Published on June 16, 2024 at 5:45 p.m. / Modified on June 16, 2024 at 5:46 p.m.
Since Georges Kern took over as CEO of Breitling in 2017, the independent brand based in Granges (SO) has broken all ceilings. It was focused on a single specialty (the professional aviation watch), it has become generalist. It was mainly male, but there are more and more female customers. The brand message has been revised, “more relaxed, more cool”. The style too, requalified as “modern retro” by his mentor. Since 2017, Breitling has climbed into the top ten brands on the market, according to Morgan Stanley, with a turnover close to 900 million francs. In seven years, Breitling has already been the subject of two rounds of private equity (the brand was bought in 2017 by the Luxembourg investment fund CVC, then returned to the Zurich Partners Group in 2022), enough to excite the financiers who follow the industry.
But it was last December that Georges Kern made his most resounding move, taking over Universal Genève, a former star of Swiss watchmaking, which had been extinct for decades. Everyone now sees it as a diamond in the rough. The manager explains his project.
Le Temps: To begin, could you give us information on the shareholder structure of Breitling after the transaction between CVC and Partners Group?
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