“Swatch's Man for Luxury Watches”
Successfully running a luxury watch manufacturer takes people who are as much at home in the world of balance sheets and corporate strategy as they are with the latest trends in the watch market and the preferences of their clientele. Solid expertise is just as essential as a certain intuition and experience in a market that doesn't always seem to operate on purely rational terms. Raynald Aeschlimann is one of those people who combine exactly these qualities. Here we introduce our readers to the man responsible for luxury watches at the Swatch Group.
A Wealth of Responsibilities – and Fascinating Creative Freedom
For many watch enthusiasts, running a luxury watch manufacturer may well be the ultimate dream job – after all, where else could someone realize their personal vision of the ideal watch as fully as in this position?
It isn't quite that simple, however, because your own taste and personal preferences only help insofar as they match the taste of as many potential customers as possible – or are even capable of setting a corresponding trend.
Once this condition is met and commercial success follows, such a role does indeed offer fascinating creative freedom for someone who loves engaging with the design and sophisticated engineering of mechanical luxury watches. This is likely true of Raynald Aeschlimann to a particularly high degree.
In-Depth Industry Knowledge and International Experience
The products made under his leadership are prized by watch lovers around the world, yet Aeschlimann's name is less familiar to the public and the media. Within the industry, on the other hand, he has long enjoyed an excellent reputation, standing for comprehensive and in-depth knowledge of the trade, for major impetus at the brands he oversees, and for international experience in a variety of leadership roles.
The Swiss executive studied at the renowned University of St. Gallen, earning a licentiate in economics as well as an M.A. His first career steps, starting in 1992, took him to Longines, the world's oldest registered watch brand, and to Complementa AG, an investment specialist in St. Gallen.
A decisive turning point for his future path came in 1996: that year, Aeschlimann joined luxury watchmaker Omega as a project manager in sales and marketing, and in 2000 he became Brand Manager Spain for both Omega and Blancpain. In 2001 he took on the role of Vice President and International Head of Sales, Retail and Distribution. He held this position for almost a decade and a half until, in June 2016, he was finally appointed President and head of Omega AG.
Aeschlimann's Leadership Roles Within the Swatch Group and Commitment to the Watch Industry
Alongside his work at Omega, Aeschlimann also took on several key roles over the years within its parent company, the Swatch Group. Beginning in 2010, he initially served as coordinator for the group's Indian subsidiary before being appointed to the Extended Group Management Board in 2013. Since January 2019, he has also been responsible for Swatch Group France. In addition to these roles, he champions the interests of his industry as a board member of the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry FH.
A Core Brand of the Leading Swiss Watch Group
The fact that Aeschlimann spent a large part of his career at Omega is likely to serve him well time and again in his leadership role at the Swatch Group.
After all, the luxury watch brand named after the last letter of the Greek alphabet is, in a sense, part of the very core of today's leading Swiss watch group, whereas many of the group's other brands were only acquired within the last 30 or 40 years. As early as 1930, two renowned Swiss watchmakers – Omega from Biel and Tissot from Le Locle – had merged to form the Société Suisse pour l'Industrie Horlogère (SSIH).
Two years later, the company Lemania joined them. In parallel, the Allgemeine Schweizer Uhrenindustrie AG (ASUAG), founded in 1931, had emerged as another group that likewise brought together a portfolio of established Swiss watchmakers under one roof. The two coexisted for several decades and, in the early 1980s, ultimately played a key role in consolidating the Swiss watch industry.
The industry had come under mounting pressure since the 1970s in the wake of the so-called quartz crisis, as cheap quartz watches – particularly from Asia – flooded global markets and caused demand for mechanical watches to collapse dramatically. Against this backdrop, Nicolas G. Hayek became the "savior of the Swiss watch industry" when he founded the Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Mikroelektronik und Uhrenindustrie AG (SMH) in 1983.
It was formed through a merger of ASUAG and SSIH and has operated under the name The Swatch Group AG since 1998. By uniting numerous prestigious Swiss watch brands under one corporate umbrella and leveraging the resulting synergies, the company managed to overcome the crisis and reposition Swiss watches as internationally coveted luxury goods.
Views and Decisions: What Makes Luxury Watch Expert Aeschlimann "Tick"?
When Raynald Aeschlimann succeeded Stephen Urquhart at Omega in 2016, he was comparatively young at 46, yet thanks to his many years of experience he was already regarded as a "veteran" and had long been tipped as a potential successor.
The dynamic watch executive has lived up in full to the high expectations that came with the role.
Just a year after he took office, the trade press credited him with a flying start. To mark the 60th anniversary of the legendary Speedmaster, he caused a sensation with a spectacular event at London's Tate Modern, where brand ambassador George Clooney was joined on stage by former astronaut Buzz Aldrin, the second man on the Moon. During the first crewed Moon landing on July 21, 1969, Aldrin had worn on his wrist that very Speedmaster model, which NASA had selected as its official astronaut watch and which is known to this day as the "Moonwatch".
Another highlight of Aeschlimann's tenure so far was the inauguration of Omega's new building in Biel. Its creator, the celebrated Japanese architect Shigeru Ban, can claim to have built the world's largest timber structure with this building, which is 70 meters long and 30 meters wide and 30 meters high. A passion for mechanical watches is likely indispensable for Aeschlimann's work. He once said in an interview that, for him, a watch should fundamentally be mechanical.
The experience you have with a mechanical watch, he said, is unique.
He also places great importance on the Omega brand's heritage and its connection to perfection, as expressed in the choice of the brand name. Yet his appreciation of this historical legacy by no means stands in the way of developing new ideas and products. Quite the opposite: with innovative decisions such as the introduction of Speedy Tuesday or the launch of the new Trésor ladies' watch line, he consistently ensures that "his" brand and the Swatch Group as a whole can remain successful in the market in the future.
