Franz Rivoira is a professional communicator and journalist, operating since 1988 in strategic communication and marketing services for design and luxury industries – with a specialization in watches and design.
Well-known in the field of watches, he is one of the most-read authors about horology in Quora, with over 30 million views over his content, and has authored four e-books about horology, organized in his The Watch Manual series.
He has recently onboarded with Aventi and has moved into the position of Manager of External Relations.
WATCHPRO caught up with Mr Rivoira to find out more.
Can you give a brief insight into Aventi as a brand?
I was deeply impressed by the spirit of Aventi, which is so different from anything I’ve seen previously. Keep in mind that my career path has led me to know and relate to top international design and luxury brands-but what Aventi is doing is really the proverbial stone thrown into the pond.
Aventi wants to build not only innovative watches with ultra-sophisticated materials, so advanced that we often have to invent them ourselves, but representing a symbol for a community of people who believe that a new way of doing luxury watchmaking is possible and even desirable. This combination makes Aventi very different from many other players in the industry, who articulate more traditional experiences.
What’s the latest at Aventi?
Our latest watch is the A15 Wraith, with a case made of an extraordinary material, Saphite™, which Aventi created after encountering the limitations imposed by traditional sapphire crystal. Saphite™ has a lower refractive index, so it is more transparent, and can be tinted in any shade of color, which sapphire crystal cannot do.
In fact, to demonstrate its possibilities, we deliberately chose this light blue coloring, which is found in nature only in the precious tourmalines mined in the Paraiba region of Brazil. We launched the Wraith last September, and our Concierge service is literally inundated with requests from enthusiasts, collectors and innovators, who have sensed what is behind the Aventi brand: a spasmodic quest to innovate and create something new and worthwhile in the field of hotology.
How long have you been with the company?
Aventi is a very recent brand, born in 2020: this means that all of the team has a very short service! I myself joined the company recently to take care of the launch of the A15 Wraith, but I had previously collaborated with the team working at Aventi on other projects.
When I talk about a team, I really mean it: people spread across the globe working together, in a totally modern and innovative way, to create something unseen before.
How will your role evolve with your latest promotion?
My role as Manager External Relations brings my watchmaking expertise and my achievements in design to the Aventi team: my focus is to concentrate first on the specific watchmaking niche, and then also to continue in communicating Aventi’s personality throughout the rest of its initiatives – and there are many in the pipeline – that will be the focus for telling people why we are unique, a kind of “rara avis” among other watchmaking Maisons.
What is next for the company in terms of product?
Aventi is burning the candle at the seams, and not only in terms of its stellar growth and spread around the world. We have our own tourbillon movement, the GT-01S, developed specifically for us, and we intend to equip it with a number of innovative watchmaking complications, created for us by the best watchmaking talents worldwide and offered in the Aventi style.
This is what our customers are asking us for: they want statement pieces, and in addition to the innovative materials and construction techniques that have traditionally been our strong point, they have asked us for everything that makes watchmaking Maisons great. And we are working to give them that. Indicatively we can say that in 2023 we will present several new timepieces, some of them with very important and rare complications.
Is there a specific market which performs best for you?
Our unstructured structure (and excuse the pun) easily covers the whole world, and since we sell online – remember, Aventi has no physical stores or dealers, at least for the time being – our ideal market is where these kinds of transactions are most common.
This means that the U.S. and Europe are our main market, but Asia – especially some specific countries – has also shown great interest in Aventi and its products, which are perceived to be disruptive and of great character. So our plan is to focus on these markets, especially investing in our Concierge service, which is our preferred channel of contact with the public. The Concierge team is composed by people who are ready to be there for those who believe in the Aventi project, no matter what.
How do you expect growth to be in the next 3-5 years?
All of our forecasts, supported by our track record, suggest that in the medium term Aventi will become one of the watchmaking Maisons that people refer to when they want to mention something innovative, beautiful and valuable. And all of this represents a new growth model, one that will happen without going along with the growth cravings that plague so many other luxury brands chasing numbers, numbers, and only numbers. More production, more sales, more staff.
Aventi does not aim to make cash by selling lots of watches, more and more. This is not our development model.
Aventi is a very modern watchmaking brand, but with fundamentals that come to us from the experience of the great names of the past. We intend to implement strictly limited productions: this does not mean making Limited Editions, for example, a series of 1,000 watches and that’s it, but creating 10 timepieces very month, and not one more. This allows us to make them better and better, to make our family of customers happier and proud to be part of this great growth experience called Aventi.
