waking up in themiddle of my night dreaming
about them, because it's a sickwatch, you know, it's just so
good, it's just so good, andyeah, so I'm gonna have to get
(53:30):
in touch with you about gettingsome of the, getting one of
those.
Speaker 2 (53:34):
You got my email, stephenvazercom, very easy.
Speaker 1 (53:39):
I was laughing because whenever you said, oh,
my email's on the website, I waslike, well, that would have
made our life a lot easierbecause we went through the more
formal channels to reach here,you know, going through your rep
and going through yourleadership team, and I was like,
shit, that would have saved usa lot of time.
I'm I'm really curious, youknow, since you are, you know, a
(54:03):
leader in the watch industry.
You're a CEO.
You know what have you learnedin a leadership role at a watch
brand and what are some of thevaluable lessons that you've
learned about leadershipmanagement?
Speaker 2 (54:19):
and you know, while you've been at maurice lacroix,
I mean, the the most importantthing is is about the team.
You gotta gotta get your teamengaged.
Um, you know, it's not about mydecisions or my choices.
I mean, we all are people withvarious tastes but I think it's
(54:40):
really important to to supportthe team, to give the team the
chance to express themselves,and my job is is more about, you
know, it's more about kind ofbeing a coach or, you know,
assisting them.
I'm there just to check thatwe're respecting and we're going
to the direction of the Nolanstyle We've set ourselves and
checked that the strategies areright.
But the big leverage I meanwe're 60 people here in the
(55:06):
factory and globally the brandis about 120 people with nine
subsidiaries.
But it's about, you know, soyouaries but it's about you know
so you're not a big, you knowyou're not a huge team, so you
need to have the, you know, theI will always say the power of
the multiples.
Together you achieve more team.
So that's, that's, that's,that's what you need because you
(55:28):
don't in terms of resources.
I mean it easy when you've gotmillions of budget, you can
engage all the people, the smartpeople we have to take a call
on.
You know, do we engage this guyand we get that?
We engage that guy and we getthat?
It's like we only have oneposition here, right.
Speaker 1 (55:48):
And how did you transition from just being with
the brand to kind of running thebrand.
Because I never got that storyfrom you and I'm very curious.
Speaker 2 (55:58):
Yeah, I joined as marketing director in 2008.
And I mean already when Ijoined.
I mean I saw the brand.
I was like whoa, it has a lotof potential but there's a lot
of work.
There was a lot of work aboutthis clarity in the collections,
(56:19):
clear brand positioning, alsoprocesses.
What also a lot of peopleforget or never.
They forget that behind a lotof success, brand success, it's
not only about the marketing andthe product.
It's also what happens on thebackstage, especially in
production processes.
So what we've been able to doin a few years with less people
(56:44):
to produce faster and meaningproducing faster.
Your retailer is happy becausewhen he has a customer and he
doesn't have the watch in stock,the chances he gets delivered
quite fast and there's he canrepurchase is, with most like
what, very high.
It was not like that when Ijoined.
When I joined, if you wanted toreorder, repurchase a watch
(57:08):
which was non-stock, sometimesit would take you a year, year
and a half.
Today, just and a half.
Today, just a few days, wow.
So it's a different world.
So this means also betterconfidence from your retailers,
from distribution partners,because they know they have to
carry less stock because anytimethey can call and somebody in
(57:30):
the back has it on stock andit's delivered quite fast.
Speaker 1 (57:35):
Yeah, I mean.
Times have changed and I'llfind our final question reaching
the top of the hour here.
I'm sure in your mind, as acompetent CEO, you have the next
decade planned, know, for thebrand.
So give us some of your youknow uh milestones that you hope
(57:59):
to achieve, because what we'regoing to do is we're going to
check back with you in a coupleyears and see, and see where
you're at to achieve those Imean the.
Speaker 2 (58:09):
The northern star we have with a big vision is we
want to be among the top five orthe top players on this 1,000
to 3,000 watch category.
So it means in 10 years we'llstill be in that price segment.
We'll still offer you very highquality, we'll be offering you
craftsmanship, we'll be offeringyou design, iconic designs and
(58:33):
basically quality and aftersales and quality and production
.
Right, this is where we'reheading.
But what I also learned is notto plan too far ahead, because
you get the challenges.
Speaker 1 (58:45):
So it's much more important you're agile that I
like that, just knowing how topivot well, thank you so much
for spending, you know, justabout an hour with us, sharing
your passion for the brand, thefuture, uh, walking us through
some of the concepts and some ofyour leadership strategies.
(59:07):
Uh, I can't say I'm.
I'm humbled enough just thatyou spent some time with us and,
um, and I'm a fan, you know, uh, I can't wait, I can't wait to
watch you take over, and I'll besitting there, as you know,
rooting with my little marisaquaff rat flag, um.
(59:27):
But but thank you, you know Ijust really want to thank you
for spending time with us and umand giving your perspective,
you know.
Thanks you guys.
Speaker 2 (59:36):
Thanks for the chat guys very interesting and, and
you know, if you really want tohelp us speak about else,
because this is really what wecan use and help.
So awareness is is our numberone challenge.
Once we got sorted theawareness part, we can.
We can, we can pick up on theproduct quality.
Speaker 1 (59:56):
This is the phase one for us the podcast.
Then we start rolling outYouTube videos and articles and
all that.
Speaker 2 (01:00:03):
I'll be there anytime .
Speaker 1 (01:00:07):
Everybody.
We are going to link MauriceLacroix's website down there in
the description of the podcast,the YouTube video.
Check them out, find your localdealer, get to them, get hands
on with these watches.
You do not want to miss out onthis great brand.
Thank you so much, stefan, forcoming on Thank you guys, thank
(01:00:29):
you.
We will see you on the nextepisode at some point.
Thanks everybody Bye.
Hello everybody, welcome to another episode of
Lonely Wrist.
Today, sitting in front of us,we have the CEO of Maurice
Lacroix Stéphane.
What's up, brother?
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Hi everybody Doing great Preparing some end of year
sales, so quite busy.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Do you guys have a big holiday planned?
I'm assuming?
Speaker 2 (00:22):
I mean there's a lot happening.
You know we're international,so we cater to 81 markets.
So you have all the Diwali'scoming up and then you have of
course the whole Christmasfestive season.
Then of course you then go toChinese New Year, russian New
Year, chinese New Year, sothere's a lot of festive and
holidays coming up.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Yeah, I literally was just in istanbul, like last
week, and it seems like everycorner has a maurice laquad
dealer, which is awesome massive.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Yeah, turkey is massive.
We are really well representedin turkey and it's it's been
doing very well.
