Gregory Kissling is 48 years old and has 25 years of experience in the watchmaking sector. Trained as a microtechnical engineer, he has spent his entire career in the watch industry, beginning at Omega on the technical side, where he worked in movement construction. Then, after two master’s degrees in luxury management and management, he turned to the product side and joined the company in 2004 as product manager. He became head of product management in 2008 and then joined the management team in 2014. In 2022, Kissling was appointed vice-president of the Biel-based company, with responsibility for product development. Last October, he joined Breguet with the mission of making the brand more desirable once again.
Marc Fassone: How do you go from Omega to Breguet, two companies that, while belonging to the same group, Swatch, have very different positioning and histories?
Gregory Kissling: The transition was easy. At Omega, product development was at the heart of my mission. This gave me the opportunity to work on cross-functional technological projects. Swatch Group is not just a portfolio of brands, but also a huge amount of manufacturing, research and development. So I’ve been able to gravitate into this world to develop alloys, for example, or integrate technologies from different business sectors. Then, last year, I was offered the wonderful opportunity to take over this prestigious company, which this year is celebrating 250 years of uninterrupted existence.
It’s an honour to be able to manage this magnificent brand, but it’s also a return to my roots. When I was active in the construction of movements, I was confronted with the world of Abraham-Louis Breguet [editor’s note: the founder of the brand in 1775]. We owe him a huge debt for his inventions and innovations, which are still relevant today. It’s not for nothing that he’s called the father of modern watchmaking. He didn’t invent watchmaking, but he modernised it, both aesthetically and technologically. Breguet is perhaps the only brand that is cited by our colleagues when we talk about the Breguet numeral, the Breguet balance spring, the tourbillon and so on. And what I find incredible is that all these innovations have been designed for the benefit of the end consumer. It’s not innovation for innovation’s sake, but innovation to create added value for the customer.
Whilst Breguet is a benchmark in the world of watchmaking, its image and reputation among the general public do not reflect this. You combine technical and marketing expertise. How do you plan to modernise the brand’s positioning, whilst retaining its DNA?
“The heritage and history of the brand, which has existed continuously for 250 years, are just exceptional. We are fortunate to have a heritage manager who is part of the Breguet family, in the person of Emmanuel Breguet. Emmanuel Breguet is an open book that provides access to intangible value, telling stories, discussing a product that was made and why it was made. The aim is not to copy the past, but to build on it, to draw inspiration from it to perpetuate a legacy of innovation. That’s what we call “legacy in motion” internally: staying connected to the past whilst remaining a force of proposition.
It’s not every day that you celebrate a quarter of a millennium. To celebrate this, we have decided not to launch an anniversary collection on a specific date, but to literally go on a world tour.
We’re going to be looking for new customers, a new audience. An audience that in some cases will have to be educated about mechanical watchmaking. It’s a real challenge to reach out to a new clientele with products, advice and a story. The product is central to a company like ours. You have to emphasise it, just as you have to emphasise the human side. We’re a real manufacturer, so the human touch is extremely important. We make unique pieces, but I would even say that each piece in a range or series is unique. When you blue a needle [similar to steel tempering, editor’s note], you never get the same result twice. It’s the same for an enamel dial, for guilloché, for hand engraving. In the end, each craftsman puts his own stamp on the components and marks the product, and this is what makes a Breguet watch so beautiful. A Breguet watch is not just for telling time. Though it does so reliably, it is also an object of transmission: it transmits an emotion in relation to a product, to a story.
You talk about new customers to conquer. What is this target?
I would say someone over 35, with a passion for fine mechanical engineering and looking for a timepiece that can stand the test of time. Elegance has always been part of Breguet’s codes. The aesthetic codes established in 1775 can still be found today. There is no haute horlogerie brand today that has retained the link between its original production and its current production. Most of the current collections of the major brands are based on designs from the 50s, 60s and 70s. At Breguet, the style has spanned the centuries. It’s simple at first glance, but there are a lot of details. It’s often more complicated to do something simple than to do something complicated. Buying a Breguet is the assurance of having a timepiece that will stand the test of time.
Another trend that is asserting itself and on which we want to position ourselves is that of “quiet luxury.” Our products are for connoisseurs. There is also a return to classicism, a trend that we have no difficulty in embracing.
