Back in the pre-streaming 1980s, British comedy panel game show Through the Keyhole was a family favourite as posh bloke Loyd Grossman rummaged around famous people’s homes digging for clues as to who lived there.
I am now playing a modified version of that game looking for clues as to where Audemars Piguet’s mercurial CEO François-Henry Bennahmias might be heading when he steps away next year after ten years in the top job.
Rumours that Mr Bennahmias would be leaving had been swirling since the beginning of this year, and that speculation was confirmed in an interview by Le Temps in Switzerland with AP’s family owner Jasmine Audemars and Mr Bennahmias.
Mr Bennahmias has been working at Audemars Piguet for 25 years and as CEO since 2013.
He is credited with modernising the brand image of AP through radical limited editions and innovative brand partnerships while introducing the entirely new CODE 11.59 and maintaining the desirability of the classic Royal Oak, particularly leading up to this year, the 50th anniversary of the Gerald Genta-designed classic.
The Frenchman’s résumé is peerless within the Swiss watch industry, particularly after Audemars Piguet overtook Patek Philippe and Longines last year to become the fourth biggest watchmaker in the country with turnover of CHF 1.58 billion from the sale of just 45,000 units.
Along with the Audemars family, he has overseen the upgrading of the company’s manufacturing, opened a state of the art museum and introduced a completely new style of high end watches in the form of the CODE 11.59 collection.
Along the way, he has dramatically increased the profitability of AP by shifting to a direct to consumer model that controls sales of 72% of its watches at an average price of almost CHF 40,000, according to Morgan Stanley.
Culturally, Mr Bennahmias has made AP cool, up there with the likes of Richard Mille in appeal to a younger generation of freshly minted multimillionaires.
This youthful outlook is a first clue in our game of Through the Keyhole. It seems unlikely Mr Bennahmias will transition into any sort of role as a chairman or museum curator for the historic Audemars Piguet.
Moving to another watch brand feels unlikely. The aforementioned Richard Mille might be the only business that would keep the restless CEO sufficiently entertained. Mr Mille is now in his early seventies, and leaves day-to-day operations to a highly competent and experienced executive team, so there is no expectation of a vacancy there.
Much more likely would be a move back into the sporting arena that Mr Bennahmias left when he entered the watch world. Before the Swiss came calling, he was a professional golfer, ranked in the top 25 by the French authorities.
Given his penchant for controversy and experience extracting vast sums of money from the super-rich, perhaps leading global football custodian FIFA or the International Olympic Committee would appeal.
Triangulating vast amounts of money, his passion for golf and disruptive ambitions, the newly formed and Saudi Arabia bankrolled LIV Tour series might headhunt the 58-year-old.
Or the big money world of boxing? Mr Bennahmias has an office in Le Brassus full of memorabilia. Might he be the new Don King, who is now in his nineties?
The art world might come calling and Mr Bennahmias certainly has an enviable black book of contacts having worked on projects with the likes of Andreas Angelidakis, Meriem Bennani and Aleksandra Domanović in recent years.
Might he become head of one of the world’s great institutions: Guggenheim, MoMa or the Louvre? All of them are globalising and tapping into wealthy new markets like China and the Middle East.
Music and entertainment supremo Simon Cowell has been rather quiet recently, what with the fading influence of his X Factor, Pop Idol and [insert country]’s Got Talent franchises.
Could Mr Bennahmias be the new pop Svengali?
For my money, I reckon Mr Bennahmias will be lured to the West Coast of America where he can rub shoulders with Silicon Valley wonks, Hollywood moguls and even space race entrepreneurs like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos.
Something intergalactic feels necessary to give his creative juices the freedom he requires and, according to a certificate hung on his office wall, he is already a Master of Galactic Basic, the most commonly spoken language in the universe according to Star Wars archivists.
