Ilaria Resta, director of Audemars Piguet: “Turnover is not the only indicator of success”

Published on December 22, 2024 at 11:55. / Modified on December 22, 2024 at 1:49 p.m.

8 mins. reading

Le Brassus, Joux valley. Barely leaving the terminus station, it is impossible to avoid the imposing construction site. A huge arched building bearing the initials “AP”, still under construction and already partially in operation. The contrast with the other factories in the Valley is obviously striking: Audemars Piguet builds when others scale back. Reflection of the gap that the family manufacture has widened with the competition over the last quarter of a century. Going from a store with 100 million francs in turnover at the end of the 1990s to a leader on the way to three billion francs. The result of a coordinated construction between the owners, mainly the Audemars and Piguet families, and external managers who passed the baton over time.

Ilaria Resta took charge of the house in January 2024. Her appointment came as a surprise. She does not come from the world, but from mass consumption (she spent twenty-three years at Procter & Gamble) and perfume (three years at Firmenich). In the office that his predecessor François-Henry Bennahmias occupied, the style has changed. The Yoda-Star Wars atmosphere has given way to a cozy and human decor. At the time, there was a large computer screen in the middle of the office, there is no longer one, just a laptop, most often closed, placed on the side. A voluntary gesture, explains Ilaria Resta: “I never write emails during the day. That’s my mantra, I want to spend this time with my teams.”

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