My next guest is the highest ranked woman in Swiss watches, I would say watches in general. Ilaria Aresta became the new chief executive Domas Pig earlier this year, following two decades of consumer goods Giant, Procter and Gamble. Now a less say. Her mission is to stabilize a brand and catalyze on its transformation from a watchmaker to a luxury house. I'm delighted that Laria Aresta joins me now, thanks so much.
Welcome to Bloomberg and welcome to Lounder, London. Ilaria Aresta, when you look at some of the challenges ahead, how's it going, and you've been in charge for a year, there are things that you wanted to do. Are they at speed?
Yes?
They are at speed of course, as when I say joined the market new reality heat which is which is in a way of blessing in disguise, because it gave me the chance only honestly to focus on the strategies and rethink about the growth opportunities moving forward and stabilize this business before continuing their growth.
Laria, when you look at your main markets, I know China was a big one with a lot of question marks, today we have stimulus the US. The biggest of course market for watch is how are those going.
We are very well balanced in terms of presence by market, so we are not affected by the downward trend. In China, we're actually very well spread by country, by regions, so we continue solid growth. We're very happy about what we put in place for the future, so so far we are not affected by the macroeconomic instability.
The waiting list, of course for a watch is huge. Does it mean that as a customer now I have a shorter list to get to watch I want.
We continue having a high demand and we continue luckily so continue proceeding with our production strategy, which is highly manual, highly elevated in terms of orological signature, so we try to push more complications because of that. Of course, it's a long process of production and it takes months, if not years, to develop a new watch.
You almost came as an outsider to the watch industry. What have you learned over the last twelve months.
Well, definitely an outsider.
I've never worked in this industry and it has been a wonderful discovery. Definitely is a different dynamic from the FMCG world, where I come from from a public literary a company and now work in a family company with a different governance.
But definitely the common points are the.
Leadership needs, the value creation.
Work that I have to do.
Of course, it's a completely different time horizon producing a watch. It's a very very long investment in time. Sometimes it takes even ten years to develop a watch. Quite the opposite of FMACG dynamics.
How many watches you make? Around fifty fifty one.
That's pretty much where we are, well pretty.
Much, I mean, are you trying to increase that or actually, is demand so important or is the scarcity of it so important that you'll stay around these figures.
It's not about the scarcity.
It's about our strategy of production and manufacturing, which is a focused on on elevating the complications and the innovation and watchmaking. That's why we focus much more on research, and these activities require time. We want to continue doing what we used to do in the past one hundred and fifty years ago, which is developing and advancing roological invention and high end The high complications are important in the mix of products, so we are complicating more our portfolio.
And so what's the magic in that once you have the product, is it how you sounds influencers? Is it you know you have? The brand is very well known also inside rap music, which has given it an extra appards when.
It starts from the watchmaker.
When you go to the bench of a watchmaker, you feel the passion and the emotion of the watchmaker passing this passion and emotion in an object, in a time piece, and it's incredible how these emotions can travel all the way to the final client. And that's why we're very happy to have a diary distribution, because this allows us really to tell stories and to explain what it takes for that specific watch.
To end on the risk of our client.
How much do you want to diversify I know, for example, you know there are still plans to do sales of the Code eleven fifty nine, but you have the Royal equally dominating the sales.
We want to diversify firs of all from a client's stand point. We are underdeveloped in among women, which is an industry phenomenon, and now we see women actually being more and more interested in mechanical watchmaking and high hand mechanical watchmaking. We are breaking the bias that women are much more interested in.
Jewelry watches or quarts watches.
In reality, they are extremely interested in mechanical watches. They are becoming collectors and by twenty thirty we estimate forty five percent of buyers will be women and they will buy themselves and build themselves their collection. So no longer the stereotype of the men buying watches for women. So we are trying to cater to women, cater to new generations of clients, and hence our portfolio will be adjusted to these these clients.
It does a female buyer shop differently, for example in Switzerland or France compared to the US for China.
That's what we're indeed analyzing and studying. There is a different retail environment and ceremony that women are looking for.