How do you intend to reach them?
You’ll find out over the next few months. We’re going to rejuvenate our communications without affecting the richness of the content or the message.
This year marks the 250th anniversary of the company. How do you plan to capitalise on this event?
It’s not every day that you celebrate a quarter of a millennium. To celebrate this, we have decided not to launch an anniversary collection on a specific date, but to literally go on a world tour, each stage of which will be an opportunity to present one or two new products in line with this stage and the history of the brand. Breguet was a prolific watchmaker who had the opportunity to sell his timepieces in many countries and to the great royal courts. He worked internationally before anyone else: the United States, Russia, Spain, the Ottoman Empire...
Read also
The idea is to have a talk over several months. These new items will be based on our current collections. This world tour will end at the Château de Versailles. Versailles is very connected to Breguet with the magnificent history of Marie-Antoinette’s famous watch [editor’s note: a watch reputed to be one of the five most complicated watches in the world]. It is nicknamed “the Mona Lisa of watches.” We began some time ago with a teasing phase revolving around our innovations. And this week, we unveiled an exclusive new anniversary alloy, Breguet gold. This gold is inspired by the golds used by watchmakers in the 18th century, at a time when this metal was not subject to precise standards as it is today. They were neither yellow nor pink, but somewhere in between. We developed an alloy composed of gold, copper, palladium and silver, a blond gold with pink highlights.
You’ve developed a new alloy. How is your R&D organised? Is it autonomous or do you coordinate with the group to which you belong?
Most of the group’s brands have their own development team. When it comes to developing a new product, they have their own people, whether in design or in the technical office. If we are talking about fundamental research or R&D, there are teams at group level which are made available to the brands. If we take the example of the new Breguet gold, we used the group’s knowhow and metallurgical capabilities for its development. But the aim is for the brand to always be in the driver’s seat. It is the brand that will use its resources to introduce one technology or another into its products. And each brand has its share of patents--over 300 for Breguet. Sometimes, patents are transferred or shared. The advantage of a group is that it can exchange best practices and sometimes ideas.
Communication is an important aspect. But how do you organise the distribution of your products?
The objective that has been assigned to me--without going into the figures--is to regain desirability for the brand. Communication is important, but so is distribution. And it’s ultimately through our shops that we best express the brand’s universe. We currently have a network of 40 boutiques and we want to grow this network. These boutiques are not just showcases, they are intended to be profitable.
Which markets are you targeting first?
We are well established in Asia--China, Japan, Korea--and there are markets where we have strong growth potential, such as Europe, the Middle East and the United States. We have also had a strong presence in India for 20 years.
A mechanical watch is anything but an object of programmed obsolescence.
You are targeting the United States. Given the current trade war, isn’t that a risky bet?
I don’t think we should overreact; we should instead look at the medium- and long-term. The United States remains an important market. In terms of knowledge of watchmaking, it’s not a mature market. It’s a growing market that it would be a shame to ignore.
The luxury watch market has seen the emergence of a very dynamic secondhand market in recent years. With the current economic crisis, do you fear that your products will become mere financial products to the detriment of their history?
We cannot prevent our customers from adopting this approach. But for me, above all, buying a Breguet is a personal, emotional investment. You want a Breguet because you are passionate about the product and its history. And that’s what we tell our customers. That said, this market does exist and it complements our business. But we are not currently considering developing authentication programmes as other brands are doing.
What I would like to stress is that a mechanical watch is anything but an object of programmed obsolescence. We have the capacity today to restore models dating back more than 200 years. It’s just incredible. We have a philosophy in terms of after-sales or customer service that is just brilliant. Some brands decide that after 25 years, a watch is vintage and they don’t look after it any more. A Breguet, on the other hand, will always be repaired. We’ve kept a lot of parts, but above all we’re able to remanufacture them if necessary. And even to remanufacture the machines used to make these parts. This is a key aspect of our customer relationship. I’m repeating myself, but a Breguet is an object of emotion that can be handed down from generation to generation. So for us, it is extremely important to be able to meet these demands.
We will also announce that the two-year warranty will be extended to five years for any watch purchased from 1 January 2025, to which will be added an additional five-year maintenance warranty in the event of paid service.
This article was originally published in .