2023-09-15 13:49:48
With his Oris Big Crown Pointer Date Caliber 473 on his wrist, Vincent Coquet, director of operations in France for the Swiss house, tells us about the watch’s return to the top. Cutting edge interview.
Founded in 1904, the company experienced difficulties in the second part of the 20th century, with the arrival of revolutionary Japanese competition on the watchmaking market. How did the house get back on its feet?
Vincent Coquet: In the 1980s, employees took over the company. The sector was in crisis because the Japanese came with quartz, extremely modern, inexpensive and much more precise battery-powered watches. Oris then had the idea of setting up in Japan, but with traditional mechanical watches. This is how it stood up with sustainable products, like its historic model the Big Crown. Japan is one of our best markets today.
Oris launched its campaign with Kermit, the presenter of the Muppet Show, in 2022. Mechanical watches and green star – “It’s not easy being green”?
No ! But we wanted to play with greenwashing at the center of all luxury houses, since covid. We can have the greenest muse in the world – and we have it! –, this is not what demonstrates the commitment of a house. It’s been 20 years since we started changing our production methods; we are now moving towards zero plastic and we are the first watchmaking company in the world to have been certified “carbon neutral”, in 2021… To achieve all this, it takes years of work. So, Kermit is a snub with two ambitions: to make people smile and to make Oris known. We make commitments on manufacturing, then it’s just poetry!
With this Disney muse, the objective is also to rejuvenate the brand image of Oris?
Yes, this has been one of my goals since I took over management of the house five years ago. The brand is rather popular with collectors, a public aged 50 and over. We’re talking about a product between €2,500 and €4,500, so looking for customers aged 20 and over is complicated. She is looking for her first Swiss watch, which will perhaps be a Tissot. However, we will take care of the next one. In fact, we want to move towards a less classic and more pop clientele, who are looking for a product purely for pleasure, as a fashion accessory and which will last over time.
How is the watch market doing post-Covid?
It is doing well, at least for brands like Oris which have been less impacted by travel retail and the losses linked to the reduction in the number of Chinese tourists. Others, like Longine or Tissot, were however more severely affected, since tourists made up a much larger part of their business, which also allowed them to be more powerful in terms of communication. For these houses, we had to reinvent ourselves, while for brands like Oris, it was already our playground to work with local customers.
Is this why the first French Oris store was on rue Montorgueil?
Yes ! It was the idea of selling luxury watches while being stuck at a bar! Which, for other groups, is unthinkable – who demand to remain within the framework of luxury. So, we were one step ahead with a product already designed for post-Covid reorganization. Our slogan is “Go your runway”, with a slogan that says “Be independent, Be free, do what you want to do and how you want to do it”. In other words, a boutique on Place Vendôme is not us!
Oris is very present in the world of sport. You collaborated with the Williams F1 team, for driver Valtteri Bottas, and 50% of the watches sold by Oris are diving watches. The idea of the Change for the better days campaign?
50% of the watches sold worldwide by the brand are diving watches. Necessarily, therefore, we had to work with associations, explorers and people on a daily basis in the water, who have seen things change. With a small house like Oris, these ambassadors had direct access to our president. Initially, there was the desire to financially help these associations – which is what we do in Australia, for the preservation of the coral reef. Through work and understanding, Oris has rethought the governance of its company, its production and its packaging. No more plastic or box which is of little use, but a leather pocket, useful for other purposes; and then buildings that produce energy… It’s all that, everyday projects and bigger campaigns.
You have also organized waste collection campaigns in Asia. And in France ?
In Asia, when we organize collections, it works very well. We could do it every week and bring together 200 people each time. In France, we have tried several times, but it is much more complex to bring people together… On the other hand, we work with the Project Rescue Ocean foundation which sets up education programs for young people. We extended this collaboration to the Professional Football League. Oris has become a chronometer and official partner of the LFP since October 6, 2022.
Hence the connection with Bracenet, which produces bracelets from recycled fishing nets?
Yes, they are now working with the LFP so that stadium nets are made from recycled fishing nets. At the same time, we are also setting up a program in the football club training centers so that children are made aware of these issues as early as possible. These centers often bring together young people who come from disadvantaged backgrounds and who are challengers! If we manage to give them this desire that we have, they will engage a lot of people, energy and intelligence. That’s the idea of being a responsible partner.
How to revitalize the women’s watch market?
We don’t gender our watches. In essence, a watch can be worn by anyone. On the other hand, there is a desire to attract a female audience. What blocks us is that Oris makes mechanical watches, which seem to appeal less to the female audience. Chanel is predominantly female, Cartier and Rolex also do well. Outside of these three houses, the market is very small.
Your key figures?
An increase of 10 to 15% per year since 2020!
The future of watchmaking?
Radiant! It is a profession which has been there for 400 years and which has evolved whilst retaining its essence, its technicality, its beauty. There are always more and more people in love and inspired by mechanical watchmaking. This field has overcome many crises, including that of 1980. When Apple and its connected watches arrived on the market, everyone predicted the death of traditional watchmaking. Against all odds, it strengthened him. Apple expanded the market because they put watches on the wrists of people who didn’t have them. Add to that the desire to disconnect, and people are returning to more classic watches. It’s ultimately very positive, even if not everyone will say it.
Any advice for choosing the right watch?
There are two types of customers. Those who come in and ask what they should buy to invest. These people are shown the exit door (laughs). And those who want to tell a story with the watch they wear. To these, we answer that the watch is an indicator of personality, that it is an extension of yourself… So it must resemble you!
By Fanny Mazalon
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