Swatch Group


Swatch Group

Watch Q&A with... Vivian Stauffer – Hamilton

By Serge Maillard
June 2023


Watch Q&A with... Vivian Stauffer – Hamilton

“Actually, our strategic priorities are already mainly oriented towards 2024”

W

e recently interviewed a broad selection of managers, active in a variety of segments, to help us identify the major trends within the watch industry.

Our Q&A with Vivian Stauffer – Hamilton.

Europa Star: What are your strategic priorities for 2023?

Vivian Stauffer: As far as communication is concerned, 2022 was a special year for Hamilton as we celebrated our 130th anniversary. Our communication focused on new launches linked with our heritage. For 2023, as well as some new families, we will have some amazing movie collaborations. It started back in January with the first ever Hamilton prop watch outside Hollywood, in the Chinese movie The Wandering Earth 2. We will have a second movie promotion in June and we’re actively working on a special project coming in the autumn. In terms of products, we like to bring something new to the market. We started with the launch of the Jazzmaster Face 2 Face III in January, and we’re now launching the Lady Hamilton Necklace. You can expect to see more innovative products like these towards the end of the year. But to be honest, our strategic priorities for 2023 are mainly looking at 2024...

Vivian Stauffer
Vivian Stauffer

Which new products or lines will be your main focus this year?

This year we have several key launches in the first half of the year. One is the Jazzmaster Performer collection that was released in March. It’s a sporty-chic extension of the sophisticated Jazzmaster collection, with craftsmanship and innovation as its focus. The new collection comprises 11 different models including four 42mm automatic chronographs, three 38mm automatics and four 34mm automatics. Another key product is the Khaki Navy Frogman Automatic model, due to be released in May. We’re expanding this product line with a new 41mm case size, keeping the balance between functionality and style. In June we’ll bring to market a reinvented vision of the Pan Europ timepiece from the ’60s. And, of course, we will continue our ambitious launch strategy into the second semester. One of the major highlights will be a new line within the Khaki Field collection.

Hamilton Jazzmaster Performer
Hamilton Jazzmaster Performer

The emergence of the secondary market represents a major new development. Are you taking any steps to build a presence in preowned?

The secondary market is not a priority for Hamilton, but we’re definitely keeping an eye on it.

EXPLORE ALL OUR EDITIONS SINCE THE 1930s ONLINE Watch Q&A with... Vivian Stauffer – Hamilton

The Europa Star Newsletter


WATCH FILES
Swatch Group  

Rado and the alchemy of ceramics

September 2024
The brand made the art of ceramics its own. But now that a growing number of brands are adopting the material, it is having to redouble its R&D efforts (...)

Jaquet Droz seeks new dynasties to conquer

August 2024
It used to supply the courts of kings and queens, and even the emperors of China. Today, the historic brand from Neuchâtel intends to supply exclusively (...)

“I’ve set Tissot a target of 5 million watches a year”

June 2024
Not all Swiss watch brands subscribe to the strategy of scaling back production as part of the industry’s push upmarket. Some use a different playbook, as (...)

Longines: “High-end brands don’t have a monopoly on legacy!”

June 2024
In an interview with Europa Star, CEO Matthias Breschan discusses three key points which he believes are crucial to Longines’ future… and how he intends to (...)

How AI is revolutionising sports timing

OMEGA

May 2024
As the Official Timekeeper at the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Omega calls on the services of Swiss Timing, part of Swatch Group. Beyond (...)

Hamilton: “Lack of competition can be a problem, too”

INTERVIEW

March 2024
Hamilton, with its American roots, has become a pillar of “accessible” Swiss watchmaking. Its Ventura is particularly in the spotlight this year. But as (...)

Tissot, neo-vintage and connectivity

INTERVIEW

January 2024
Tissot, the flagship brand of affordable Swiss watchmaking, has unveiled a new version of its T-Touch Connect Solar watch, the result of significant (...)

“Breguet holds a special place in people’s hearts”

INTERVIEW

October 2023
A major launch for the brand, the two Type XX models that were introduced this year are the contemporary face of this iconic line. Any reinvention of a (...)

Blancpain: “A reinvention, not a replacement”

INTERVIEW

September 2023
The Fifty Fathoms 70th Anniversary Act 2 – Tech Gombessa introduces an innovative feature, adapted to longer, deeper dives. It also has wider implications. (...)

