Audemars Piguet’s new CEO Ilaria Resta (ex Fimenich / P&G) suggests that the luxury watchmaker may need slow down before moving ahead: After revenues tripled during the past decade under predecessor François-Henry Bennahmias, reaching 2.3 billion Swiss francs ($2.6 billion) last year, Resta may stop the clock on rapid growth. “I’m here with another mandate, which is to solidify the company for long-term independence. I may take the choice actually to stop growth for a couple of years.”
The 50-year-old Swiss-Italian national had no previous watchmaking experience but now finds herself at the helm of one of Switzerland’s “Big Four” independent watch companies. The move echoes French giant Chanel‘s decision to bring on Leena Nair, a human resources veteran from consumer giant Unilever, to revamp the company’s structure and culture. “I’m not an actress,” she says.
Resta inherits a full pipeline. In the coming months, Audemars Piguet is due to relocate its manufacturing activities to a new 17,000 square-metre facility in Le Brassus dubbed The Arc. “Independence is absolutely the future of the company and the desire of the board and the shareholders. I need to create value by making it solid enough, resilient enough and qualitative enough to resist any turbulence in the market and survive and thrive as an independent company; I don’t want to push quantity,” she says.
But “We don’t want this company to be a Royal Oak company,” she says firmly. Diversification will be a priority, as in her predecessor’s final years. She says there’s “a lot of pull on Code 11.59,″ a collection introduced five years ago that she says now accounts for 11 percent of the business, and that when it comes to launching new lines “there is definitely fertile ground for more.”
Democratising the store concept is also on the agenda, as AP Houses often give the impression of being closed to newcomers. “We’ll make sure that you can go into AP House even without an appointment,” she says, adding that during her application process she was welcomed at the Geneva location as a mystery shopper without an appointment or an Audemars Piguet on her wrist. But she admits there will always be an imposing security guard on the door. “It’s not the place where you buy a baguette,” she offers.
adapted from Business of Fashion (BoF)

Ilaria Resta, CEO Audemars Piguet
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