Actually, turkey is one of ourtop five markets.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
It seems so, because here in Vegas which is weird
because there's only one dealerin Vegas and they have a very
limited selection and Justin'sin Raleigh and he said there's
one dealer there too.
But it was really hard to seeyour product until your rep came
(01:29):
and we spent hours just goingover the collection and,
needless to say, I was superimpressed.
It's a shame howunderrepresented you are, which
is the reason why you're sittingin front of me.
Hopefully.
Thanks for the invitation, sowe can let everybody know how
(01:51):
awesome you are.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Yeah, I mean we've been in the US since the 90s but
it's been ups and downs.
We did some.
What happened?
A lot in the last 20, 30 years.
We did some strategy changeswhich repositioned.
So at one point of time we'reretailing watches between five
hundred and thousand dollar.
(02:13):
Then there's one period we wereretailing watches between five
and ten and basically what we'redoing now is is back to kind of
where we were successful theorigins.
We are very comfortable in aprice range between $1,000 to
$3,000.
So that's where we're home.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Yeah, I mean, you guys are super young 1975, I
believe.
How did the brand kind of getits niche carved out?
And in the 1970s everybody wasmaking watch brands like it was
cool, right.
So it's a very saturated timeto start a watch brand.
(02:48):
Uh, let's talk about the earlydays of the brand and how you
guys were able to carve such aunique identity in a crowded
segment already yeah, I thinkthe um, you know, 1975 or the
70s, it was even morechallenging.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Because challenging because you had a lot of watches
and watch brands.
I think there were about 1,600Swiss watch brands.
Today there's only 650 Swissmade.
But in the 70s, what also waswhat we call the quartz crisis,
where the quartz started to sell, sell well, and then the
interest for mechanicalautomatic watches really went
(03:29):
down.
So this is also something verymost like.
Why I mean we like challengesand how did we make it the main
idea?
was that that period of time, um, you know, if you wanted some
very nice mechanicalcomplications, as we we call it,
or very high in watchmaking,you had to really put a big, big
(03:49):
, big lump of money on the tableto get that.
And what we have been doingsince the start, which is at the
center of the brand idea, isbringing very high in
watchmaking at accessible prices.
So in that period we were knownfor the masterpiece.
We have some beautifulmasterpiece.
Um, you know, we did retrograde, we did day and night
(04:12):
indication, also very simple bigdates and, um, what you also
call small seconds.
So you know, it's all very finewatchmaking details, but we
were bringing this at veryaccessible prices, around $2,000
, $2,500 at that time.
And this still continued.
(04:33):
And today, if you pick up one ofour best-selling collection
Icon, the retail price is about$2,000, $2,500 for a mechanical
watch.
But it's a lot of quality.
You got, of course, sappsapphire crystal open case back.
You have a screwed crown.
(04:53):
It's water resistant to 200meters.
But you also have a easy strapexchange system.
So you can, you know, you cango from a steel strap to a
leather strap or rubber strapvery easy.
So there's a lot of advancedbenefits of, and it's a lot of
quality, and usually when peoplelook at our products, you know
when they start to know us.
They're always impressed withthe quality.
Get the price you're paying I.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
I would say I definitely felt that.
Um, you know, obviously I'veheld a lot of high-end watches
half a million to a milliondollar watches because I'm in
Vegas, I've got that luxury todo that but within a split
second it's easy to tell thatyou guys have a really
(05:37):
high-quality product.
I just noticed that so quickly.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
I'm curious, stéphane , what inspired the name behind
Maurice Lacroix, and is there aperson or a story behind it that
influenced the brand?
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Yeah, I mean.
So the family.
I mean the family that ownedMaurice Lacroix, because Maurice
Lacroix was in a family-ownedcompany in the 70s.
It belonged to a big tradinggroup and the main activity of
these people was basically silktrading and brush trading
(06:20):
industrial brushes and thiscompany has been existing since
18, 1812 or 1850, something likethat.
And um, when maurice lacroixcame to life, well, first this
company was also distributor ofswiss watch brands, very
prestigious swiss watch brandswhich are amongst the top 10
(06:44):
watch brands today and you knowthey.
So the whole silk trading andbrush trading was happening from
Asia to Europe.
And, being the Swiss company atthe beginning, people were
telling them you know, you'reSwiss kind of you get, bring me
this watch or that watch brand.
And basically they opened anagency for those brands.
So they were also distributing,so they were going to get the
(07:06):
silk, the brushes and thendistributing the watches to asia
.
And with the time they were sosuccessful at that, they opened
private label workshops.
So basically these, these samecustomers starting saying you
know, I like that watch, but Iwould like to have something
similar, 100 pieces of that withmy name, of my company or
(07:27):
whatever.
So that was kind of the 50s and60s was the swiss watts
industry was very strong onprivate labeling and in 1962
they, they basically purchased aprivate labeling workshop,
which I'm sitting here today.
It it's in Seigneur de Gillesin Switzerland.
That's good.
And so that was 1962.
(07:48):
And then the demand was so high.
So in the 70s they said, listen, I mean, we have so much demand
, we should do our own brand.
Right, and there was.
So you know, they had a boardof directors.
And what was the thing is?
From the board of directorsthey say, okay, we need to name
(08:12):
very French, because in the 70sFrance was the country in the
world, it was setting the trendsfor fashion, it was setting the
trends for luxury.
So everything that was Frenchin the 70s was the thing right,
and a bit like New York in the90s.
So that's why they said okay,and there was Maurice Lacroix
(08:37):
sitting on the board.
Maurice Lacroix, because youknow 1975, it's not that you
were doing 20 generations ofwatchmakers.
And they said, yes, let's takehis name.
And that's how it started.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
Ever since I had the chance to meet with your rep out
here, it seems that your brandhas been haunting me, because me
and Justin Justin was vegas notthat long ago but, um, you know
, occasionally I'll go to thislike, uh, it's like a pawn shop
(09:13):
and it's a very special pawnshop because they're owned by a
national chain of pawn shops and, let's just say, somebody pawns
a watch in like Iowa or likeMinnesota.
You know, there's not a hugeluxury mark like market there.
So what they'll do is they'llship the watches to Vegas, where
there's buyers for these highend watches.
(09:34):
And I went in there and yourmysterious seconds is sitting
there and I was like like thisis a crazy watch.
Um, still might be therebecause you know they're more in
the jewelry side than they arein the watches side.
Uh.
But then, um, I reached out to,uh, to andre, and I was like hey
(09:58):
, dude, like look at what I havein my hand.
And he was like how much is it?
And I I still need to get backto him about how much is it,
because it's, it's probablyreally cheap.
