Founded in 1888 in Grenchen, Switzerland, Certina is now part of the Swatch Group and is headquartered in Biel. At the helm of the business is Marc Aellen, who actually started his career at Certina in 2001, before spending some time at Omega. He caught up with WatchPro’s Alex Douglas in Oslo at the FIS Cross-Country World Cup, following the brand being named as Official Timekeeper.
When you think of Swatch Group, you may not immediately think of Certina. However, marketing is a powerful thing and the brand is benefitting from not only a growing level of exposure, but from leadership that is taking it to new levels too.
Marc Aellen took over the position of CEO three years ago after spending twelve years working at Jaquet Droz, and previously at Omega too. Now though, he is back where he started his Swatch Group career in 2001, at Certina.
Mr Aellen’s progression within the group has been quite the journey, and while looking over the slopes in Oslo on a trip to mark the brand’s inaugural sponsorship of the FIS Cross-Country World Cup for Skiing, he explained just how things have changed in that period.
“So I took over the position of CEO three years ago, after spending 12 years with Jaquet Droz and previously working for Omega, so I’ve had a lot of involvement with the group,” he says.
“For Omega, I looked after Eastern Europe as a region but actually started my career in 2001 at Certina, so my journey has come full circle. I did an initial three years as Regional Sales Manager at Certina and then moved to Omega, but it is nice because now, over 20 years later, I am back at the original place.”
He went on to discuss just how the market has changed in his time within the industry.
“Twenty years ago it was mainly quartz watches (95%). Today, we are more like 50% mechanical watches and 50% quartz. Twenty years ago too, of course, there was no e-commerce and no social media.”
He continues: “The history of Certina is of course, extremely rich, so we are always keeping this in mind when we launch new products. Not only that, the taste of the market has also changed which means many more mechanicals are of interest than they were twenty years ago.”
In terms of that change, it goes beyond just a two-decade period for Certina, which as a brand within the wider group, has a real history to draw on when driving product forward to be a success in the modern watch world.
Looking as far back as the 1950s, Certina can draw on inspiration from those days in terms of product, but also with partnerships too. Boxing great, Muhammad Ali famously wore a Certina, a partnership that helped the brand reach the mainstream.
Today, things have of course evolved, but speaking to Mr Aellen at the FIS Cross-Country World Cup which Certina is timekeeper, he explained how partnerships are more important than ever in terms of visibility.
He details: “This partnership is in its first year of a four year contract and it is already really exciting for us. Certina has always been strong in Scandinavia, and as you can see, so has the skiing. More than 100,000 people will be attending over the weekend so it is a very interesting partnership for us.
“We feel we share a similar value with the sport, and of course with the precision of timekeeping and so on.”
Different markets can understandably be hotter and colder for different brands dependent on their history there. Sometimes it makes sense to drive a big marketing push in a region where a brand is little known, while often the opposite can be true too.
Certina has always had a big presence and equally big success in Scandinavia, most of which can be attributed to the close relationship it has with Volvo, and more importantly the work it did with the car brand in the seventies.
In that era, the Volvo bought thousands of watches to give to employees as a means of rewarding them for both loyalty and for going above and beyond. This has resulted in growing respect and admiration for Certina in the region, which has slowly been passed down through generations.
Growing in other markets can be more difficult though, especially when the historical success and therefore knowledge of the brand is not as well known. In the UK, Mr Aellen goes on to explain how things are progressing.
“The brand launched in the UK in 2011. The story here is not similar, but that said, the UK market is really promising. We have made really strong developments over the past few years, and that was during the pandemic too, so we are progressing at a very good speed.
He goes on: “Of course the watch market in the United Kingdom is one which is really advancing with ecommerce too, and in the last twelve months we have launched our own transactional e-commerce. It means you can order watches directly from certina.com/uk. That has gone really well but of course you do still need the traditional distribution model, because it is important that we continue to push brand awareness and get people into the stores, seeing the products and discovering more about the brand itself.”
For Certina, environmental responsibility has also become crucial. Their packaging is also 100% sustainable, as they exclusively use recycled materials and soya ink to create each watch box. The brand also collaborates with TIDE to manufacture straps made out of ocean plastics.The great work done here though is not for marketing purposes, Mr Aellen insists.
He tells WatchPro: “We take it very seriously because it is the responsibility of all of us to care about our planet and it is our responsibility as a company to do what is best for the environment.”
Adding: “I think maybe ten to fifteen years ago some brands did do it for marketing purposes but now it is so much more of an actual necessity and it is not about being perfect, but about consistently improving and that’s not just as a brand or as a business but as individuals on a personal level too.”
On what he wanted to achieve when he first came in as CEO, growing the brand’s prosperity and working on the product offering were both criteria at the top of his list.
He reflects: “I mean, what was done before was already extremely good but I wanted to build on that and take it one step further. We have cleaned up the collections and that was the first job. Luckily, I came on board in the middle of the pandemic so it was not possible to really travel extensively and visit all of the countries. That was a shame, but it did give me the chance to have a lot of time to sit down with my teams and really do our homework with some deep analysis on our products.
“That was a great first step to be able to take because it allowed us to assess where we were and then develop things in the right place at the right time, which is now showing some really promising results. We are continuing to do that and put things in place. The trend is very positive.”
Speaking of product specifically, the DS+ is the new and exciting offering from Certina and something the brand thinks is a little different in terms of what has been delivered to the market previously.
For a starting price of £915, Certina is offering the kit with two cases, two straps and one movement, which means in terms of combination, the customer can end up with four different watches. From there, additional components can be added to grow the options even further.
On how it has been received so far, Mr Aellen discussed how education on it for the consumer is key: “It was only introduced a few months ago but we need to speak about it and we need to show our consumers the products and just how high the quality we have achieved is.
“When we started the project, I spoke to my team and we made sure that we had to achieve the required quality, which I am so happy to say we did. Now it is our turn to do the marketing in the right way.”
As the skiers took their marks at the start of what was a wonderful day, Mr Aellen concluded with a comment on just how he expects the UK market specifically to work out in terms of growth.
He explains: “We say Rome was not built in a day? The UK is a very mature market and of course, there is a lot of competition but I think with the products we have, the way we are developing and making progress too, we have some real potential there.
“We are already doing some impressive sales and there are always going to be some really big brands but the initial development and trend for us so far has been really positive in the United Kingdom. If we manage to keep that same level of progress, it will become a very interesting and exciting market for us.”
