Stéphane Wasser, Maurice Lacroix’s Managing Director, talks to Tracey Llewellyn about the restructuring and changing fortunes of the brand, the success of the Aikon, and meeting the demands of Gen Z.
WATCHPRO: I heard recently that Maurice Lacroix is up for sale. Is that correct?
STÉPHANE WASSER: Yes. It has been up for sale since 2014. It was going through a rough patch at the time, but a new strategy and a restructuring since 2016 has changed the brand’s fortunes. And a lot of that is down to the Aikon that we launched that year. By 2019, it had helped us to become profitable. It was a true turnaround story.
WP: So, was the Aikon always tasked with being the saviour of the brand?
SW: At the time we were developing it, the watch world was going crazy and everybody was pushing up their prices. We didn’t know what was going to happen with movement supply from ETA, so we were looking at going high-end and manufacture. Our pricing changed drastically. From an average price of CHF 2,000 we were going up to an average of CHF 5-6,000, and we suddenly had watches costing CHF 12, 14, 18,000 — in 2011 we had a piece that cost CHF 35,000. Plus, we were still experiencing the effects of the 2008 financial crisis. Sales dropped off and it was really tough between 2009 and 2014.
We became known for the Masterpiece collection, but it was just not accessible to most people because it was starting at around CHF 10,000, and in 2008-2009 you could get a very nice Rolex for that, or an IWC, and almost a Patek Philippe. Unless you were a serious collector, you were not going to spend that with us, so we started to disappear from sight.
We saw that we were missing a hero product — that one family that represents the brand at an accessible price. The answer was Aikon. We made it to go back to our origins and to cater to our core customer. So we launched the quartz model first, which started at under CHF 1,000. And then in 2018 came the Aikon Automatic. Now we are seven years on from the original restructuring and everything is very different.
WP: What made you decide on a sports watch for your new hero piece?
SW: As I say, between 2012 and 2015, it became obvious that Maurice Lacroix was missing this hero product. We designed a few new pieces, but as we launched them we knew that they weren’t quite right to represent the DNA of the brand. So, we started to talk to our customers and also the retail partners that we have had for the past 30 or 40 years. The overwhelming feedback was for us to bring back the Calypso, a model from the 1980s.
Although it was popular back in its day, the Calypso felt a little old-fashioned for the 21st century, so we decided to carry out a proper design study. And the more we worked on the product, the more it made sense. When we saw the first wax 3D-printed prototype, we looked at the watch and unanimously thought ‘Wow!’. By redesigning and refreshing the codes of the Calypso, we came up with something really contemporary that we could see would last well into the future.
WP: This was definitely more than just a watch of the moment then?
SW: Absolutely. We had done our market research with end consumers, and had also presented the watch throughout its two-year development phase to all key retailers and distributors and we took their feedback on board. If you look at the watch industry today, there are 50 to 70 brands that all have watches with this angular 1970s inspiration, and the Aikon stands up against any of them.
In the beginning, we had a ten-year programme. Looking at how the model could develop. We asked ourselves: Can we do mechanical? Can we do diving watches? Can we do skeletons? Can we incorporate our manufacturer expertise gained from our Masterpiece competence? Back in 2015, we were already talking about the products that we are launching today. We knew there was a huge potential and it was really a serious collection — and a credible collection. In the 1990s, in Germany, we were selling 100,000 Calypsos a year, so the base of the AIkon already had substance.
WP: And the Aikon brought a new, younger consumer to Maurice Lacroix?
SW: To buy a Masterpiece was an investment. It was for the more mature buyer. Research for the Aikon showed us that we needed to communicate to post-millennials so we went really strong on digital and social media, and also in terms of the creatives we used — we needed to speak to a 20-year-old customer not just a 40-plus one.
That’s part of the reason behind the Aikon #tide. We wanted to do a sustainable product partly because we were getting a lot of questions from younger generations like: What do you do for packaging? Do you have a sustainable business model? Are your watch straps vegan? Sustainability rapidly became important to brands because it was important to consumers. We looked at the key values of Gen Z and realised that we needed to do a sustainable watch project. We were lucky to find the guys from #tide and that they were willing to work with us on a watch made from recycled ocean-bound plastic.