They love actually education, so.
That's why we're organizing master class for women to go behind the scene of the developing a watch. We put actually watches in their hands, we dismantle with them just to show what the mechanical movement is and it's incredible much they are very interested into the mechanical elements of watchmaking. So we're moving much more into storytelling than selling real workshop hands on activities with women, but also with new generations.
Laria, I mean, there was this report from de Lloyde showing actually the watch industry was failing to make and market watches that women wanted to buy. Do you have a procestage of sales target that you have towards women? How much do you sell to women now and how much you want to sell in five years?
We are in the range of twenty percent, pretty much like the market. We aim at a mirror in the market reality. We don't want to be behind the market. We want to offer women the watches they want. The certain point has been not listening to women from the entire industry. I think there were so many stereotypes that
we are trying to break. And also it's important that we stop separating the market between women watches and men watches, because this is not the way women think about the category nor men.
By the way, Rolex and as making begin roads certified pre owned programs will all the mars go the same way.
We are working on it as a service for clients. It's been a while we've been working now on this program and now we will be ready in twenty twenty five.
I mean there's also a lot of you know, speculation at least talk about volsh of our movement and the fact that there could be a consortium. These are this is a Swiss company that makes some of your movement parts. Would you like to be involved that they make more sense for you know, watchmaker to have in charge of all the supply chain.
What matters to us is that to ensure that the industry is well served by our suppliers and we create an ecosystem where we can be codependent. We have always worked in Switzerland with this system.
Of a tabli sage. That's how we or the Martigue was born.
We were at the center as a project manager of watches and working with different companies, families sometimes expert in specific movements. We want to continue to have a healthy balance of partnership with external at the same time we need to start the owning and mastering. Also the production of some elements like ceramics, for example, is an important material for us that we start producing ourselves. But we believe in the balance of external internal capabilities.
Like when you look at I mean every day we talk about geopolitics and you know, the Trump teriffs impacts a company like odo Mars.
We don't see this impact after the direction in the US. At this stage, US continues being the biggest market and the one actually that even in twenty twenty three is posted the strongest strongest growth. We have high demand. Also given our relatives most sizes, we are not so affected by geopolitic fluctuate fluctuations.
So what's your biggest problem solving? I mean over the next twelve months, if you'll get your three priorities.
My priority is first of one, ensuring that we set the foundation.
I set the foundation for.
This company to thrive and live for the next one hundred and fifty years as an independent company. Because we want to remain independent and to do so, innovation and research is critical. We need to continue being ahead of the game. There is another pillar of the strategy which is clients centricity.
You have seen it women on one side, the new generations.
They all come with a completely different approach to retail, to purchasing, but also to type of watch they want. I mentioned complications, so we need to be listening. And then sustainability is becoming more and more a topic also in watchmaking, and we need to be ahead there.
When you look at the independence of the brand. Again, the rumors about all your major other big companies taking interest in other march you think the family would ever sell.
No, we are really committed to remain an independent company.
As part of the DNA of the company.
Is thanks to these independence that we are able to do the wonderful time pieces we do and being a focus in Leval deju which is our cradle where we started. We want to guarantee also a certain continuity or way of doing business and time pieces.
So we're committed to that.
You've been in charge for a years and that means, of course changes as you brought in new people. Are you halfway there? In ninety percent there? Of the team that you want to have.
Built, ninety percent there? The team is almost complete and ready to start. But I'm also very very glad to have and a wonderful a chip of watchmakers in manufacturers and in other departments that are very solid.
They have and a wonderful team that supports me.
Do you have a favorite watch? I don't feel like I don't know if it's like asking if you have a favorite child.
I have a favorite and you shouldn't ask this true, It's like it's like children. Today, I'm wearing a code which is actually I watch that a model that I really really love. But my favorite complication by far is the perpetual calendar.
Okay, perfect, thank you so much for doing Ushilarry arresta. There are, with all the incredible movements that Odmars Pigue has to do to make some of these watches achieve executives. There of ap watches