You have been heading Panerai since the year 2000; which achievement stands out most in your mind?

I have indeed been CEO of Panerai since 2000, but I began working in 1997 on the brand launch project. Today, what I most treasure is the entire adventure, which represents the most important professional experience of my life. Panerai simply did not exist and it has become a success story. We had a product and we’ve made it into a brand. Right from the start, we had decided to infuse the watch with genuine content while respecting its history: it’s a simple, clear-cut strategy that has been transformed into a waking dream. Panerai in itself is the finest accomplishment of the past ten years.

Your collections are featuring an increasing number of complication watches; do you expect this trend to be reinforced?

I prefer to speak of content rather than complications. This product has a history, a design, an exceptional size and an instantly recognisable dial. So the obvious question was: what more could we do? We have therefore added technical content to the historical content, and you will discover the new releases at the SIHH in January 2009.

What are the key challenges Panerai has to deal with?

I am strongly convinced that Panerai must consolidate its existing assets, while preparing to negotiate the next bend in the road. Consolidating these twelve dream years is my top priority. I prefer to avoid a headlong race forward in order to avoid an untimely crash, and instead to focus on growing slowly but surely.

One of your best retailers in Geneva considers Panerai a brand that is hard to sell because its products are hard to obtain: how would you respond?

This is not a situation we have intentionally created; we have decided to let quality rather than quantity dictate our production rates. For example, we cannot produce more than twenty ceramic watches per week. If weekly demand exceeds this offer, people have to wait a while, which in my view is not a negative factor for the brand’s reputation. On the contrary, I can see two advantages for the retailer: it avoids the cost of accumulating stock and it gives the customer a chance to come back more often!.

Still no ladies’ models in view?

No. We already make watches that women enjoy wearing. Women like Panerai models as they are. Why try to invent a credibility that we do not have in this segment and thereby lose our identity?

Which in your view are the current dangers facing Swiss watchmaking?

It looks as if it will be hard to avoid the consequences of the current financial crisis. We are probably already witnessing a downturn in the market, which is not in itself anything abnormal. The double-digit growth recorded for the past 12 years cannot last forever and it would be dangerous to imagine it could. Brands with solid foundations will weather the potentially tough conditions of the next two to three years, while the others may have a pretty hard time. But in any case, it’s early days yet….