Then we had to come up with the right way to communicate to Gen Z, which involved finding a concept agency that was strong in the field and they came up with the idea of the #tide ‘drop’. We had seen this concept with luxury sneakers and the like, but it was a first for watches. The launch was an amazing success commercially, bringing new people to the brand and showing the fun part of the product. I think we also gained some momentum when the MoonSwatch launched. People looked at it and then looked at Aikon #tide and saw the longevity in our product because it’s more than plastic, it’s a composite and has 100m of water resistance. People understand it and think that if they are going to buy a plastic watch, they want it to last — plus they are reassured by our five-year warranty.
To further capture the attention of Gen Z, we also participate in events in some of the world’s most exciting urban settings. We have partnerships with Mahindra Racing, King of the Court, FIBA 3×3 (we launched a special edition AIKON #tide with them) and Red Bull Dance Your Style. The individuals we work with are ambitious, competitive and connected — characteristics that we and our partnerships share in common.
WP: A frequently asked question is whether we will see an automatic version of the #tide. Is that likely?
SW: Aikon is a long-term project and I would say the sky’s the limit. We are working on different things for the next three or four years.
WP: Beyond the Aikon, you also have the Pontos family.
SW: The Aikon works with current trends, but it is not a watch for everyone, some clients prefer something a little more sophisticated. Whereas Aikon is a bit bolder and urban, Pontos is the most elegant and exclusive facet of the collection, although the price points are very close.
We have been making Pontos for more than 20 years and it has always been a top seller so, at the end of 2020, we reinterpreted the collection to mark its 20th anniversary. More recently, we gave it a refresh with some new Pontos models that we launched at Geneva Watch Days 2022: The Pontos S Chronograph and the Pontos Day Date, a limited-edition in khaki with a DLC case that shows how you can take elegant style in a more urban direction. For the Pontos S Chronograph, we added a ceramic bezel and accentuated the bicompax dial.
We are also expanding the sustainability ethos to the Pontos collection with our packaging and materials — recycled steel and no more exotic leathers. We were early experimenters with vegan leathers, but the quality was not there and we had to balance sustainability demands against quality.
And, of course, there is the Eliros collection, which celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2021. We added more colour variations to the range in the spring of 2022. We are always looking for the right moment to redesign or add to our collections.
WP: There is a current trend towards monobrand boutiques. Is this something that appeals to you?
SW: We have one boutique in Thailand that grew out of the demands of our Thai fan club there and it works really well, but elsewhere we are happy in multi-brand retailers. In 2016, we decided to have a restart and we stepped back slightly in the US and the UK. We wanted to build sustainable growth, rather than just sell in and reshuffle our retailer accounts every year, and a full-on restart was the only way. It’s a brave decision just to call a halt to everything and then start from the beginning but, like cutting back a plant, you grow back twice as strong.
We rely on retail partners, and we are not moving strategy to our own boutiques. We do not believe that this is the way forward, we are very much for the multi-brand retailer and we really see it as a partnership. All our partners have access to all of our products including limited editions and special editions. We don’t limit this to certain retailers as many big brands are doing today.
It is the same with e-commerce. We do have an online presence, but it’s more for positioning. During covid, we were doing 30 percent of our sales globally online, but not necessarily on our own site. Before the pandemic, average online spend was CHF 1,000-1,500, now it’s CHF 2,500-3,000.
WP: How many retailers do you have in the US and UK now?
SW: In the US, we have approximately 80 retail partners or accounts, mainly based on the East and West Coast as well as the Great Lakes region. The development has been solid and sustainable for a few years as we are very selective about who we work with. Good partnership ethics are important and the US is a very dynamic market, the purchase behaviour is also much more spontaneous. The development of our activities has been huge since the launch of Aikon and the challenges ahead will be to have the proper structure to service our customers well, so we need to keep up with our organic growth.
In the UK, we have two big accounts in London and about 20 to 30 doors across the country. We also have a new distributor in the Blue Company. For us a distribution partner like this is paramount — it wouldn’t make sense for us to go with the usual suspects, we need partners that are hungry and dynamic — and that includes retailers.
WP: Can you share any plans for 2023?
SW: Obviously, there will be lots of fresh takes and novelties in the Aikon collection, including a new Aikon #tide, plus an expansion of the Pontos collection. And there will be an interesting revival piece, too. We will continue with our local strategy taking part in smaller shows like WATCHPRO Salon and Geneva Watch Days as well as equivalents in Europe, the US and Asia. The bigger shows like Watches and Wonders are not for us at the moment.
When you launch something today, you launch it to journalists and retailers at the same time as you launch it to consumers — we saw that with the Aikon #tide ‘drop’. With social media, news is immediate and so, of course, we will be continuing with our whole digital strategy.