Um, you know, cause they letstuff go like super quick, but I
mean it, it's crazy.
And then when I went to Turkey,I just saw you guys on every
(10:18):
corner, um, and almost everybodyin the shops that sold your
watches was wearing your watches, and it was just really cool
because, you know, here at least, like I said, you guys are
really underrepresented, youknow.
So you have a huge challengeahead, especially in the North
(10:39):
American market, because youhave such a great product and
people just don't don't have theopportunity to get hands-on
with it yeah, I mean it's, it'sreally we have to do it step by
step.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
You know, um, us is one of our focus markets for the
future.
Um, what we also have to do, orhad to do, because it's it's
been a lot of structural changes, and so first we need to get
the basics right For next yearwe're going to have a strong
team in the market, and thenit's, I mean, at the end it's
(11:11):
about building the awareness.
I mean we already are presentin about 60 to 80 shops, but I
agree with you, you know, in theUS is so big, so you have to
make choices where to grow first.
And also online is quiteimportant.
I mean, basically today we do99% of our investments in terms
(11:33):
of visibility is online.
So digital social media and wesee also we have an e-commerce.
Of course, it's running sincetwo, three years, but last year
we took the opportunity to puton Salesforce to have better
efficiency in terms of, you know, targeting, also in terms of
(11:53):
the whole sale process, becausethat's quite key.
That's very smooth, especiallyfor the US, because you guys are
so mature in terms of watchmarket, in terms of shopping or
purchase experience online, soit really has to be seamless,
and so these are kind of theelements we're putting into
place to make it grow.
(12:14):
And of course I mean thingnumber one is to get us known,
because once you know us and youstart getting into our products
, people are really amazed whatthe quality we have, the variety
, uh, the programs we have.
So it's quite, you know we have, we have, we have love to offer
.
Uh, we also do manufacture, sowe have our own engines in some.
(12:39):
Some watches, like you talkedabout, mysterious, seconds yeah
yeah, we know, you havemysterious second with Mercury
gravity.
Uh, we have a square wheel, andthen we also have skeletons
which are our own engine, if youwant, our own movement, which
we assemble here in in thisfactory.
So it's, you know, it's, it'svery interesting program we have
(13:02):
there.
But that's the high end, it'snot the bulk of our sales, but
it's also things we do to showthe people how good we are in
terms of craftsmanship.
What can we do?
And the prices are quite goodon these kind of manufacturer or
in-house developments.
We're between 5,000 and 10,000Swiss francs.
(13:23):
So again, this idea of beingvery accessible, having great
watchmaking but at accessibleprices, is very important.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
Based upon some of the homework that we did.
You joined the company in themid 2000s.
Is that?
Speaker 2 (13:41):
accurate 2008.
January 2008.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
And the later Justin said 2008, but I didn't want to
be entirely wrong.
I'm sure, since you've beenthere since 2008, I mean you've
seen the company change a lotRight During your time at
Maurice Lacroix.
What have you seen change andhow do you feel like the brand's
direction has shifted?
Speaker 2 (14:07):
I mean you feel like the brand's direction has
shifted.
Yeah, I mean, you know the thenice thing.
So it's now 16 years.
We had the 2009 crisis, we hadthe 2014 crisis and we had covid
.
So you can imagine these areall challenges, which I mean,
which you always say you knowchallenges.
You can see it two ways.
You know you can see it in anegative way.
I like to see it asopportunities.
Um, so the when I joined thecompany you know it was, it was
(14:30):
more kind of a product brand butnot a brand.
So it was about you know, yeah,we had like so many different
lines, not very consistentmessage.
Um, in the us you had adifferent collection than what
you have in Europe and what youhad in Asia.
There was kind of no red lineor kind of global brand image.
So, 2008 with them.
(14:53):
So, and also in 2007, 6 and 7,we I don't know if you know
about this, but ETA, which wasdelivering all of the watch
movement, sort of threatenedthey would not deliver the
industry anymore.
So we were at a point where,like, okay, what do we do?
Do we just stop with the brandor do we try to do it ourselves?
We did ourselves, but the issuewith doing it yourself is then
(15:18):
it's small volumes, which meansyou know if you want to offer
the still offer products.
They are.
They were like five, ten timeswhat you were offering before.
So there there came also thecrisis in 2009 and what we had
to do we had to reposition thebrand.
So that was an opportunity tome where the ceo came and said
(15:38):
guys, we have to rethink this.
So this is when, when westarted building the brand, you
know, and building kind of whatis this brand about?
You know, who do we want tofocus to?
What's our space in this wholewatch industry?
What are the price points weneed to hit, and that sort of
kind of the 2010 to 2015 period.
(16:03):
What we were still missing thatperiod is we didn't have a hero
product, so we were trying alot of stuff.
So, uh, you know, that's whenwe launched the pontus s, that's
when we did the partnership inbarcelona and we did some.
We started a lot of digital,digital activations, digital
campaigns.
So that was quite new.
You know, being on facebook inthose years was like, oh my god,
(16:25):
you're gonna have a customer,he's gonna ask you a question.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
But we thought okay, you know, let's start let's
start the communication.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
There's something good to it.
You know, if people can talkwith us and maybe you know we
can talk to them know about thebrand.
So that was quite interesting.
And then in in what we did inthose years.
So in 2014, they gave me thebrand lead and then we were
talking a lot to retailers,talking a lot to distributors,
(16:56):
and they're all telling us bringback the old Calypso.
But if you look at Calypso, thatwas a watch from the 90s, very
successful.
So we were selling hundreds ofthousands of that watch in the
90s.
But if you look at the designin 2014, it was like can't bring
this, it's like too outdated.
(17:16):
But the head of design wasquite smart and we said listen,
if there's so many feedbacksabout this watch, there must be
something.
And if we sold so many of thosewatches, there must be
something.
True, right?
So we did a design study, wedid market research, because we
only had one shot.
So we wanted really, you know,to be sure it works and doing
(17:37):
market research, yeah, and doingmarket research in the watch
industry.
I don't know how familiar youare with the watch industry, but
it's not a common thing.
So it took us two years toredesign this calypso, which
became the icon.
And what was interesting withthe market research?
Um, suddenly, because before,like all the watch brands,
(18:00):
you're like okay, it's two,000.
So it has a certain price point.
So who has the money?
Oh, you're 55 and plus you havea career, you're a business
owner, whatever.
But the thinking was we'retalking to the older generations
.
And then suddenly, throughmarket research, they're like
you know that quartz chronographicon?
(18:20):
Well, if you're 20 years old,you are interested and you have
uh, you have already signifiedyour wish to to purchase it.
