Omega's New Timekeeper

Omega's new president and CEO Raynald Aeschlimann reveals where the brand will go next and his ambition to overtake luxury rival Rolex.

- Robert Anderson

When parent company Swatch Group announced the retirement of longstanding Omega president and CEO Stephen Urquhart in April last year, many wondered what the future would hold for the iconic watch brand.

Over his 17-year career at Omega, Urquhart had become one of the most recognised figures in the Swiss watch industry and led the brand to become arguably the most significant in Swatch’s portfolio – comprising an estimated 30 percent of the group’s sales.

But perhaps most importantly, the 70-year-old was credited with dragging Omega out of a lull in the 1980s to become the official watch of James Bond and one of the best selling brands in the world, while also simultaneously increasing its price point.

Filling his shoes was always going to be a big job and Swatch believed there was only one man that could take the role.

Urquhart’s lieutenant and 20-year Omega veteran Raynald Aeschlimann officially took over in June in a period that saw the company tackle economic challenges and celebrate the largest event on its calendar as official timekeeper of the Olympic Games.

“For me of course 2016 was a challenging year. But from an Omega point of view, if you think about the Olympic Games in Rio and some of the events we were able to do, we were very dynamic,” the Swiss national recalls of his first months in the job.

Aeschlimann’s remarks about it being a challenging year are something of an understatement. In its key figures for 2016, released in February, Swatch Group said its net sales fell 10.6 percent at current exchange rates to CHF 7.553bn ($7.557bn) with a 10.7 percent decline in the watches and jewellery segment to CHF7.305bn ($7.309bn).

Net income at the group, which has 18 watch and jewellery brands including Breguet, Harry Winston, Blancpain and Longines, was down 47 percent to CHF593m ($593.3m)