Zenith chief executive officer Aldo Magada believes the brand, this year celebrating 150 years, needs to better communicate its strengths to watch consumers worldwide.
Speaking WatchPro’s The Luxury Report in an exhaustive interview, Magada explains that much of what the manufacture achieves is often overshadowed by the success of its legendary El Primero automatic chronograph movement.
“Everybody knows the brand,” he said. “But it’s always about the El Primero, so they are speaking about the movement. It’s like having an x-ray of your heart, instead of a picture of your face, in your passport; which is beautiful, but it’s not easy to be recognised. So our first mission is to have a clear face for Zenith, so people know exactly what the brand is.”
Magada’s first step towards this goal was to streamline the Zenith offer. El Primero remains for the brand’s chronographs while the Elite collection has been expanded for Zenith’s more classical designs. The Captain collection, often seen as a meeting point of the two, has been dropped.
Zenith is also placing more emphasis on three-hand watches, launching the 6150, which became one of the stars of Baselworld 2015.
“We have to explain to people that there are not two kinds of movement quality at Zenith, it’s one quality. Elite is 100% manufacture and performing as well as the El Primero, just [with] three hands instead of chronograph.”
Read the full interview with Aldo Magada in The Luxury Report 2015.