So we were like, okay, that'sinteresting.
And, um, so, digging more onmarket research, debriefing
everything, we, we saw that,yeah, there was really a market
out there, 25 plus, um, and thenwe sort of, yeah, who are?
(18:41):
Who are these people?
And it's like, oh, millennials,never heard of that.
So, getting into the topic ofmillennials, this then pushed us
.
Then we changed the wholecommunication, we repositioned
basically the wholecommunication and then also at
the end, we actuallyrepositioned the whole brand.
Speaker 3 (18:59):
And that's I was going to say the icon I think
has helped push that as well.
Was going to say the icon Ithink has helped push that as
well.
Uh, because a lot of like themillennials kind of the younger
generation, are looking at thatmore like modernized design.
Uh, you know, compared to someof the other pieces and uh, I
know that's been one of y'all'sprobably biggest sellers, I
would say the icon it is.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
It's more than 70 of the sales today.
So in seven years, six years,that's great, you know it's,
it's, and it's basically theicon which made, which kind of
put us back on the on the chart,that's awesome, good business
what was the shift from like theicon to like the icon tide?
Speaker 1 (19:38):
you know like, how did that transition?
Were you just saying, hey look,we want to offer something a
little bit more like priceapproachable, or you know like,
because the tide is a very coolwatch too.
You know like, yeah so tides?
Speaker 2 (19:55):
how did that come about?
I mean, so we were 216millennials, right, obviously,
these millennials in in to two,20, 21, uh, they were then 30.
So we knew there's anothergeneration out there.
So, getting into the Gen Ztopic, trying to understand what
these guys want, also in termsof, uh, purchase potential or
(20:18):
kind of sales potential.
It is a big market, um, but ofcourse, as always from the watch
industry, ignored because notthese kind of older people and
young people don't buy expensivewatches and so on.
But we think it's different andif you go into that and what
was happening is, sosustainability is big on their
agenda.
So you know they're highlyconnected.
(20:41):
They are also very demanding.
They have strong opinions aboutwhat they purchase and also
sustainability is a questionmark we have Plus.
At the same time, it wasinteresting we were getting more
and more requests fromcustomers about sustainability.
People were asking, kind of,what's your packaging?
(21:03):
How much plastic do you sendwhen you send out watches?
Um, what are you doing?
Uh, with your whole logisticdistribution costs?
Are you, are you lookingspecifically at sustainability
topics?
Um, I got questions like do youhave vegan watches?
You know?
Speaker 3 (21:21):
everybody's worried about the footprint.
Yeah, but it's also a fairpoint because of the oils.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
You know what oils are you using.
You know everybody's worriedabout the footprint, yeah, but
it's also a fair point becauseof the oils.
You know what oils are youusing.
You know is it, is it syntheticoils?
Um straps, of course, you knowcalf or imitation or substitute.
So I mean all these questionsand and I mean the thing is
sustainability being high on theagenda of the gen Z, we started
(21:45):
looking into is it possible todo something.
So it was not about doingsomething completely sustainable
, but doing something moresustainable.
And this is how we got intothis cold tide topic, because
plastic is a big problem andthen thinking of OK, you can
recycle it and make a cool watch, and the advantage of it is you
(22:07):
can give it any color you want,so that you know it kind of
becomes very funky because youcan start to do huge variations.
So that's how the tide cameabout that's pretty cool.
Speaker 3 (22:24):
I was gonna ask you um, how, how does uh, how does
maurice lacroix uh ensure thequality of its time pieces and
uh, what sets its manufacturingprocess apart, uh, from other,
you know, watch brands um.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
So I mean, what's what's different versus most of
the watch brands, but not notthe top ones, is?
I mean, we have a wholedevelopment in-house.
So I have technical developers,I have people working on designs
, then I have the wholedevelopment process internalized
, meaning, you know, workingfrom a design technical drawing,
(23:00):
from a technical drawing on theprototyping, prototyping, then
of course, pre, pre-series,pre-production, and then of
course, you're going to yourproduction.
Um, so this is quite particularbecause if you master the
development of movements andthen we have all our you know
assembly lines here and and alsowhat you do is you have quality
(23:22):
control incoming, which youtend to be more strict, that you
can be very flawless in termsof your production, very
streamlined, and then, of course, at the end of your production
line, again you've got qualitycontrols.
And basically what I was sayingis we're able of doing the
high-end watches and thishigh-end watches, so the most
(23:44):
expensive watches are designedby the same teams, developed by
the same teams but also checkedby the same teams and produced
by the same teams or assembledby the same teams than the guys
who will do the low lines.
So, meaning, the expertise, thecompetence we can do we have on
the high end.
We give the same attention onthe low end.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
Something I noticed too that, like, I guess you
don't really talk about anymore,or at least people don't give
you credit for, but you guyswere one of the first brands to
really kind of push this idea ofalternative materials, like,
and when I when I say like, whenI look back in, like power
light right, like in 2013, likeyou guys were working on power
(24:30):
light and people were like, whyare you spending money
developing materials like nobodycares?
You know, um, and then now yousee every single watch brand out
there has some type ofproprietary materials.
Um, I mean, that's credit thatyou guys deserve, that you don't
.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
You know you don't take the throne there, you know
yeah, I mean, we're being veryswiss, you know, very
understated very discreet but, Imean yeah, but this year we
worked a lot on materials.
I don't know if you follow a bitour launches, so, um, we did a
few very nice bronze executionsbeginning of the year on the
(25:10):
Pontus S and on the Icon.
We launched a few weeks ago thetitanium.
And, of course, one materialwhich is quite difficult to
master but we're about to launchis the ceramic Icon ceramic
through, but we're we're aboutto launch is the ceramic icon.
Ceramic so it's, and andceramic, you know it's, in terms
(25:31):
of the quality.
So there's a black one, a whiteone, and the black is matte and
the white one is really white,white.
So it was so white that, youknow, we have the
anti-reflecting coating on thedial, because we want to dial,
too, match the pureness of ofthe ceramic bands and case.
So the white has to be reallypure.
(25:51):
And when you we did this at theend of the process, we saw that
the anti-reflective coating wasgiving it a yellowish, brownish
tint.
So we even worked on theanti-reflective coating to have
something really pure white.
So that's going to be quiteinteresting.
And the black one, matte, isreally cool.
And well, you know, ceramic isvery breakable.
So we had to reconceive thewhole watch in terms of the
(26:13):
strap, the, the bracelet,because in in a normal steel
steel watch, a steel strap, youhave pins, but if you put pins
in a ceramic braids it justsnaps, just shatters.
And also the design of our icon.
