Greubel Forsey has built incredible value into the brand that you can’t imagine since its establishment when Robert Greubel and Stephen Forsey teamed up and launched Greubel Forsey in 2004 in La Chaux-de-Fonds.
In 2020, Antonio Calce was appointed the CEO and Executive Board Member of Greubel Forsey after spending some 27 years in the Swiss watch industry.
Recently, AWJ met with Mr. Calce who is determine to create more brand awareness and value perception to Greubel Forsey globally and explained his next big expansion plan for 2021 and beyond.
Excerpts from the interview with Antonio Calce - CEO Greubel Forsey:
In 2020, you were appointed as the CEO & Executive Board Member of Greubel Forsey after spending some 27 years in the Swiss watch industry. Obviously, the industry is currently facing some challenges. What “is or are” the current challenge(s) for you as the CEO of Greubel Forsey at the moment? In other words what are your priorities for the brand?
When I joined Greubel Forsey, one year ago, Robert and I had some long discussions and we shared the same position on the fact that all the beautiful creativity and products needed to be incorporated in a strategic border in order to have a better maturity. The first step for us is to rethink our product offer. We should develop products that fit into a new price segment, between 200’000 to 300’000 CHF with more modernity in terms of design, case and bracelets, while maintaining excellence in our calibers.
Finally, we are working on improving our brand awareness by elaborating a strong marketing strategy. Foundations are here, we just need to put all those new ideas in place.
During the recent Watches & Wonders show you revealed the new GMT with GF first steel strap. Is this just the beginning of more sports watches with variety of steel straps and sports directions?
We will not only stick to sport watches because we are not a sports brand. However, as mentioned before, what we want at Greubel Forsey is to work on more modern and contemporary watches.
The product offer that we will have these upcoming months will be a big evolution and will have a strong impact on our distribution.
Do we expect more releases from GF during the course of the year?
Yes, you can! For example, there will be a big launch in November in preparation of the 2022 strategy and in the near future a big evolution in our ethical choices.
We have seen watch brands creating high complications linked to the engines of luxury car brands. Given your mastery in high complication movements, can you reveal any future plans of such a car association?
It is not planned for the moment. We are first reinforcing the marketing and communication department. In the past, we weren’t using the word “marketing”. However, now we are working on a real marketing plan with strategical launches for 2022. We are recruiting people in the team, for example, a PR Officer started beginning of June, a Digital Manager a few months ago.
The major move we will do in marketing now is to reinforce our presence on digital. This is why we are going to do a digital campaign on Instagram, with small movies. This campaign will cover more than 15 cities worldwide such as Dubai, Mexico, Los Angeles, London, Shanghai and many more. We want with this campaign to increase our brand awareness and reach potential customers. Then, in September, we will launch a brand new website with a user experience that we do not have for the moment. Next year, we will organize big events for our major launches, and the entire communication for these will be reworked. It was important in the past to capitalize on craftsmanship, but today, the younger generation wants to feel emotions towards communication. Customers want to live experiences, and you cannot find this in a communication that is focused only on hand finishing. It will always be part of our DNA, but we will communicate differently about it.
We have witnessed a new genderless trend in the market. GF appears as a very masculine brand. Isn’t this too segmenting for your development?
At Greubel Forsey, we have always been focused on manufacturing exceptional calibers, and it led us to create imposing timepieces. When you know how everything is implemented in our Garde-Temps, it is just amazing. However, we are working on some new products and we will launch our first chronograph, measuring 36 millimeters, in 2023. We will also be using nano technology in 2024 for our 20th anniversary and we would like to integrate it to our lady collection.
Where would be the next big expansion plan for the brand?
The major change that will be done is that we will increase our volume without compromising the quality of the finishing, and this is a big challenge for Greubel Forsey. Then, what will be important following this change is to work on our distribution. Today, we have too many POS and we are planning to reduce them by half in the upcoming years in order to open some flagships instead. Robert Greubel and I are convinced that with the new product offer and the new communication strategy, this goal will be possible to reach.
Second hand, re-sale, auction is a big topic among your targeted audience. How do you ensure your watches keep their values?
We hear more and more about second hand, and at Greubel Forsey we follow this topic very carefully because our timepieces are considered as art pieces! We don’t think that our products have a limited longevity, in the contrary, we think that the value of our watches do not phase out through the years. It is a very important subject and this is why we are working on a special page on our new website, where we will promote second hand Garde-Temps. It will be available at the end of the year, stay tuned!
How important is the Middle East markets for Greubel Forsey? And how important is to create a personal relationship in promoting such a high-end watch brand?
The Middle East market is one of the most important markets for our brand. We have a good presence in this region and a good clientele with whom we have a strong relationship. We will continue to sustain this extraordinary relationship and further build and satisfy the high-net-worth individuals, watch lovers and watch connoisseurs in this important region.