Sebastien Knop
Sebastien Knop, Vacheron Constantin’s general manager for Northern Europe, says that the watchmaking industry has been affected by the crisis, indeed, though not equally, depending on the quality, authenticity and value of the brands.
He started his career in Paris at the Chaumet brand about ten years ago. “This was my first professional contact with luxury. I then moved to Givenchy, where it was fantastic because I was two steps away from McQueen’s office and afterwards went to Cartier Austria where I did jewellery marketing and then I was offered a choice between Panerai and Vacheron Constantin. The rest is history,” Knop says jokingly, explaining his choice was because of the attraction for the impressive history of the brand (the oldest uninterruptedly running manufacture – more than a quarter of a century). He worked for Vacheron in Germany, in Hong Kong for four years (where he supervised marketing operations for the entire Asia), and was appointed to his current position four years ago.
As for the crisis, he says Vacheron Constantin is doing fine, also because it is a niche brand, which makes less than 20,000 watches a year. “Quantity has not changed in five years and we have always had more orders than we could fill. Therefore we are not having the problems other brands are facing today, which doubled and even tripled production during the good times. We took a different path, choosing to increase our in-house production, so that today 65% of our watches come with Poinçon de Genève,” Knop says.
On the other hand, Knop admits that Vacheron will probably suffer as a result of the recession, “but we are confident, because time is on our side as proven by the centuries of history. We also went through the Great Depression of the ‘30s and the watch industry crisis of the ‘70s – of course back then it seemed like the end the world was coming, too, but we successfully overcame all the problems. The reality is that our strength comes from people – we have a small but extraordinary team, which makes exceptional timepieces.”
Knop says the strategy of the brand is already defined for the next five to ten years and that it will not change, because Vacheron Constantin’s plans are made for the long term. “There may be one or two models we had been thinking of discontinuing, but will eventually keep them because they are well positioned in terms of price. Other than that, we will focus on as good a working relationship as possible with the retailers that we have to help overcome these difficult moments, so perhaps instead of organising mega global fashion events we will focus on local events.”
Vacheron Constantin’s official says production will not go up as long as it is not 100% Poinçon de Genève marked, which could take a few more years and in the future, the brand will focus more on the female segment, already a star at the 2009 Geneva Show, where the Kallania model, a haute joaillerie timepiece worth 1.5 million euros was launched. “Thirty years from the launch of Kallista, which had set a record for its time (diamonds totalling 130 carats), we launched Kallania – a record in its turn (170 carats).”
Knop says the haute horologerie segment is maybe more relevant today than ever, because clients are looking for real values, not fashion or trends. “Everyone has been looking to take the leap to haute horologerie over the last few years, or least look like they got there. However, brands not backed by a real manufacture will be in trouble.”
Vacheron Constantin has no such troubles. At Geneve 2009 it launched the classical mechanical 4400 Calibre, which will be the new movement on which most new creations will be based and will also be used for some of the complications. The calibre is currently found in models in the Patrimony and Historiques lines (Vacheron Constantin won the Watch of the Year Award for the Historiques American 1921 in Geneva on November 4, a watch that harks back at the famous twenties and was launched at SIHH in January. Vacheron did it again, after having won the same award for the Patrimony Contemporary Retrograde Date and Day two years before).