You have a kind of six grips orsix claws on on the bezel and
(26:36):
these are screwed from beneath.
Well, ceramic you cannot screwsomething from in beneath, it
just shatters too.
So we had to.
It's a monoblock bezel and alsothe strap is completely new
design.
But we wanted to keep the.
You have to keep the iconproportions or the design.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
So it's been uh, it's been actually two and a half
three years development to getthat and because it's more risk,
like well, it's one of the mostaccessible ceramic proposal in
the market ceramic is incrediblychallenging to work with and,
uh, I have a few ceramic watchesand you know, of course,
everybody's like, oh well, thewatch will just shatter and if
(27:12):
you drop it I, I haven't hadthat happen to me, thank gosh,
um.
But you know, I I have seensome of the stuff that you do,
which you know, with pbd and uh,and I guess, for me personally,
I have a bias against pbdbecause, uh, in the like, I had
one of the early bell and rosswatches and it's like you know,
(27:37):
you look at it and it'sscratched and it goes right to
the steel and you're like, okay,well, you know.
Or if you look at some of theum, the mid-70s pvds with like,
uh, like the course, yeah, theporsche design chronographs and
all that, and I mean they justlook like shit.
You know, uh in in modern, uh,in a modern collection, but uh,
(28:00):
but I'll be excited to see um.
And I guess you know, obviouslywe talked to a lot of watch
brands and we know you guys aresuper far out.
Like you know, you're lookingat your next five, ten years, do
you guys?
And you don't have to give usall the details, but I'm sure
you have something new thatyou're getting ready to drop.
You know that maybe might takethe icon away from the mainstay.
(28:25):
You know a new collection.
If you could give us a taste.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
So next year is the 50th anniversary of Maurice
Lacroix.
So I mean there's a differentway to look at it.
I mean some brands you knowit's a tendency to celebrate 50
years and you redo a best of ofyour last 50 years.
But we are younger brand, sowe've got 50 years of experience
.
But it's also for us to kickoff the next 50 years.
(28:55):
So there will be um.
It will be a very interestingyear to follow Maurice Lacroix.
There will be at the beginningof the year an opportunity we're
bringing back.
What we're missing today iseven a more accessible watch,
mechanical Kind of everydaywatch, but Maurice Lacroix
(29:18):
quality will be around $1,300.
That's one part of it.
Another area we haven't beenvery strong, but we have strong,
big opportunities, is ladies.
So, ladies, there will be avery beautiful launch next year.
We're actually what'sinteresting is we're relaunching
(29:39):
something, a shape we had inthe collection in the year 1992
thousands and we worked a lot ondeveloping, redesigning the
shape internally.
But interesting enough it's.
Speaker 3 (29:55):
It's very close to things we had 30 years ago but
it's not a square cubitus okay,all right, glad to hear that you
guys are focusing on likeladies watches too, because I I
feel like that's that's kind ofthe thing, is it's becoming of
the day that like ladies watchesare becoming more prevalent?
Uh, it's good to see ladieskind of getting into the market
(30:16):
more too.
Um, so that'll be exciting tosee we've talked.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
We've talked to some like females in the industry in,
like you know, the concept ofmaking a female watch is just.
It's like shrinking it down andthrowing diamonds on it, or
throwing mother of pearl andthey're like come on, like this
is bullshit you know so so whatpower do you?
Speaker 2 (30:37):
yeah, we have one collection with this, ladies
only.
Currently it's fiaba and um.
It's exactly what you say.
I mean design and men's watch.
Make it, shrinking it.
It's not aAPA and it's exactlywhat you say.
I mean designing a men's watchand shrinking it.
It's not a beautiful ladies'design and the same thing around
you know being I mean, we seeit every day being good at
designing men's watches does notmean you're good at designing
ladies' watches.
It's a huge challenge and it'syou know, and you look at some
(31:03):
brands who are very good withladies' watches.
I mean, basically you're goodat one or the other, but there's
very little brands who do both.
Yeah, but getting back to the50th anniversary, and then, of
course, I mean Icon has justbeen launched, if you want,
because it's been six years,seven years now.
(31:23):
So our focus still remains iconand and next year we just want
to bring icon to a next level.
So there will be some, you know, some reinforcement of the
current what we do, but we'llalso think about how can we
bring it also a new in new areas, new territories, without
(31:45):
alienating where we're good at,which is kind of the classical
icon today, and this has tocontinue.
Speaker 3 (31:52):
Now we know that you guys have influencers,
ambassadors, people like thatthat can help drive these
products.
How important are thesepartnerships for Maurice Lecoy,
and what qualities do you lookfor in these ambassadors and
influencers?
Speaker 2 (32:09):
I mean the whole thing about ambassador
influencers.
First thing is the world haschanged and the point number one
is about authenticity.
So, exactly on these people, itbrings us nothing if we pay
somebody millions for a fewposts.
Of course it's out there, butpeople will know, especially the
(32:31):
younger generation.
They know, okay, it's paid, sois it really relevant?
So, point number one, it'sabout really having authentic
relationships.
So the friends of brand we haveare really people who are
interested in what we do.
They don't do it for the money,but what we try to do is we try
to create projects.
We like to develop thingstogether and so you know
(32:54):
partnerships we've done in thepast or things we're bringing on
next year.
There's two or threeinteresting collaborations and
it's all fun stuff.
And it's also fun stuff in this.
We like to be perceived as anurban brand because of our you
know these younger generations,uh, propentially, you know their
(33:15):
playground is the city, is theurban environment, and so you
know to speak to them, to berelevant to them, you want to do
things in the urban environment.
This is why we're big intobasketball, three by three, and
this is why we've done things inthe past like formula e because
it happens in the city, withthis, this kind of modern
volleyball, which was alwaysstadiums that were building up
(33:36):
in cities.
So you know, there's, it'salways the city, the city, the
urban environment.
Right, we have an ambassador.
She's a skateboarding,longboard skateboarder.
We have people who do urbandancing.
They're kind of street dance,hip-hop for tide.
We did a red bull dancer style,which is kind of a hip-hop
(33:57):
street style contest.
So you see, that's really the,the urban environment is where
we try to play and that's that'swhere we have our customer base
.
And then you bring in the watch, kind of the Swiss watch
message.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
I also noticed that you guys used to have more maybe
should I say his name.
I think you know where I'mgoing with this but you guys
used to have more sports-focusedinfluencers, specifically
tennis stars that are no longerwith you.
So I guess it seems like thementality has just shifted right
(34:40):
, because you're going afterseemingly a different audience
than you are now.
Yes, is that where thedirection change happened in
your ambassador program orfriends of the brand?
Speaker 2 (34:52):
Absolutely, absolutely.
