Frederique arnault
Frédéric Arnault at his first appearance as CEO launching a new range of Connected watches in New York in March 2020.

TAG Heuer names Frédéric Arnault as its new chief executive

Stéphane Bianchi will become CEO of a newly expanded Watches and Jewelry division that will oversee Chaumet and FRED jewellery in addition to TAG Heuer, Hublot and Zenith.

Frédéric Arnault has been appointed as CEO of TAG Heuer. He officially takes the role on July 1.

Stéphane Bianchi will become CEO of a newly expanded Watches and Jewelry division that will oversee Chaumet and FRED jewellery in addition to TAG Heuer, Hublot and Zenith.

Bulgari, LVMH’s biggest jewelry and watch brand, will remain under Jean-Christophe Babin with Antoine Pin leading the watch business.

Frédéric Arnault is son of LVMH chairman and chief executive Bernard Arnault, France’s richest individual with personal wealth of $76 billion, according to the Forbes 2019 Rich List.

He made his first presentation on behalf of TAG Heuer at the launch of a new Connected watch in New York in March (pictured top), just days before the city locked down.

However, he started his professional career at Facebook before moving on to consulting firm McKinsey.

His first role at LVMH was in 2017, when he joined TAG Heuer to manage its smartwatch development.

He was appointed chief strategy and digital officer for TAG Heuer in October 2018, working with Mr Bianchi on a transformation and digitalisation programme for the brand.

“It fills me with pride to see Frédéric succeed me at the helm of TAG Heuer after the key role he has played in its strategic repositioning. He has carved out a place for digital at the heart of the company’s aspirations, restored real momentum to the collections, all the while skillfully managing the development and launch of the hugely successful third Connected watch generation. Frédéric is passionate about watchmaking, and I am convinced that he and his management team are best placed to lead this wonderful maison to the heights of achievement it deserves,” Mr Bianchi says.

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Stephane Bianchi.

Speaking about the promotion of Mr Bianchi to head the new Watches and Jewelry division, Bernard Arnault praises the new lease of life he has brought to the business. “I am certain that he will continue this great work and that he will apply all of his talents and his determination to the development of the Maisons Chaumet and FRED,” he adds.

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  1. A great move, between Frederic Arnault and Stephane Bianchi, fresh blood and ideas into the Group. All do respect to Jean-Claude Biver, his successes and since taking the helm at LVMH of the Traditional Brands, his first move was to remove the Head of TAG-Heuer who was driving the Brand to it’s Heritage and Potential when the introduced 1./100 and 1/1000, but Biver whose interest lied with the mono-dimensional Hublot, put all the energy and Capitol into that, which has limited growth potential long term in it’s current form. TAG-Heuer was stilted and held back allowing Brands like Breitling, Omega to raise their perceived Market position, so too Tudor, which was terribly mis-handled at it’s re-launch by Rolex, but now, appears to be an alternative in this sub-$10,000 arena. TAG-Heuer needs to behave as an Independent Brand philosophically and re-capture lost ground in the Luxury arena., too much focus on Homage, too much cross-pollination with design components, F1, with Link mirrored Attachments, Aquaracer has gotten long in the tooth, with only minimal cosmetic applications, they have ceded the Sea to both Competitors and pretenders alike, bring back Aquagraph in a Collection (Bronze, Black DLC, Indigo Blue DLC, SS and Titanium, Link, the return of the Uni-Directional Bezel, Braceleted or w/Link Strap, Autavia has been a very strong extension, which better suits the name, then a singular piece in narrow executions. Hopefully the Brand follows some of these paths as the long term potential, is what was abandoned in the late ’90’s with managerially changes.

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