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PuristSPro.com interview: Zenith CEO Jean-Frederic Dufour
At a recent event at Westime Beverly Hills, Team PuristSPro had the opportunity to speak with Mr. Jean-Frederic Dufour, global CEO of Zenith. Founded in 1865 by Georges Favre-Jacot in the Swiss mountains of Neuchatel, the manufacturer has had a noted history of innovation, precision, and reliability. Most known for the El Primero self winding movement, Zenith produced a high frequency chronograph which resulted in accurate timing. Mr. Jean-Frederic Dufour took the reigns of Zenith on June 1st, 2009 and has led a impressive return of the manufacture to its roots in watchmaking.
ZENITH CEO Mr. Jean-Frederic Dufour
"The Pioneering Spirit"
by
Dr. Ming Woo
Anthony Tsai
ZENITH CEO Mr. Jean-Frederic Dufour
PPro: Hello and welcome to Los Angeles, home of PuristSPro and ThePuristS! The weather has been great and you arrived at the perfect time.
J-F D: Thank you, we have an exciting event tonight proudly showcasing the Zenith El Primero Striking 10 in honor of Jean-Louis Etinne, so I'm very glad to be here in California!
PPro: So please tell us, what makes ZENITH unique? What's so great about zenith?
J-F D: It's a very different history than other brands, it has been in the same location for over 145 years, since it's foundation it never stopped producing watches. Zenith is the most awarded brand in the whole industry with 2,333 prize recognitions for the precision of its watches…wrist watches, pocket watches... which is a record in the history. Zenith is also unique as a brand in its creativity , with over 279 different patents over its 145 year history.
Then also in Zenith has real legitimacy in it's history of classical watches that we produced since the beginning of the brand making pocketwatches, to the 50's and 60's elegant watches, to now the top of the line the Christopher Columb. And on the other side of the collection, the ICONIC collection, based on the 1969 El Primero, which was the very first high frequency self winding chrongraph ever produced. So this also something that makes Zenith different from others as we really have a iconic product in the watch industry.
So if you are looking for a chronograph, you should always automatically consider Zenith being selected.
PPro: Describe the ideal Zenith client.
J-F D: Thanks to the precision and reliability of our watches we have been have able to be distributed world wide since the beginning of the company and this is why today Zenith is well known among aficionados. We were distributed worldwide for 2 reasons: being precise and reliable.
The people who were looking for precision and reliable watches in the past were pioneers….explorers, scientists, politicians, industrials... they were the people who were building the modern world that we are living today. The current client can be described as a pioneer, interested in the history, quality, exclusivity, and precision. And currently we are also having ambassadors offering the Zenith pioneer spirit….like Jean-Louis Etienne and now Felix Baumgartner, who will be the first man to reach the speed of sound.
PPro: Now there's the partnership with Felix Baumgartner (the explorer not the watchmaker), what and how was it decided on making him the ambassador to represent Zenith?
J-F D: Whenever you mention an accomplishment, someone already did it. Man has climbed all the mountains, we walked all over, swam, and sailed across all oceans…whatever, someone already did it traveling at the speed of sound with your own body, never been done. And it's one of the last challenges that human kind has to do. To have human kind move forward, you need people doing unique things - like Sir Hillary climbing to the top of Mount Everest. He did something no one ever did before. He opened the way of climbing mountains and today, it's an activity that many people experience now. For Felix, it's the same. It's a partnership together with NASA, Red Bull, Microsoft, Nokia and Zenith as the official timekeeper. When successful, Felix will open new ways to jumping back from space to earth. For example, one day we will be travelling very easily from one space to another. As for flying really high in the sky, we will need options for rescue to get back to Earth, and one option is jumping from space. Today it's a $15 million dollar project - it's very serious. NASA came on board to develop the suit, capsule....almost 2 tons of material to lift up to 40 km. Felix will reaching the Speed of Sound after 23 seconds and will be jumping into the emptiness of space in -60 degrees. So it makes it the ultimate REAL World Record you can do on Earth.
You know you can go as a brand and do a testimonial, and you pay for whatever the number one sport, number one race, art or industry, etc….but it's like going for a billboard. But being Zenith, I was looking for something different, as a link to what we are. And Zenith being a pioneer, we had to a way to associate with a pioneering image so that is why we wanted to do something different, something that has truly never done before. And I had a chance to meet Felix Baumgartner through a contact of mine, and I then quickly decided that he would be the one.
PPro: How long has Zenith worked on the timepiece for Felix and his mission to break the sound barrier?