Because going with superstarseverybody knows you pay the
millions.
And then how authentic is itthem pushing or being portrayed
or doing something on socialmedia with your brand?
You know it's so.
You go with that brand becausejust this person has been paid
(35:13):
millions to to work with it.
Or are you going to work withsomeone or appreciate a brand
where somebody who stands behindit really likes what we do and
there's a reason to the person,a reason why this person works
with you.
So we I mean we we definitelywill not work and not working
with big names.
(35:34):
And it's also, you know, it'snot the idea of the brand.
The idea of the brand is to doexactly what we did in 2004 and
is to take people in thebecoming and a system.
So you know, the whole campaignclaim is about your time is now
, and we always say, you know,success is a journey, not a
(35:55):
destination.
So it's all these ideas whichare very strong here and the
brand is younger.
You know, it's about yourbeginnings, it's about your
first successes.
If you have somebody of the, ofthe quality of you mentioned
before you're at the end of yourcareer, you've done it, you're
the best, you're number one,right that makes sense.
Speaker 1 (36:18):
You know, out of all the years I've been in the watch
industry and all the brandswe've worked with, I have never
heard somebody say thatauthenticity is important and it
is.
Speaker 2 (36:32):
it is the number one important point If you're a
social media today and insomething that, like our, our
first podcast guest was JosePerestroika.
Speaker 1 (36:43):
Do you know who Jose is?
No His his name is.
His alias is periscope okay buthe, yeah, he's an investigative
journalist and he kind ofexposes the, the big brands and
all of the, the bullshit thatthey put out and skew and um,
(37:04):
and you know a lot of thesebrands are really hiding a lot
of you know importantinformation from their customers
.
And we, you know we can useevery single watchmaker ever.
Who's ever lied about using anin-house caliber or you know, or
whatever right, but it's.
It's refreshing to hear you sayyou know, because I've never
(37:26):
heard anybody say that.
And you know, that's what Ithink.
When we started Lonely Wrist,like, the whole concept and
project was to first of all giveeverybody like an equal playing
field.
Right, we're like you know, wecould, you know, promote the big
boys.
Right, like you know, we could,you know, promote the big boys
right.
You know, all the Richemonts,all the Swatch Group products,
(37:48):
all the LVMH brands.
But we're giving everybody theequal playing field to come on
our platform, right, because wefeel like every watch brand
caters to a unique market, likea unique customer segment.
So creating an equal playingfield and then transparency, you
(38:10):
know, being honest, beinggenuine.
You know I used to sell watchesand I can't tell you how many
times I told people to not buy awatch because it was a piece of
shit.
You know, and I'm glad to hearyou say that, to be honest, um,
but I'm sure, as you, as youtransition into targeting a
younger crowd, you knowobviously switch watchmaking
(38:33):
kind of like hangs us laurels ontradition, right, like being
traditional.
So how, how do you guys balancelike being a traditional watch
brand versus like targeting anew generation of people?
Who who wears these all thetime?
Speaker 2 (38:49):
yeah, but I mean that's um, and the answer is
with the gen z's.
They're the best example andthey really give you the the
answer.
The thing is with gen z's, youknow they're, they're over
connected, they um, they learned, you know, get this right.
After two years you throw itaway and um, there's.
(39:10):
So there's different elementsbecause I mean, these people are
over connected, so they need toget a grip on something right.
And what is interesting withswiss watch making?
It's, it's Swiss watchmaking,it's a traditional Swiss
heritage, just like the work ofleather for the handbag industry
.
Or you have fashion, with thebig fashion brands, high-end
(39:35):
fashion, haute couture.
All these luxury categorieshave something always rooted in
very traditional things.
What they also learned about isit's not only about the
traditional part, but it's aboutthe quality part.
It goes together right.
And look at what's happening atthe moment the whole vintage
(40:00):
market, not only for watches,but look at what's happening
with Hermes bags, chanel bags,30, 40-year-old bags, which are
sold more expensive the price ofnew.
And what these youngergenerations have learned is,
first of all, you don't throw itaway.
After two years you pay a bitmore money, but over the years,
(40:23):
if you look at the usage and youcan also can take care of it,
especially watches.
You know you can.
You got a problem, you got abattery, you can.
You can repair it.
You can.
You have a problem with themovement?
You can fix it.
And you can use a watch 30, 40,50, 60 years.
So on one side you havesomething to hold on.
You learn that it's moreexpensive but quality, on the
(40:47):
long run you have more out of it.
And then there's, of course,the whole sustainability thing,
which is about not wasting orthrowing things away, but
repairing it, taking care of it.
And then there's also thecultural heritage part, which is
relevant.
I mean, look at the number ofprojects of artists who are
reinterpreting traditional waysof paint, of crafts, um, you
(41:13):
know, in different fields.
Um, also look at the high-endfashion.
You know, every year, of course, they have to come and bring
four or five collections, but alot of the inspiration, you know
.
Then you got the 40s, then yougot the 50s, then you got 60s.
I mean it's always getting backbecause you need to have
something to to hold on, and allthese things are quite
(41:35):
interesting with this, this newgeneration, and we there were,
we were all thinking, okay,smartwatch is coming out.
It's dead, but you know, at theend the watch, what is the
watch?
It's dead, but at the end thewatch, what is the watch?
It's not the extension of youriPhone on your wrist.
The Swiss watch tells a lotabout who you are.
It's like a handbag, it's likea piece of fashion that you
(42:01):
recycled in a vintage store.
It tells a lot about you.
It's a lot about taste,distinguishedness and also
character, attitude.
Are you going to buy a blackPVD or black ceramic watch and
you're going to be dressed allin black?
Or you like the color stuff, orare you more kind of the
(42:23):
elegant type, or are you more onthe disc elegant type?
Or are you more on the discreetside or are you on the showy
side?
So you know it's a veryintimate and personal
communication you have versusyour peers and in this society
where thing is so fast, soconnected, where you're losing
your values, I mean watchmakinghas some solutions or has some
(42:45):
things you can take out of it.
Speaker 3 (42:46):
Yeah, yeah, I definitely think that there will
always be newer technologiesthat come out that will always
try and take somehow from thewatch industry and try and flip
things differently differenttrends, if you will.
So, while we're on that subject, what trends do you see
(43:07):
emerging in the luxury watchindustry and how do you guys
plan to stay ahead of thosetrends?
Speaker 2 (43:17):
I mean, what we see a lot is about kind of the no
gender or kind of men's watchesbecoming smaller, ladies'
watches becoming bigger, and atthe end, what we see is women
sharing watches of their men'sand vice versa.
So that's, that's aninteresting one.
