Audemars Piguet’s chief executive Francois-Henry Bennahmias appears to be reigniting a plan to control the pre-owned market for its watches.
According to a report by luxury industry super-sleuth Miss Tweed, Mr Bennahmias spoke about the pre-owned project at a recruitment conference in Paris last week.
Interest in brands managing the circular economy for their watches as they are bought and sold on the secondary market has been sparked again by the news that Rolex is rolling out a certified pre-owned programme.
Omega and other Swatch Group-owned watchmakers have since ruled out launching their own CPO project, preferring to leave the after market to specialists.
Audemars Piguet is expected to flesh out its priorities for a pre-owned programme by the end of this year.
But it may be a reheated concoction first spoken about five years’ ago.
WATCHPRO reported Mr Bennahmias announcing back in 2018 that, “Second-hand is the next big thing in the watch industry”.
AP went as far as trialing the buying and selling of its own second hand watches through its owns boutiques in Switzerland, with an intention to roll it out to other markets if successful.
That attempt appeared to stall because of the complexity of handling a global inventory of pre-owned watches.
2023 is expected to be the last year Mr Bennahmias will be at the helm of Audemars Piguet, with recruiters actively searching and interviewing for his replacement as CEO.
Industry insiders have told WatchPro that the hiring process has so far floundered, so there is a chance the chief executive will need to stay on a little longer and champion the CPO roll-out.
