If you are a watch collector or watch lover, you will know the name François-Henry Bennahmias. The CEO and poster boy of Swiss watchmaker Audemars Piguet— and massive Yoda fan—joined the maison in 1994 following a brief spell in the worlds of fashion and sports.
In 2022, Bennahmias announced that he would retire in 2023, a year shy of his 60th birthday. Just before the Le Brassus watchmaker announced Ilaria Resta, a senior leader and president of a global perfumery based in Geneva to take over its reigns as the new CEO, Bennahmias spoke to Tatler about the need for women to run the world.
This is your last year serving as the CEO of Audemars Piguet. How does it feel to be leaving?
Sure, it’s the end, but it’s the end of a beautiful, 29-year love story. [When I announced in 2022 my plans to retire in 2023, I knew I would be concluding] my career on a high. I will be 59 in a few months, and there are so many more things I want to do with my life before I truly stop. I want to appreciate the time I have left, so I knew [my time at Audemars Piguet had to] end. Planning ahead of time makes things much easier. Despite this, while I was at an Audemars Piguet party in Taipei a few days ago, [my colleagues] got to me, and they got to me hard. I was overcome with emotion.
You’ve spent nearly three decades at Audemars Piguet. What has changed in horology over those years, and what do you think— and hope—will never change?
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