Julien Tornare, CEO Of Zenith, talks to “Day & Night” magazine on the importance of building on brand history, the Defy LAB, and brand partnerships…
Can you tell us how Zenith came up with the slogan “The Future of Tradition”, and what does it mean?
When I first met Mr Jean-Claude Biver about my assignment with Zenith, I asked him what did he want me to do with the brand, and we both came to the same conclusion – on my side because I was living in Asia and I could see the shift of generation in China, on his side because Mr Biver is somebody who always wants to build the future, and not repeat the past. We have a long history and we should respect it and be proud of it, and the best way to respect it is to use it to build a future. Watchmakers a hundred years ago had only very basic tools, today all companies have very sophisticated tools. Doing exactly the same watch as 100 years ago is essentially not respecting them because it is so much easier.
With Zenith, we want to start with who we are – a chronometry precision brand – but work on how we can develop the industry and be the future of Swiss watchmaking. That is where it came from; today there are two kinds of brands. You have brands that have a lot of history, and they feel they are stuck in that history. They don’t dare to do anything other than repeat the past. Then, you have the new brands that come in with a blank white sheet of paper; they can do whatever they want, but they don’t have that history. With Zenith, I want to build from the history but build the future.
But aren’t your hands tied with all that history?
No, I don’t think so. For instance, we at Zenith could have kept the El Primero the way it was – with 1/10th of a second and in a classic design, but we launched the Defy, which is the perfect example of the philosophy and the direction of the brand. The name is from the 60s, the design is from the 70s – the second El Primero was a very similar watch, but we decided that we did not want to have 1/10th of a second, so we pushed for 1/100th of a second, and we expressed it in a very contemporary manner. We really started from our past but moved into the history. On the other hand, I am not going to do a Connected Watch; I am not going to do a totally crazy shape because that is not Zenith. I need to respect the past, but I need to move forward, and not repeat it. That is the difference. If you want to keep the interest of the new generation, the so-called “millennials”, we have to show that we are dynamic, and that we are living in the 21st century, and not repeating the past.
How long did the R&D take for the Defy LAB? Why only in such small numbers? And do you expect to mass-produce it in the future?
We presented the Defy LAB in September 2017, and we delivered them in early spring. I have always been very frustrated with prototypes that remain prototypes. It is easy to make a few watches exceptional. It is very difficult to make them in a series. From the beginning, I wanted to turn it into a series. The good news is that I will be able to launch the first series of the Defy LAB at Baselworld.
The development of the oscillator took us two years of research; other brands have also worked on this but nobody got a solution but we were able to find it. This year, we will not make thousands of it, but we will definitely make hundreds of it – good progress from a prototype of 10. We called it the Defy LAB, because it came straight from the laboratory. Now, in the series, the name will have to be changed to Defy something else, and it will be launched at Baselworld.
And it would still be a limited edition? Of perhaps 500?
Yes, something like that; we are still not sure of the exact quantity, but it would be a few hundreds. We do not know that yet, because we are still working on how many we can do.
What about the price?
I still do not know all the elements to give you a precise pricing, but it would be between CHF15,000 and CHF20,000.
That would be the perfect price…
Yes, because it is a unique element. It is visually attractive and even people who do not know watchmaking can show it to their friends.
Can you add extra modules on the movement? Does it have the ability to adapt?
We are working on some simulations right now to see how far we can adapt it. Part of the interest, for me, is the visual effect; if you hide it, it is different. It is cool to see it vibrating; people like it. When I launched the Defy 21 around the world, I always travelled with a prototype of the Defy LAB in my pocket; I showed it to people and they loved it, and I already have a lot of pre-orders.
How did Zenith’s partnership with Bamford Watch Department happen?
A few weeks after I joined Zenith in May, Mr Biver came to me and said that Bamford would like to work with us officially. They had already been working on Zenith watches, as with other brands, unofficially. I come from a traditional brand and I was not keen on somebody else touching our watches and told Mr Biver so. He was very fair; he did not tell me you have to do it. He told me, “You decide if we are doing it or not. The only thing I am asking you is to go meet the guy (George Bamford).” I went to London and met George, who is very charismatic and very energetic, and sat down for a discussion. He is super-dynamic and I loved that.
I realised that he is very good at customisation; we make watches in series, it is very difficult for us to make a lot of special editions and he could help us with that. He has a lot of clients who expect very good work from him; he has a very good database that includes the UK, US, and other parts of the world. The third, most important, point is that I am validating every single watch that he is customising. This way, we gain control; he was anyway, in the past, doing what he wanted with our watches. Now we have made an agreement; every watch he is customising I get to have a say. It is working out very well. Recently, we launched the “Solar Blue” dial with Mr Porter and Bamford, a limited edition of 25, which pre-sold at an astonishing speed. Within 1.15 hours of being put online by Mr Porter on their website, it was sold out.
