It doesn't seem like five minutes since Stephen Bianchi took over the reigns of TAG Heuer from (watch industry legend) Jean Claude Biver, indeed it was only back in September 2018... but things at the top are changing again, as from the 1st of July, with the appointment of Frederic Arnault.
Frederic is the son of Bernand Arnault, the third richest man in the world according to the 'Forbes' list. He is the CEO of LVMH, which owns 75 luxury brands including Louis Vuitton, TAG Heuer, Zenith, Hublot, Bulgari, Fendi, Chaumet, Guerlain, Dior, Givenchy, Fenty and many many more...
Frederic has been heavily involved with the TAG Heuer Connected project in recent years, which of course has been a huge success and has also brought many younger people on board. Although I personally take issue with the idea of TAG Heuer being a brand for 'young people' (being 50 years old myself, I guess I'm 'supposed' to have graduated to something 'grown-up' like an IWC by now... no thank you) it is a fact that not unlike Formula 1, luxury watchmaking needs to attract a younger clientele or risk dying out with it's customers.
At 25 years old, Frederic is ideally placed to understand the younger market and it will be interesting to see where he envisions the brand going in the future; although I can't say I envy him the challenge that is satisfying two very distinct customer bases who want very different things from the same brand (or rather two brands; 'TAG Heuer' & 'Heuer').
Outgoing CEO Stephen Bianchi is taking up a different role in the LVMH group, overseeing the watchmaking and jewellery division (with the exception of Bulgari, not quite sure why that is). According to the LVMH website, the jewellery and watches division brought in a staggering 4,4 billion Euros last year so that's a big responsibility, actually the LVMH website is worth a quick browse as it's hard to appreciate just how enormous the LVMH group really is.
Bernard himself is apparently worth anywhere between $90 and $110 billion, depending on which source you consult, but he obviously had a bad day yesterday - according to the Forbes website he lost $6.3 billion from close of business yesterday... mind you a month ago they said his wealth had increased by $12.3 billion since March so I'm guessing these figures are a little bit 'open to interpretation'...
So, Frederic becomes the fourth TAG Heuer CEO in the last twenty years; Jean Christophe Babin took over the helm at the end of 2000 and stayed for fourteen years until he moved to take over at Bulgari, whereupon the aforementioned Mr Biver arrived to revitalise the company, launching among other things the Connected smartwatch and the Carrera Heuer 01 before departing in 2018 and taking on an oversight role still within the LVMH group.
Mr Bianchi's rather short tenure was perhaps less notable, although he did oversee the 50th anniversary of the Monaco along with the launches of the Nanograph Carrera and the Isograph Autavia (which was not without it's problems, being withdrawn almost as soon as it was launched due to issues with the integration of the revolutionary new hairspring into the Calibre 5 movement). Despite this, given his new role the board obviously still have faith in his abilities.
Frederic is one of five children (two of which are half siblings), four of whom work in LMVH companies. I am hopeful that given his history of working with the Connected line, he will be more inclined to push TAG Heuer back towards a more avant garde and radical design philosophy, but I guess we shall have to wait and see...
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