J-F D: We are actually still working on it, 200% a day, he will be jumping soon! (laughs). Yes he will be jumping soon, so we are working on the watch 24 hours a day for this project so the watch can be ready and functional, precise and reliable, on time for the jump. We need to find the right metals to be able to support the difference of temperature from -60 to +20 degrees in a couple of seconds, and we have to find a sapphire crystal to be able to resist the extreme UV/radiation exposure. If you go up with a watch and expose it to the UV/radiation for a just a few minutes, it's not a problem. But if you stay up there, it can kill you. So we have to find a crystal that will protect the dial from radiation…so things like this will be a challenge. But we will ready on time.
PPro: Will the watch have any complications?
J-F D: The watch will be a Zenith watch! But I can't tell you more? [smiles and laughs]
PPro: Can't tell us just a little bit more? Any hints?
J-F D: [smiles] No No No, you need to wait a little more! [laughs] But seriously it will be on a El Primero of course. It will have something useful for pilots, and I'll let you imagine what it can be!
PPro: Will there be a limited edition piece to commemorate this accomplishment?
J-F D: There will be a piece for Felix and then there will be an edition for everyone. The material we will be using for Felix will be difficult to produce on a large scale.
PPro: When did u start the project with Felix?
J-F D: Not long ago...
PPro: Like a year or two?
J-F D: No no no, not even a year! A few months
PPro: So it's down to the wire to get this going!
J-F D: I'm not kidding you, it really is a 24 hour project!
PPro: So how do you test the Zenith for space?
J-F D: We have access to machines that can test for those conditions like radiation in space, extreme temperate changes, and all that. They are independent laboratories used by the European space industries and programs.
PuristSPro General Manager Anthony Tsai (L) with Zenith CEO Jean-Frederic Dufour (R)
PPro: How has the Defy Extreme line of watches after being introduced affected the image of Zenith? Do you regret that line?
J-F D: I don't regret anything as I was not with Zenith at that time. [Laughs]
It was before the crisis, and then we had the crisis, and now we are in post crisis. You can see that with the history that everyone went crazy. Not just us, but the whole industry went a little crazy. Now we are in a more reasonable and more horological product, and not just Zenith, but the whole industry, you know.
PPro: With the Defy, there were some negative comments with the line, and it kind of defined Zenith. What would you like to say to those out there about this?
J-F D: As for past products, to be fair, I can find this in all brands, even the 'best' in the world, I can find...how do you say? The 'black swan'. So it's just not us, but it happens within all the brands. I would like to tell all to look now at the current Zenith new collections to see for yourselves. We have focused and drawn on our history as a manufacturer, history of precision, and of reliability.
PPro: For the future pieces, what do you have in store for Zenith at Basel 2011?
J-F D: [smiling excitedly] I have something that will be released in December, which is NOT the Felix watch, it's still early to tell you. Yeah, we are doing something that is our way. This one we've been working on for awhile now. Of course we have currently the Christopher Columb [points to the watch on his wrist] the first watch always having with the escapement stay in the horizontal position.
PPro: Now there's different type of customers out there…for those new to the world of horology, why choose Zenith?
J-F D: If you are new to the watch brands and ready to spend a couple of thousand dollars, go for something which has the value you are paying - this is very important. As the first step you need to be satisfied with your purchase. Now, I'm not telling you that you have to buy Zenith, but rather buy a product that has value for the coming years.
For those who look for rarity, Zenith produces an exclusive amount of pieces and it has the El Primero movement for those that understand what they buy.
PPro: For the experienced collector.....why Zenith for the higher end and complicated pieces?
J-F D: Well for tourbillon, you have the Zenith Tourbillon for example, you get a El Primero which is a milestone in the Swiss watch industry,. So if you are collecting tourbillons or collecting chronographs, you must have a Zenith otherwise your collection is not complete. It's a classic, it's a milestone in horology. It's like having black shoes in your wardrobe, or if you like driving cars you test a Porsche or Ferrari, it's the same with an El Primero chronograph.
PPro: What's your opinion of Tourbillons? Everybody is doing one…is it just a fad? Is it played out?
J-F D: It depends. There is a tourbillon Tourbillon. You take a El Primero and you have a tourbillion, it is exclusive since you have El Primero which is a high frequency chrono and a tourbillon on top, so it's interesting. Now, if you talk about the tourbillon that you get from suppliers that everyone in the industry is getting, of course it does not have the same value. It's up to the collectors to realize the difference between these tourbillons. For example, red wine, u have to go for the right red wines, there's a difference you know, it's a matter of education and to know and understand what you buy. For me, if you go for what I call 'Manufacture Tourbillon' meaning that the parts are bearing the name of the company, it's still a tourbillon that's complicated, difficult to produce, and has value.
PPro: How about bejeweled watches?
J-F D: With jewelry pieces it depends…..some have jewels with real mechanical complicated movements inside the watch. Others it's a pity that you have jewels on a quartz movement that costs 20 Swiss francs. It's like having a beautiful car with a small engine in it. It's better to have a beautiful car with a beautiful engine! So for me, if you have a beautiful watch with beautiful diamonds and a beautiful mechanical movement inside, it's okay....it's not a problem.
