Randi Shinske, appointed new President Ebel, USA.
Randi Shinske rose through the ranks of Ebel very quickly. She was hired as Vice President of sales and six weeks after she started, she was offered the position of President and CEO.
“Ebel is a very strong, solid luxury watch brand, and this is a terrific opportunity for me to bring my energy to the brand,” Shinske said. “I want to keep the distribution exclusive; I want to take the brand to the point of more jewellery integration with timepieces and jewellery enhancements.”
That's one of the big pushes for Ebel, jewellery enhancement and integration with their existing watch line, and then additional high jewellery watches.
The first step in the high jewellery is the new Gems of the Ocean collection, which was shown for the first time at Basel and JCK but won't be in wide distribution in the USA until next year.
“The watch industry has become a lot more than about keeping time, it's about design, personal passion and it's an expression of a personality,” Shinske explained. “Watches have become an accessory as opposed to a timepiece, so that allows us to have colour, to have a meaning in timepieces, to incorporate jewellery. We can fill a lot of different parts of our lives with watches. People buy different timepieces for different areas of their lifestyle. Gems of the Ocean is a brand new collection,” Shinske continued. “It is very innovative, with a lot of firsts-it has a coral setting, which has never before been done in the watch or jewellery industry. Gems of the Ocean takes gemstones and laying them on top of a diamond setting, it uses gemstones as the crown of the watch, which has never been done before. Gems of the Ocean is the ultimate integration of jewellery and timepieces, it's the true vision and passion of where the brand is heading.”
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Source: Europa Star International
Oct-Nov 2002 issue