Does the appointment of a new Board of Directors after the passing of Severin Wunderman call into question the strategy you have initiated?

Not at all, since the repositioning strategy, undertaken in 2005 on the basis of a strategic brand audit, has clearly helped Corum to refocus its product identity in four major fields. This strategy has proved to be a winning one, and while it immediately appealed to our distribution network and our target public, it is now also clearly confirmed by the quality of our results on the market. We are looking for long-term value and the renewal Corum has experienced is only the beginning in terms of its capacity for expansion. So basically, you don’t change a winning strategy.

Michael Wunderman evokes “one of the fastest growth rates in the luxury watch business”: would you agree?

I fully support Michael’s statement, since Corum has fully benefited form the favourable economic situation and enjoyed swift growth in its turnover. The brand’s profitability has progressed considerably due to in-depth work in terms of refocusing and streamlining our range by reducing the number of references from 1000 to 150, spread between four collections. Moreover, achieving tighter cost control throughout the brand’s value chain has enabled us to achieve a level of profitability comparable to that of a company with a fully-integrated distribution network, even though we actually have only four subsidiaries altogether on our various markets. All these elements have made a major contribution to the brand’s progress, enabling it to grow at a considerable speed for a watch company such as ours in the highend segment of the market.

What work still needs to be done within the network, both in Switzerland and abroad?

In our brand repositioning and development strategy, we first of all refocused the collection, and then redefined the brand identity and its DNA. The second aspect then involved investing in human resources, a key element in the success of any company, since success is built on the strength, the skill and the solidarity of a team. The third focus was and still is on the production facility, and the fourth on investing in our markets in order to enhance brand visibility. We are building a powerful and firmly product-driven communication strategy. We are now present in 80 countries around the world and represented in 700 points of sale. In harmony with a “less is more” strategy, our goal is to create a distribution network in lien with our positioning in terms of both quality and quantity, since we want our status as an exclusive brand with a production of 20,000 watches per year to be reflected by distribution through a selective network. In a nutshell: less points of sale and more quality for enhanced visbility.

You have working on fundamentals for three years now: don’t you get the impression that Corum’s image now needs to evolve?

Corum is a brand with a strong identity and genuine legitimacy in the field of watchmaking. You don’t change the image of a brand, but you make it evolve. We are fortunate enough to have all the cards in hand: history, credibility, know-how and a coherent product collection. So all we now need to do is finely cut this rough stone in order to reveal its authentic radiance. That is precisely the phase that is currently our core concern: image, communication and visibility. In other worlds, we are working on ensuring that our external brand image matches our internal brand image, but above all on developing a product and marketing environment entirely in tune with the strength of the product and its assets. The evolution will thus be quite naturally, if one can indeed describe it as an evolution, but I prefer to speak of blossoming, a revelation or maturing.

Will the current brand pillars (Admiral’s Cp, Romvlvs and Golden Bridge) be joined by a new line?

In 2005, we redefined the four collection pillars composing our product range: Admiral’s Cup, Romvlvs, Golden Bridge, Artisans. We have the advantage of not being a mono-product brand, and these four pillars provide plenty of scope for evolution and development. Our wish it to continue these four collections based on a long-term policy corresponding to a long-term product life cycle with a “family tree” structured around four distinct areas that have been defined and are supported by a credibility and a history linked to the brand’s background (Artisans: a collection that has been present throughout the history of the brand, Admiral’s Cup introduced in 1960, Romvlvs in 1966, Golden Bridge in 1980). The product identity will not change, but its essence will evolve through the functions of the watch and the technical sophistication and complications of the movements. We wish to perpetuate the brand and to have it evolve on a stable and consistent founding identity.

What do you see as the main dangers facing the watch industry today?

I see two types of danger: the first is of an economic kind, with the current situation on the financial markets which is generating a more cautious, wait-andsee attitude, but which is not necessarily unfavourable to the watch industry – at least in our own segment, at the high end of the market.

The second is the one that is the focus of our concerns and our investments: namely the need to integrate within the company all the professions indispensable to designing and manufacturing a product. Such vertical integration is a vital necessity for watch brands today in order to ensure independence and flexibility, as well as to fully master the entire development process – from initial sketches through to the final product.