Watch Q&A with... Franz Linder – Mido

June 2023
“Highlight our leading position in affordable fine Swiss watchmaking”

Watch Q&A with... Adrian Bosshard – Rado

June 2023
“Our top priority is to continue to talk about the many advantages of high-tech ceramic”

Mido revives the TV shape

June 2023
The brand, established in 1918, has over a century of archives to inspire its regular releases of retro styles. Exactly fifty years after the launch of the (...)

Watch Q&A with... Marc Aellen – Certina

June 2023
“Protect our brand and the quality and security it stands for”

At Hamilton, 40% of sales are online

INTERVIEW

January 2023
The Swiss brand with American roots celebrated its 130th anniversary in 2022 with a slew of special watches, from the Railroad to the Murph. What are CEO (...)

Certina’s multiple-choice watches

December 2022
Swatch Group’s mid-range brand has launched the DS+ concept of interchangeable components for a watch that can be given multiple looks. The idea was (...)

Rado: getting to the heart of the matter

INNOVATION

October 2022
The most successful techniques go hand-in-hand with an intimate knowledge of the materials from which watches are made. Comadur, a top materials (...)

Swatch x Omega: what madness is this?

EDITORIAL

July 2022
All it took was the announcement of an unprecedented and vaguely incestuous marriage between Swatch and the Speedmaster Moonwatch, Omega’s iconic timepiece, (...)

Breguet, a meeting with Lionel a Marca

INTERVIEW

June 2022
The Marine Hora Mundi is Breguet’s first timepiece of 2022 to bear the signature of new CEO Lionel a Marca, who was appointed last year. We took the (...)

Jaquet Droz’s radical reboot

INDUSTRY

June 2022
After a long period of silence, Jaquet Droz’s new CEO, Alain Delamuraz, has announced his policy to revolutionise the brand’s strategy from top to bottom. (...)

“Quartz is back in force at Tissot”

INTERVIEW

December 2021
The giant from Le Locle is seeing strong growth in its electronic output for the first time in several years, thanks to the success of its PRX model. It’s a (...)

The Swatch Group’s beginnings in China

FROM OUR ARCHIVES

October 2021
What lies behind the Swatch Group’s strong presence in the Chinese market? What were the main stages of its expansion in the country? The Europa Star (...)

Certina: “Stabilise quartz, grow mechanical watches”

INTERVIEW

July 2021
As Certina continues to boost its profile in automatic watches, it is asserting its legitimacy in the popular niche of diving models. The affordable brand (...)

“We must highlight Longines’ pioneering role in watchmaking”

INTERVIEW

April 2021
Last year, Matthias Breschan took over the top job at Longines from the legendary Walter von Känel, who turned the brand into a commercial “war machine”. As (...)

Hamilton, calibrated for a new era of watchmaking

INTERVIEW

April 2021
Hamilton, which offers affordable mechanical neo-vintage watches, and which committed early on to e-commerce, seems to have a better profile than other (...)

Jaquet Droz, man and machine

EXHIBITION

October 2020
From the end of November, the Swiss brand will take part in a retrospective on robotics at the prestigious MUDEC in Milan. For nearly three centuries, the (...)

With the Spirit collection, Longines pays tribute to pioneers

COVER STORY

September 2020
What do Amelia Earhart, Paul-Emile Victor, Elinor Smith and Howard Hughes have in common? Two things: they showed an admirable determination to set new (...)

A complete review of Omega’s new timepieces

REPORT

September 2020
Omega, which is champing at the bit after the cancellation of Tokyo 2020 and the postponed release of the latest James Bond movie, has chosen to physically (...)

“Collectors won’t be enough for Swiss watchmaking”

FRANZ LINDER, MIDO

July 2020
Mido, a Swiss volume brand specialising in automatic watches, plays a key role in the watchmaking ecosystem as a “transmission belt” between the bottom and (...)

Walter von Känel and François Thiébaud: two “rocks” of Swiss watchmaking

CROSSING PATHS

June 2020
Who could have imagined, in early 2020, that we’d be where we are today? The pandemic crisis is accelerating change everywhere. Two “rocks” of the Swiss watch (...)

Hamilton: the Pulsar is back – at last!

PORTRAIT

April 2020
An all-too rare sign of optimism in a chaotic world? Now the time has come to start thinking about the post-coronavirus world, the new PSR model, a (...)

