In 20 years with Audemars Piguet, Bennahmias has taken the brand to the four corners of the world and never lets up on his pursuit of excellence. Since 2012 this golf lover has been tackling a new challenge as CEO.
How is the company doing? We had decided that 2013 and 2014 would be transitional years, then 2013 was much better than we anticipated. Our idea is to achieve controlled growth and favour quality over quantity.
What do this year's new watches offer? We work along three lines. There are our complication watches, such as the Royal Oak Concept in white ceramic, which is meeting with great success, then our women's lines, which we've honed, and the basic collections such as the Royal Oak, our daily bread.
Given a new campaign and expanded collections, are women your priority? They account for 25% of our sales – it's a booming market! We've always created watches for women, now we're just reinforcing our communication.
Four golfers have joined Nick Faldo as brand ambassadors, why this sport? It's the only one you can play worldwide without "upsetting" the professionals! Nick Faldo is our leading brand ambassador and I believe strongly in the Frenchman Victor Dubuisson's talent, he does things differently and our clients like that.
Another of your communication strategies is art. Why the partnership with Artbasel? Because our craft is an art! Whether in Miami, Basel or Hong Kong, artists are thrilled by our meticulous detailing. Our new stand pays tribute to our origins, Le Brassus in the Joux valley, where Audemars Piguet was born.
Tell us about Le Brassus. It's where watchmaking started. This is one of the coldest regions in Europe and in winter the farmers couldn't go out, so they began making watches. That dichotomy between summer life in the fields and a daily routine limited to what's inside a watch case still continues today, it hasn't changed in 140 years. Travelling back into the past is fascinating.
What kind of people are your clients? All ages love us. A graduate wants a Royal Oak to celebrate his degree, recently a German clergyman in his seventies treated himself to a complication watch... The important thing
is to evolve all the time so as to give our clientele what it wants.
The secret to staying so modern? There's no magic formula, you have to sense the precursory signs. It's amazing how many people find a vocation in watchmaking, it's one of the rare crafts still attracting youngsters.
Is an iconic model such as the Royal Oak essential? It's recognised as the epitome of design and accounts for 60% of our sales. Given the number of brands that try to make watches similar to it, we feel we must have got something right!
How do you see the future? We're still far from our peak. Every day new people discover watchmaking and fall in love with it. We take risks and we want to do consistently more to please clients.
Which watch are you wearing today? A model created for the company's 120th anniversary, which I wasn't able to buy for myself in 1995; I bought it at auction later. It's so modern I defy anyone to guess it's 20 years old!
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