Then you have a lot ondevelopment, on more colors.
(43:39):
So I think people need moretime for expression, and one
which is huge.
But it's not only watchmaking,it's in all over, in all goods
categories, it's collaborations.
I mean, i've've I've never seenso many collaborations, not
only in watches, but in apparel,in fashion, yeah, you name it.
(44:03):
there's not one category, oneindustry that doesn't do
collaborations today it's a lotabout like who you know, With
who you work right, there's somegood examples and there's some
less good examples, but I thinkit's also nice to stretch the
brands and then to go inreaching out to new communities.
(44:24):
It's a bit about expanding yourbrand footprint.
There's actually a lot you cando.
And the good thing aboutcollaborations the more you do,
the more you learn, becausewe've been doing stuff with
designers like 10 years ago andat the beginning it was like,
okay, what are we going to dowith that designer or that
(44:45):
architect or that artist?
But at the end this person hasanother vision and what we've
done out of the collaborationswe ended up finding always very
interesting ideas which thenfound their way again in the
collection one way or the otheryears after.
Speaker 1 (45:05):
You've talked a lot about targeting a younger
demographic Gen Z, millennials,I mean, I didn't see anything
like this, but I'm assuming youguys are working on programs or
initiatives, things like that,that kind of contribute to the
(45:29):
community and support ethicalpractices and watchmaking.
Um, maybe not, maybe so.
If yes, uh, can you tell usabout some of those things?
Speaker 2 (45:42):
yeah, I mean the.
The best example was tide,where every you know 20 of the
production costs were going tothis foundation in northern
northern thailand where theyrecycle, get the bottles plastic
bottles out of the ocean.
So it served two ways.
One is that there's so muchplastic waste in those regions,
there's less fish, meaning localcommunities.
(46:04):
Uh, with the fishermen, theywere sending more their kids out
to um to get fish and notgetting education.
So what we were doing is wewere paying them the price we
would pay them for fish.
We were paying them in kilos ofbottles plastic bottles
recycled, which means you knowthey go out whatever they do
(46:27):
less fish, more fish or plasticbottles they would get a fixed
income and which allowed them tosend their kids to school.
And then we were also payingwarehouses infrastructures,
because there's parts of theworld where, especially Northern
Thailand, it's not the levelsof quality and infrastructure
(46:47):
you have in modern civilizationsas we use it in the US or
Europe.
So it's nice also to besupportive, develop that and at
the end you get the plastic yourecover finds its way into a
watch.
That's one of them.
But I always say sustainabilityor these initiatives.
(47:10):
It's not about the reports andthe greenwashing.
It's about doing them.
And the question is always it'snot what do you do, but when do
you start right?
And once you start, there's noway back.
And well, I mean, anyway, interms of sustainability, it
becomes a standard.
(47:30):
I mean, you know, look at thegenerations coming, they're very
high expectations, verydemanding.
It becomes a standard.
I mean, look at the generationscoming, they're very high
expectations, very demanding,and it's important that you
deliver on that agenda.
And I've seen, I've heard, I'veseen some customers saying you
know, oh, how does this?
Is this watch packaged?
Oh, does it come with that?
Okay, I'm not having that watchbecause I, this company shows
(47:54):
me they don't understand what myvalues are and I have other
expectations.
So, okay, the watch is fine,but the packaging, it's a no-go.
Speaker 1 (48:03):
So I don't support this cause something that I've
heard you talk about, whichagain is very refreshing, is
customer feedback.
You know, like you said, hey,look, here's what our customer
wants, here's what we've heard.
You know.
It sounds like you know,because you guys are I mean, I'm
going to use air quotes here,but a smaller watch brand um,
(48:27):
that you guys actually canlisten to your customers, like
if you look at some of the bigboys out there, like they're not
even going to listen to me orjustin or any of our listeners
or anybody.
I don't give a shit about any ofus you know, they're like hey,
and you know you can look at themost recent cubitus release,
where you know the ceo came outand said well, you're just a
hater like we don't care whatyou think you're never going to
(48:49):
want to protect, you know.
So the fact that you're actuallylistening to your customers is
something that is also veryunique in the watch industry,
you know so.
So, I mean, it seems likethat's very important to you.
And and how do you?
You know, I'm sure there'slisteners out there that are
(49:10):
that have your watches and haveyour products in their home and
on their wrist how do you engageyour customers and how do you
communicate with them?
Speaker 2 (49:21):
I mean, first thing important is we always say we
listen to customers.
It's not a marketing claim.
I mean you can go on thewebsite now.
There's my email address andeverybody who writes me an email
.
I respond to them and and ourour point of view is, you know,
a customer giving you a feedback.
It's not a critic, becauseevery feedback you get you get
(49:45):
is half a solution, it's half aproposal and you know, the
success on icon has been basedon market research and most of
the things we do is based onfeedback because our customer
know better than we do what theywant.
Our distributors, our retailersare facing everyday customers
with requests.
(50:05):
You know, and the best way todo watches and to develop
watches is to develop watches.
You sell.
A watch that sells is a watchthat has been decided.
When there has been a decisionbehind from a customer, he says,
yes, I want this brand becauseI like the design, I like the
(50:28):
brand spirit, whatever.
So ignoring your customerfeedback is sort of ignoring the
sellability of your product.
Speaker 3 (50:37):
I know earlier we were kind of on the subject of
working with ceramic and howdifficult it can be.
I'm curious, kind of rewordthis in a way, but can you share
one of the most challengingprojects that your team has
worked on in recent times andwhat made it so groundbreaking
(50:57):
for?
Speaker 2 (50:58):
the brand.
I mean ceramic definitely,because I mean it took us one in
three years and now we'redelivering the first batches.
But we also plan, you know, bigbatches.
We have high quality controls.
So our supplier are sweating atthe moment because they can
only deliver half of thequantities, but we've got big
(51:20):
orders there.
Titanium was also a challenge.
So all the materials, as longas you get out of the steel and
the gold, it's all materialswhich, okay, it's sexy.
They've got better, better umcharacteristics.
I mean yeah, but then againit's very complicated because
(51:42):
the titanium watch we have, forexample, um on the three hands,
so we have an ultraviolet colorand the other one is a
tone-on-tone gray, same color asthe titanium.
We have been smart enough tosay we want the strap to be
(52:03):
polished and brushed.
Speaker 3 (52:04):
Yeah, that was really a good idea.
It gives it that wrist rollability.
It looks better.
Speaker 2 (52:08):
It looks more qualitative, but it's been also
a very big challenge.
You to polish titanium, that isis quite challenging.