Swatch: New headquarters and a lot of questions

WHAT’S NEXT

February 2020
The magnificent “serpent” designed by Japanese architect Shigeru Ban for Swatch took more than eight years to rise out of the ground and unfurl its coils in (...)
Europa Star Europa Star Europa Star

Hamilton: “We’re making the most of the vintage trend”

STRATEGY

December 2019
While smartwatches are visible absolutely everywhere in the United States, Hamilton, that most American of Swiss watchmakers, is experiencing a strong (...)
Europa Star

Swatch Group: the “vintage & silicon” strategy

INTERVIEW

October 2019
Mido’s Ocean Star is 75 years old, but its new version, the Ocean Star Diver 600, is equipped with silicon. It’s an embodiment of the Swatch Group’s (...)
Europa Star Europa Star Europa Star

Mid-range dilemma: quartz or mechanical?

INTERVIEW

September 2019
While volumes for quartz timepieces continue to decrease in the Swiss watch industry, Certina, one of the oldest brands in the mid-range segment, is (...)

One giant leap for Omega

EUROPA STAR ARCHIVES

July 2019
For 50 years, Omega has been capitalising on the extraordinary adventure that made its Speedmaster the first watch to be worn on the Moon. In our July 1969 (...)

Manager or entrepreneur?

EDITORIAL

July 2019
“Today, lots of brands are led by technocrats who talk about emotion,” says Jean- Claude Biver. We investigated in our archives to find how the figure of the (...)

Glashütte Original, Saxon to the core

RETRO-PERSPECTIVE

June 2019
Glashütte Original draws its inspiration from its roots in 1845, from the 1920s with the work of Alfred Helwig, from the 1960s, from its rebirth in the (...)

Streetwear Swatch

COLLABORATION

June 2019
For a long time, the Swiss brand has wanted to translate a form of colourful urban culture into watchmaking. It finds natural ties with the Japanese (...)

Jaquet Droz and the Grande “small second”

RETRO-PERSPECTIVE

May 2019
It was only in the mid-2000s that Jaquet Droz regained a strong identity by delving into its archives and rediscovering a watch from 1785 – a model whose (...)

Blancpain: The unsinkable Fifty Fathoms

RETRO-PERSPECTIVE

May 2019
Like many brands in 2019, Blancpain is capitalising on its 20th century icons, and particularly on the adventure of the Fifty (...)

Breguet’s unchanging codes

RETRO-PERSPECTIVE

May 2019
The imprint left by Abraham-Louis Breguet was so strong, technically and aesthetically, that the successive houses that bore his name have never deviated (...)
Europa Star Europa Star

Rado: a futuristic brand explores its past

INTERVIEW WITH MATTHIAS BRESCHAN, CEO

February 2019
Since his arrival in 2011, Matthias Breschan, who manages this Swatch Group brand, has focused on new formats and materials and mechanical calibres to (...)

Omega reintroduces its iconic Calibre 321

VINTAGEMANIA

January 2019
Since the 1940s, the calibre 321 has been one of the most researched among watch fans and is still highly sought-after by watch collectors around the (...)

A glimpse into Longines’ heritage and patrimony

A DAY IN SAINT-IMIER

December 2018
Diving into Longines’ patrimony provides an understanding of how deeply the Swiss brand has impacted the watch industry, both on a technical level, and also (...)

Longines Conquest V.H.P. GMT Flash Setting

LONGINES’ FLASH OF INTELLIGENCE

November 2018
Longines is continuing to target high-precision quartz through the V.H.P. collection, which brings a surprising innovation. The Flash Setting mode included (...)

Omega: “A little more time”

INTERVIEW WITH RAYNALD AESCHLIMANN

September 2018
The “elder brother” of the Swatch family and the world number two watch brand, Omega has multiplied initiatives under the energetic leadership of Raynald (...)

Giving the orders… Walter Von Känel, CEO of Longines

INTERVIEW

September 2018
At 76, Walter von Känel still rules Longines with an iron hand. This colourful and charismatic former Swiss army colonel is affable, but firm. “The Boss”, as (...)
Europa Star Europa Star

Interview with Sylvain Dolla, CEO of Hamilton

September 2018
n this neo-vintage-crazed age, few brands can boast a past as glorious as that of Hamilton, considered the ultimate American brand before it took on a (...)
Europa Star

Interview with Adrian Bosshard, CEO of Certina

July 2018
Rather discreet in comparison with the heavyweights of the Swatch Group, the brand with the turtle logo is appreciated in northern and eastern Europe for (...)

Interview with Thomas Meier, Glashütte Original

“THE GOAL IS TO MAKE OUR IDENTITY CLEAR”

July 2018
The Swatch Group’s German brand is seeking to get back into the global watchmaking spotlight with models that are a bit out of the ordinary. Europa Star met (...)
Facebook Instagram Linkedin Youtube

The Europa Star Newsletter

© 2024 EUROPA STAR - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.