PPro: How do you feel about Limited Editions? Some say it's getting out of hand while others don't mind.
J-F D: Limited editions can be frustrating as when you are leading a company, it can be so successful that you regret it because you limit the collection. So it depends….if it's too much….then it's too much. It depends on the brand - some do, some don't. For some brands it's good, it helps differentiate one from another. Also with Limited Editions you can better manage your references because when once the edition is finished, then it's finished. You don't have it in the collection anymore. But you are right, some brands are over doing the Limited Editions. Some say they are limited, but then they produce and produce and it frustrates the consumers.
PPro: And what of opening boutiques? There's criticism that brands are getting greedy with opening boutiques and taking away from the AD's that have supported the brands in the past.
J-F D: Depends on what country, what streets. Some places you may not be well represented there, and you may have to open a boutique because nobody there can carry the brand positively and correctly. And sometimes with the retailers, they carry too many brands so you are not treated the way you want to be treated, so it makes it too difficult. So opening a boutique is justified, and a lot of factors come into play.
PPro: Many brands are attempting to capitalize on emerging markets such as China, India, and Mexico. Is Zenith focusing on a particular area?
J-F D: No, we are not concentrating on a specific area. For example, in fact the business is growing faster in China and Asia than the U.S., but I'm here as you can see, in California, in the U.S. today. The watch business, it's a global market and we are distributed everywhere.
PPro: So how do you find what watch enthusiasts want? I know you get input from retailers, but how do customers get input to you?
J-F D: It depends. If you are producing Zenith product, you have to have a Zenith product. Then you get the reception from the collector. If you don't do the Zenith product, you are beside the collector's market. For example, the Porsche… the 911 - if they don't produce the 911, they will be in trouble because people like the 911. And they still have to produce the car with the spirit of the 911. Porsche had trouble at the beginning when they introduced the engine that replaced the air cooled with the cooled by water, and their sales declined. Take a look at the last air cooled editions - they are highly desired and values are high, but not the water cooled. Same with Zenith watches. I have to produce "Zenith" watches, and I get good feedback with the watch enthusiasts!
PPro: What is Zenith doing in terms of quality control during manufacturing?
J-F D: For watches, for example the Zenith Striking Ten, we have here (points to the newly released striking 10 in his hands) we counted the steps to process the watch, there are 148 steps and there is a QC for every 2 steps. You have to control every time someone touches the watch at different moments, so constant checking. Check check check!
With magnetism, electro-magnetic fields, 15 years ago you had machines that give out strong fields that we don't have nowadays. We use an antimagnetic balance spring - it's a traditional material technology. And in a good quality watch, it's no problem. It's a problem with others but not ours.
PPro: And in regards to taking care of the customers, how does Zenith address servicing?
J-F D: I tell you one thing. At Zenith, and maybe we are the only remaining company like this, whichever Zenith watch you send back, we can fix it. Even if it's 145 years old watch! Why…how can we do this? Because we never changed place - we have never moved our factory. So we have in the factory cabinets full of spare parts, original spare parts which allow us to fix any watch ever produced by Zenith. You can even challenge me, WE CAN DO IT!
Regarding the quality of service, we offer 30 subsidiaries around the world, and they have their own watch shop. If they can't fix a watch, they can easily send the watch to Switzerland to solve the problem. Of course we can't fix it like your car in your garage because it may need to go to Switzerland. But if sent to Switzerland, the turn around time is around 1 month to 1.5 months, which is a really quick time frame within our industry. All the prices and service descriptions are on the Zenith website. That means the retailers cannot overcharge you because the prices are listed on our website in Swiss retail prices. So, when you bring back your Zenith watch for service, you can check on the internet for pricing.
PPro: Now what of Emails? Every brand has on its website a way to contact for questions and support. The watch industry is notorious for not answering messages. How does Zenith handle this situation?
J-F D: Sometimes emails may not be sent correctly or something happens to the emails. Well at info @ zenith-watches . com (remove spaces) you have to reply, of course. All the email requests we receive at info @ zenith- watches . com goes to headquarters in Switzerland, and then they go and get split to the appropriate departments.
PPro: This is handled by one person?
J-F D: A team is there for these requests. I even sometimes answer them myself!
PPro: How has the internet and sites like PuristSPro.com and ThePuristS.com revolutionized the world of horology?
