Luxury group LVMH announced a series of internal appointments in the first week of 2024. Benoit de Clerck, who was appointed as Chief Executive Officer of Zenith, has had 25 years of experience in the watchmaking world. “Day & Night” magazine had the opportunity to quiz the new CEO of Zenith on his view of the marque during LVMH Watch Week at Miami in end January…
Q: Congratulations on your new position at Zenith. Can you tell us what comes to your mind when you hear the word Zenith?
A: First of all, ‘Beautiful brand’; second is ‘authenticity’. It’s unbelievable how rich the brand is in terms of history and heritage and it’s amazing what they have in the background. Last week, I visited our museum with the team that manages the museum. The next day I spent the whole day with our heritage team, and I discovered things that I would never have imagined. So, the words that represent Zenith for me are ‘Authenticity’, ‘El Primero’, and ‘Beautiful’. It is a beautiful brand.
Q: Where do you see brand in the future? What are your future plans for the brand?
A: The future of the brand is to continue to grow. Julien [Tornare] has done a great job and the brand is going through another step now – step 2. I am happy to take that step. The Sleeping Beauty has been awakened. Now that she is awake, we need to take her out of the bed and make sure that she is working well. And this is the mission that I will share with my team, to make sure that we continue on that avenue.
Q: The brand has had a huge leap in terms of visibility and credibility with the Chronomaster Sport this year, with multiple versions of the Chronomaster Sport with the couple of firsts – first titanium watch and the first with a ceramic bezel in green colour. Can you tell us first about the titanium. Why did it take so long to have a titanium version?
A: Firstly, technically, titanium is a special material to address. Secondly, titanium is very solid, rigid, and lighter. The watch was made at the request of our clients, but it was also needed in the collection. We had a little hole in the Chronomaster Sport collection that needed the titanium. That’s the reason we created the titanium; the same goes for the green one. We launched a green one – the Chronomaster Sport Aaron Rodgers Edition – in 2023. Very few brands have watches with a green bezel in ceramic; we are one of the few that has a green ceramic bezel with a green dial that also complies with the DNA of the Chronomaster Sports – sub dials in blue, dark grey, and light grey – with the date in green matching the dial as well. All these encompasses the DNA of the Chronomaster Sports.
Q: The new Chronomaster Original has a very retro, vintage feel to it based on the 1970 model. Can you tell us more about the watch?
A: The Triple Calendar was created in 1970, so 54 years ago, and when they created that watch they produced only 25 pieces. We have two pieces in our museum and archives and the rest are wandering in the world. One of those watches was sold in 2013 in an auction house for roughly around $100,000. It was definitely something that was produced in a very small quantity in 1970. We decided to take that historical watch and to reenact it into today’s launch. We improved it because the movement has been worked on for the last 54 years and improved. We have the 1/10th of a second chronograph and we have a triple calendar. The triple calendar is the entry point of the calendar segment. We then have the annual calendar that you adjust once a year and then the perpetual calendar. So, the triple calendar is the entry point, and it has a very attractive price.
It is an extremely aggressive price, but we have done that intentionally. We wanted it at this price because we have a lot of young customers who are getting into complicated watches, and we wanted to give the opportunity to that segment of customers as this is a good entry point for complicated watches. Very few brands have a triple calendar, and they sell at much more than what we sell at.
Q: How is it that this new version is remarkably similar in terms of design to the 1970 original, and still looks gorgeous today?
A: This is the beauty of Zenith, and this is what we aimed to show – what was created 54 years ago is still hot. That is the beauty of an integral part of the codes of the brand. We are showing that we got inspired from that 1970 model, but this is what you get – a much better, improved movement that is much more reliable and so on.
Q: Both the Chronomaster Revival and the Chronomaster Original are very vintage-oriented. Is this something that we can expect in the future?
A: That’s absolutely true, and this is the beauty of Zenith. Zenith has a rich history; we have a huge amount of wealth and knowledge within the brand that’s lying in our museum and in our archives. We don’t need to create any marketing story per se, because it is all there, everything is there. One example is the timeless style of the Chronomaster Triple Calendar; designed 54 years ago, it’s still hot.
Q: What is the feedback on the Pilot watches launched at Watches & Wonders last year?
A: It has been doing much beyond our expectations. That’s why we ran a little bit short of product, unfortunately. Now we’re back into production and matching the demand. The Pilot line has its own history. We are the only brand that has the right to put ‘Pilot’ on the dial and this is something that the founder developed a long time ago; again, something that is from our roots. Now, we are launching two Pilot editions, and we will continue to develop the line. We have other models coming up this year as well that we will probably reveal at Watches & Wonders. We have strong pillars of the brand such as the Defy collection and the Chronomaster. We are planning to push the Pilot line based on the demand and what options people are asking for within the Pilot.
Q: Next year will be the 160th anniversary for the brand, any big plans for that?
A: Yes, there are big plans. All I can tell you is that you will not be disappointed, and the plans will definitely be based on the history of the brand; it is going to be a resurgence of the DNA of the brand. We are fine-tuning our plans as it is a big event. It’s one of the oldest Manufactures that is completely integrated. The Manufacture has never moved; it’s been there for 160 years and the founder at that time integrated everything. He wanted to have a gold watches, so he had the gold melter created just for his gold alone. We have a lot of things to speak about the brand.
