The Success Story of Breitling | In Conversation with Georges Kern

"Only success will prove that we are right." - Georges Kern.

Wei sits down with Breitling CEO Georges Kern to have a conversation about the recent revival of Breitling's fortunes and his vision for the brand.

Joining the Richemont Group in 2000, Mr. Kern was highly involved in major brands like A. Lange & Söhne, Jaeger-LeCoultre and IWC Schaffhausen following their acquisition by the group. In 2002, Kern was chosen to be the CEO of IWC and became the youngest CEO within the group. Subsequently, in 2017, he was promoted to Head of Watchmaking, Marketing and specialized in supervising Specialist Watchmaking Maisons within the group. Later that year, Kern was appointed the new CEO and became a shareholder of Breitling SA.

#breitling #georgeskern #ceo

[daniell]

Kern has completed turned this brand around. 10yrs ago, I wouldn’t have considered a breitling. Today, breitling is one of my next 3 purchases. The improvements in design, movement, aesthetic, and bracelet are absolutely incredible.

[Ryan_Tinney]

Mr. Kern is the ultimate spokesman and leader. What a terrific interview, thank you guys.

[PeteMcConvill]

far and away the most exciting brand in watches right now - loving this

[mikelewis]

Excellent interview with a great CEO George Kern. I have a Breitling Datora . A beautiful watch I purchased beginning of year at around $9k . Breitling Premier line are attractive watches at reasonable price if you can get at least 20+ discount from msrp.

[btmontres]

Great connection between Georges and Wei. This is a pretty rich and dense discussion worth coming back to, to pick up on things probably missed the first time.

[mikep]

"We don't want to be exclusive by arrogance" is such a fantastic line.

[TheTkkhen]

Great interview (or conversation). Been following Georges Kern since his helm at IWC, now Breitling. He is a great businessman who needs his own classroom on company turnaround.

[bigbrotherwatchesdannyboy]

13:52 😂😂😂 Nice try!

Great interview! I really love the direction that Breitling is going! I am personally a big fan of the Avenger collection and I am happy that Breitling continues this line while exploring so many different paths. I may not be a fan of the Premier collection but glad that they make these steps to fish in different waters. Bravo!

[wincav]

Wow! Great interview. Great questions & amazing insight by Mr. Kern.

[bozman]

As a longtime admirer (and hater) of Breitling, this is an interview I've been wanting to see for a while. I would have loved to hear some more concrete sales data on how Breitling has done since Kern took over, as opposed to just paying lip service to it in general terms. 15-20 years ago, I felt like Breitling had an identity I could get on board with. They made "instruments for professionals" and had more obscure, interesting spokespeople (deep sea divers, mountaineers, astronauts, pilots, etc.). Unfortunately, their watch lineup at this time had far too many model lines and it felt like they were radically changing designs of core models every few years (like the Chronomat in 2009).

Fast forward to now, Kern has trimmed down the model lines (and brought back some of the old ones), but the "professional" identity of the brand is gone. They turned to movie stars to promote their watches (like every other brand) and just became generic. Don't even get me started on the ridiculous "Santa squad" marketing dumpster fire that they double down on every year. I'm genuinely embarassed to wear my Breitlings around the holidays.

If I were coming into the watch game now, I don't think I would even look twice at Breitling because I can't figure out what the brand wants to be . . . other than everything to everyone. Now they're even making a tourbillon complication again, which a brand like Breitling has no business doing (anyone remember the train wreck that was the Breitling for Bentley tourbillon?).

Hearing Kern speak was really inspiring and I feel like he has the right mentality, but his words and the current brand positioning are not aligning for me. All that being said, in his own words, "you can't criticise success, " so if he is indeed selling a boat load more watches than before, then kudos to him and his team (hence why I'd be interested to see REAL sales data). At any rate, he has definitely lost a customer in me, as this is a far cry from the brand I once knew that was responsible for getting me into watches in the first place.

[scottlalonde]

Great interview, thank you. Was not a fan of Kern era Breitling at first. Thought Breitling needed more grit, less glamor. But I've come around. The Premier line and the Aviator Mosquito models are my favorite dream watches, along with the Avenger Chronograph 45 (very Ernest Schneider era!). And Mr. Kern's environmental message puts Breitling in a good light. I love Breitling, hope for their continued success 🙂👍

[michaelsolimano]

This is such an impressive interview. For the longest time, I was not a fan of Breitling. However, their recent releases like the Datora (go pistachio!) are stunning.

[luiscaballero]

Phenomenal interview, Wei. Thank you!

[guillaumeschirra]

This interview is class and gold. Thank you.

[jareddanaraj]

This was a great conversation…well done ❤

[jasons]

Great interview, would love a follow-up with more focus on the watches and where they plan to go with the Aviation history behind Breitling.

[masterwatch]

I am not sure Breitling is worth $4bn but starting at $800m there has been some very good Financial growth. The jobs creation is the very good thing. Mission driven... exactly, that is how you succeed...

[mahmoudghoneim]

While Breitling has developed tremendously during the last couple of years yet one thing is starting to show that the range is starting to get crowded again in a way that dilutes brand DNA which was always an issue before the new journey, strong brands have onething in common which is a coherent catalog.

[speedmariner]

What an awesome and unexpectedly inspiring interview! Well done Wei.

[med-]

Incredible brand and business model, inspiring.