J-F D: First of all, the internet completely changed the way people are consuming. Not only watches but everything. Because today, people have access to real information and they can double check what the world is telling them. Nowadays, whatever you want to buy, rent, to go, you look on the internet. For example while sitting in your car, you may see something while stopped at a red light, what is this you ask yourself? You then go on the internet using your phone and quickly look it up. The internet changed the world. With the internet, you cannot market things that are not true anymore. And for a brand like Zenith, it's actually wonderful as telling like paradise! The history is so strong, the quality is so strong, the legitimacy is so strong that when people start digging around about our brand, they just become knowledgeable about our products. And thanks to sites PuristSPro.com and the ThePuristS.com who reach everyone around the world, you open the eyes and you educate on the watches. This is very important! You not only reveal the products but the history behind the brand. And when you buy something, you explain what is good and what is not good. And as a result, we definitely need to educate our consumers. This is the future!
PPro: How do you feel about of Zenith opening e-stores?
J-F D: It's not in the pipeline. We have shops around the world and they are our partners. Zenith is a niche market in a way, we produce 30,000 watches a year. Unlike other brands that sell 600,000 watches and spend millions on advertising, we need to explain this and we need our partners to explain our brand. Having an e-shop is fine, but it's good for say…mass products.
PPro: Lower end products?
J-F D: No, not lower end, not necessarily low end…. I would say for some mass product it could be exclusive. To be successful, it has to be for a no-brainer product….where people are buying not just for the product itself but also for the name of the brand itself.
PPro: What should everyone anticipate from Zenith? What to expect, look out for, and why look at the brand?
J-F D: You should watch closely at what we are producing because what we will be releasing will be very exciting. Since I joined the company, back in the 'Classic' watches, back in the 'Iconic' watches, now we have 2 strong 'pillars' for Zenith - 'Classic' and 'Iconic'. And for next year, we'll have the THIRD pillar, the 'Legend '. The 'Legend', like the Felix watch, will be inspired by all the legendary watches produced by Zenith. And this started back in 1917, when the American soldier joined the French and the English to win the first World War. They were wearing Zenith wrist watches during those times. And this watch is in the book and it was one of the first legendary watches we made. Then we had the Gandhi watch, the JFK watch, the Ahmundsen watch, the Rainbow, and the Paris to New York flight watch. We had railroad company watches because we started back in chronographs since 1899 so we have monopushers, tachymeters…many of those watches were legendary watches, not only among collectors but by the people who worn them.
So yes, look at the coming up next 'Legend ' watch collection from Zenith, which will be breaking the sound barrier! As I told you before, it'll be interesting in both materials and design - a watch which is an instrument but also a watch that you can wear to jump from space and yet, able to wear in the living room when you're at home!
PPro: Do you travel a lot for business?
J-F D: Too much, too much, 60-70% of my time. To be honest, I travel a little too much, especially last year. I wanted to know about Zenith as much as possible, and I really wanted to meet the Zenith people from around the world to fully understand what is Zenith.
You know when you join a brand like Zenith, it's not like you sit behind a desk and give instructions to people around. You have to understand what Zenith is about, where it comes from, and what makes it different from other companies? What shall I do for products to be successful? This creativity doesn't just doesn't come out of the blue. It's a lot of work to get the ideas and to understand. It's a lot of these details and at the end, all the details become a concept.
Today we can easily talk about the concept of producing the classical watches, the iconic watches, all the history the patents, and all the prizes. This very simple message that everyone can understand took me quite a while to produce because the more simple and strong the message is, the more difficult it is to find it. Now I tell you our mission, message, and concept and you will remember it forever, but you know it was not easy to come up with it.
You have to meet people and let them talk about Zenith, I met retailers that were carrying Zenith for 100 years! Italian guys that produced me the invoices from 1911! This is important as we need these relationships. We are not selling soap.... we are an emotional business. We are offering art, we are selling emotion….my job is to make people happy . When someone acquires a Zenith with his or her hard earned money I want them to be happy, it's important to me!
PPro: Last question, what do you enjoy doing away from work? Any hobbies?
J-F D: Since I joined the company, my hobbies are not there anymore [laughs], so busy! You know, that I have never worked so hard in my life! Zenith is great! But I like skiing in the winter and sailing in the summer, and in any season, walking, hiking, and biking in the mountains.
PPro: Mountain or road biking?
J-F D: Mountain biking and road for climbing! I have a Handmade, all in carbon fiber custom frame, from a maker in Geneva. He's a former professional biker, with Shimano components. I like it because to climb, it's a mind game - stamina, endurance, perseverance….it's the essence and value of the pioneer! [smiles] I try to go biking, but I have a family and small kids, and it takes up time.
PPro: Thank you Jean-Frederic for taking the time for the interview!
J-F D: My pleasure, and Thank You for your time and your attention, it was very nice!
Copyright November 2010 - Dr. Ming Woo, Anthony Tsai & PuristSPro.com - all rights reserved
Comments, suggestions, and corrections to this article are welcome.
