Antoine Pin appointed CEO of Tag Heuer and Julien Tornare to head Hublot

In a note published on LinkedIn on Wednesday evening (18 July), the LVMH group and Frédéric Arnault, CEO of the LVMH Watches Division, announced reorganisations at the helm of the group's two flagship watch brands. From 1 September 2024, there will be executive changes at Hublot and TAG Heuer: Julien Tornare has been appointed CEO of Hublot. Currently CEO of TAG Heuer, he succeeds Ricardo Guadalupe. Antoine Pin has been appointed CEO of TAG Heuer. Managing Director of Bvlgari Horlogerie since September 2019, he will succeed Julien Tornare.

Ricardo Guadalupe, who has headed the Hublot brand since 2012, will take on the role of honorary president of the brand, wishing, according to the press release, ‘to withdraw from operational management.’

These two appointments come as the Watches Division, headed by Frédéric Arnault since the start of 2024, seeks to ‘support the growth’ of its watch sector.

Geopolitical tensions, the various major forthcoming elections and the declining performance of the Chinese market are all contributing to a certain market uncertainty and a fall in sales recorded by the major players in the sector. This week, Swatch Group announced a 14.3% fall in sales in the first half of 2024 (down 10.7% at constant exchange rates), while Richemont reported a 14% drop in watch sales to 911 million euros in the three months to the end of June, all impacted by a significant decline in Asia-Pacific, particularly in China, Hong Kong and Macao. For LVMH, the first quarter of 2024 to the end of March showed a 5% fall in sales for its Watches and Jewellery division.

In this context, the redefinition of the ‘strategy of elevating and upgrading the Houses to support the growth of the LVMH Watches Division’, according to the press release, sheds light on the race undertaken by the groups to regain some colour in a sector that is now suffering from a slowdown.

Julien Tornare, appointed CEO of Hublot, will have had only a brief spell at the head of Tag Heuer. From 1 September, he will be responsible for revitalising the Hublot brand, acquired by the group in 2008. The Classic Fusion and Big Bang models, key pillars of the brand and available in a wide range of models and gem-set versions, remain strong, but the brand's image was losing steam and market share was falling as a result.  According to Morgan Stanley's 2023 report, Hublot's sales fell by 10% in 2023, to 670 million Swiss francs, compared with 744 million Swiss francs in 2022.

Antoine Pin, managing director of Bvlgari Horlogerie, the strong man behind the brand's watchmaking success since 2019 (among other models with the Octo Finissimo and the various related watchmaking awards), previously worked at Tag heuer from 2010 to 2014 as Japan market managing director. He is therefore very familiar with the brand dear to Frédéric Arnault (he headed up various divisions there from 2017 and took over as CEO in July 2020 until 2024). With this appointment, Tag Heuer has found a leader capable of further enhancing the brand's brand equity and strengthening its credibility as a major player in the world of innovative mechanical watchmaking.

Ricardo Guadalupe, now Honorary President of Hublot, will continue to steer the future of the brand, thanks to the in-depth knowledge he has acquired after more than 20 years with the company, having succeeded in raising the desirability of the Hublot brand and significantly increasing sales until the turn of the 2020s.