Speaker 1 (52:17):
I'm a I'm a huge fan of, uh, forged carbon, like I.
I start to see everybody doingcarbon, like forged carbon
watches.
I'm like, yes, yes, this iswhat I want you know, like this
is what I'm into.
Um, and I, I know, becauseeverybody just says how hard it
is to work with because it'sfragile, but you have to form it
(52:41):
right before it becomes strongand blah, blah, blah, blah, blah
, yeah.
Speaker 2 (52:46):
So if you're into forged carbon, I mean, we did
the collection in 2014 on thePontus Pontus S Regatta that was
forged carbon and for the onlywatch project we presented the
Gravity on forged carbon.
We still have a few cases.
So if you want to have yourcustomized and unique watch, you
can choose the color of thedial and we still have some
(53:07):
cases left.
Speaker 1 (53:10):
I have.
Ever since I got a chance toget hands on with the Pontus,
I've been waking up in themiddle of my night dreaming
about them, because it's a sickwatch, you know, it's just so
good, it's just so good, andyeah, so I'm gonna have to get
(53:30):
in touch with you about gettingsome of the, getting one of
those.
Speaker 2 (53:34):
You got my email, stephenvazercom, very easy.
Speaker 1 (53:39):
I was laughing because whenever you said, oh,
my email's on the website, I waslike, well, that would have
made our life a lot easierbecause we went through the more
formal channels to reach here,you know, going through your rep
and going through yourleadership team, and I was like,
shit, that would have saved usa lot of time.
I'm I'm really curious, youknow, since you are, you know, a
(54:03):
leader in the watch industry.
You're a CEO.
You know what have you learnedin a leadership role at a watch
brand and what are some of thevaluable lessons that you've
learned about leadershipmanagement?
Speaker 2 (54:19):
and you know, while you've been at maurice lacroix,
I mean, the the most importantthing is is about the team.
You gotta gotta get your teamengaged.
Um, you know, it's not about mydecisions or my choices.
I mean, we all are people withvarious tastes but I think it's
(54:40):
really important to to supportthe team, to give the team the
chance to express themselves,and my job is is more about, you
know, it's more about kind ofbeing a coach or, you know,
assisting them.
I'm there just to check thatwe're respecting and we're going
to the direction of the Nolanstyle We've set ourselves and
checked that the strategies areright.
But the big leverage I meanwe're 60 people here in the
(55:06):
factory and globally the brandis about 120 people with nine
subsidiaries.
But it's about, you know, soyouaries but it's about you know
so you're not a big, you knowyou're not a huge team, so you
need to have the, you know, theI will always say the power of
the multiples.
Together you achieve more team.
So that's, that's, that's,that's what you need because you
(55:28):
don't in terms of resources.
I mean it easy when you've gotmillions of budget, you can
engage all the people, the smartpeople we have to take a call
on.
You know, do we engage this guyand we get that?
We engage that guy and we getthat?
It's like we only have oneposition here, right.
Speaker 1 (55:48):
And how did you transition from just being with
the brand to kind of running thebrand.
Because I never got that storyfrom you and I'm very curious.
Speaker 2 (55:58):
Yeah, I joined as marketing director in 2008.
And I mean already when Ijoined.
I mean I saw the brand.
I was like whoa, it has a lotof potential but there's a lot
of work.
There was a lot of work aboutthis clarity in the collections,
(56:19):
clear brand positioning, alsoprocesses.
What also a lot of peopleforget or never.
They forget that behind a lotof success, brand success, it's
not only about the marketing andthe product.
It's also what happens on thebackstage, especially in
production processes.
So what we've been able to doin a few years with less people
(56:44):
to produce faster and meaningproducing faster.
Your retailer is happy becausewhen he has a customer and he
doesn't have the watch in stock,the chances he gets delivered
quite fast and there's he canrepurchase is, with most like
what, very high.
It was not like that when Ijoined.
When I joined, if you wanted toreorder, repurchase a watch
(57:08):
which was non-stock, sometimesit would take you a year, year
and a half.
Today, just and a half.
Today, just a few days, wow.
So it's a different world.
So this means also betterconfidence from your retailers,
from distribution partners,because they know they have to
carry less stock because anytimethey can call and somebody in
(57:30):
the back has it on stock andit's delivered quite fast.
Speaker 1 (57:35):
Yeah, I mean.
Times have changed and I'llfind our final question reaching
the top of the hour here.
I'm sure in your mind, as acompetent CEO, you have the next
decade planned, know, for thebrand.
So give us some of your youknow uh milestones that you hope
(57:59):
to achieve, because what we'regoing to do is we're going to
check back with you in a coupleyears and see, and see where
you're at to achieve those Imean the.
Speaker 2 (58:09):
The northern star we have with a big vision is we
want to be among the top five orthe top players on this 1,000
to 3,000 watch category.
So it means in 10 years we'llstill be in that price segment.
We'll still offer you very highquality, we'll be offering you
craftsmanship, we'll be offeringyou design, iconic designs and
(58:33):
basically quality and aftersales and quality and production
.
Right, this is where we'reheading.
But what I also learned is notto plan too far ahead, because
you get the challenges.
Speaker 1 (58:45):
So it's much more important you're agile that I
like that, just knowing how topivot well, thank you so much
for spending, you know, justabout an hour with us, sharing
your passion for the brand, thefuture, uh, walking us through
some of the concepts and some ofyour leadership strategies.
(59:07):
Uh, I can't say I'm.
I'm humbled enough just thatyou spent some time with us and,
um, and I'm a fan, you know, uh, I can't wait, I can't wait to
watch you take over, and I'll besitting there, as you know,
rooting with my little marisaquaff rat flag, um.
(59:27):
But but thank you, you know Ijust really want to thank you
for spending time with us and umand giving your perspective,
you know.
Thanks you guys.
Speaker 2 (59:36):
Thanks for the chat guys very interesting and, and
you know, if you really want tohelp us speak about else,
because this is really what wecan use and help.
So awareness is is our numberone challenge.
Once we got sorted theawareness part, we can.
We can, we can pick up on theproduct quality.
Speaker 1 (59:56):
This is the phase one for us the podcast.
Then we start rolling outYouTube videos and articles and
all that.
Speaker 2 (01:00:03):
I'll be there anytime .
Speaker 1 (01:00:07):
Everybody.
We are going to link MauriceLacroix's website down there in
the description of the podcast,the YouTube video.
Check them out, find your localdealer, get to them, get hands
on with these watches.
You do not want to miss out onthis great brand.
Thank you so much, stefan, forcoming on Thank you guys, thank
(01:00:29):
you.
We will see you on the nextepisode at some point.
Thanks everybody Bye.
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