Following the success of Europa Star’s ‘80th Anniversary Portraits’ column that we ran in 2007, we have decided to feature an exceptional portrait section in this issue as part of our special glamour section. The particularity about these portraits is that there isn’t a man among them. From Germany to Japan, Italy to Australia, France to the United States and the United Kingdom to Switzerland, there are some incredible women moving and shaking the watch business. Europa Star’s network of international correspondents decided to talk with some of the industry’s most talented women to find out how they have succeeded in the male dominated world of horology.

There are few visionaries in the watch industry, but Cinette Robert, President and CEO of Dubey & Schaldenbrand, is definitely one of them. In the late 1970s and 80s, when most people where concentrating on quartz, Cinette Robert was buying up all the old movements that no one wanted. At the time people probably thought she was mad – not now!
All these vintage movements are now being restored and redecorated for Dubey & Schaldenbrand’s limited edition timepieces that have become the signature of the brand.
Cinette Robert started working in the watch industry at the tender age of 16 as a commercial apprentice at the Manufacture Martel Watch in Les-Ponts-de-Martel where she was born. During the quartz era she was convinced that she should stay in the mechanical watchmaking domain. In 1985 she set up her own business, Horlogerie Ancienne, restoring old timepieces. Ten years later, in 1995, she bought the Dubey & Schaldenbrand company and turned it into the successful business that it is today with distribution in over 50 countries worldwide.
When asked about the secret to her success, “It is sometimes difficult and in my experience you have to make sacrifices if you really want something” she says. “When you are young, you need to have goals. It helps to be passionate about something. The main thing is to have perseverance and to work hard. It isn’t easy, but if you find something that you love, it is pure happiness.” (SF)


Source: Europa Star October-November 2008 Magazine Issue