BRAND ELEVATION

On the sidelines of Geneva Watch Days, Bulgari CEO JeanChristophe Babin talks about the challenges of having one brand identity across all categories, and tells us what he really thinks of watch fairs.

- ASHOK SOMAN

This is a story that was a long time coming... In fact, it comes all the way from TAG Heuer maybe 10 years ago. While various titles in the group have indeed scored interviews with Bulgari CEO Jean-Christophe Babin since 2013, WOW has not got one since at least 2016. Given that WOW has recently managed to interview the CEO of every LVMH watchmaking brand (from Hublot to TAG Heuer), it was particularly galling that Babin eluded us. Well, no more because we finally did it and thus achieved the LVMH Grand Slam of CEO interviews.

Seriously though, Babin represents one of the last of the old school watch and jewellery bosses, yet is not at all married to tradition. Indeed, he often zigs when you think he will zag, as they say. We, and no doubt you too, recall very well when Babin announced Bulgari's ultra-thin watch challenge in BaselWorld, probably in 2013 or 2014. It was a deeply astonishing move from a man who had only just moved over from TAG Heuer, where he had been CEO since 2000. The seeds for this had already been laid at brand he would lead from then right up to the present because the Octo Finissimo had debuted in 2012 and the Serpenti was already successful. On the boldest frontier yet, Bulgari had already jumped into home furnishing and the hospitality business by Babin's era.