Time statement
One of the last, independent, family-owned Swiss watchmakers, Raymond Weil “thinks globally, and acts locally,” says its president and CEO, Olivier Bernheim. Rajeev Nair met him in Dubai
Photograph: Prashanth Mukundan
Olivier Bernheim, president and CEO of Raymond Weil, the Swiss watchmaker, relishes that moment.
He was seated at the Al Futtaim Watches Raymond Weil showroom in Deira City Centre, taking in the ambience, and studying the shoppers after a busy night that saw the regional launch of Raymond Weil’s two new collections — Don Giovanni Cosi Grande and Parsifal.
A man rushes up to him, mutters a word of excuse, and pointing to Bernheim’s wrist, turns to the counter-girl and says: “This, this is the model I want.”
It is a Parsifal.
That moment reinforced Bernheim’s faith in the Dubai market.
Bernheim is the son-in-law of Raymond Weil himself — the man, the brand, the legend, who braved the crises that brewed in the Swiss watchmaking industry in the late seventies to “draw on his boundless enthusiasm” to develop his own brand at the age of 50.
Weil had some 27 years of experience in the watch industry behind him and an abundance of international market knowledge, which prompted him to globe-trot with models of his creations in his pocket. Through hard work, he won over the international market including the UAE.
In 1982, six years after the company was formed, Bernheim associated with Raymond Weil, and tackling the many challenges thrown at him, developed the company into an international operation.
Several years ago, much before Dubai had its bustling malls, Weil and Bernheim had rightly gauged the city’s potential.
“Weil has been ingenuous enough to bring his collection to the UAE, the flagship of the Swiss watch industry, much before anybody else,” says Bernheim. “He created the company 27 years ago, and the third market he created was Dubai, the UAE. We brought the Swiss watches to this region, we educated you about it all.”
A CEO of a Swiss company, Weil was an expert doing business in the Middle East, Pakistan and India. “He understood that Dubai would be the headquarters of the region,” observes Bernheim. “I have seen pictures of Dubai 27 years back, and his trust in the market has paid off.”
He regards Raymond Weil as a flagbearer in the evolution of the market for Swiss watches in the region. “And in doing so, we have been participants in the glamour of Dubai.”
Bernheim says the main change over the last 5 to 10 years in the market response from the UAE “is the recognition that the nationals as well as expatriates are all attracted to the same pieces that are fashionable and trend-setting around the world. The people seem to be more educated, and they have come to value the pieces for their worth.”
Though Bahrain and Saudi Arabia have been emerging as significant markets for Raymond Weil, Bernheim says, the company always regards Dubai “as a platform to introduce new models to the region.”
Apart from a burgeoning market presence in 80 countries, he also sees a “real growth and sophistication” in Indian and Pakistani markets. But he rules out having different market strategies for the various regions.
“With globalisation, the Internet (though Raymond Weil watches are not sold on the Internet), customers do not expect to be treated differently in different countries. Think globally and act locally, that is the important strategy for growth,” he says.
And Raymond Weil’s growth, indeed, came from the founding vision of Weil — to deliver quality timepieces. Launching such acclaimed collections as the Amadeus (1983), Othello (1986), Traviata (1988), the flagship Parsifal (1991), Tango (1995), W1 (1996), Don Giovanni (1998), and working on award winning campaigns including the ‘Precision Movements,’ and ‘Celebrate the Moment,’ Raymond Weil caught the fancy of connoisseurs — a trend that continues.
Embodying the independence of the family operation, drawing strength from the ‘Swiss Made’ tag, promoting and encouraging aesthetic craftsmanship, and emphasising on design, Raymond Weil strives to bring a certain sensuality to each time-piece.
Buttressing them all is the adherence to stringent quality standards that include some 350 checks before a watch receives the Raymond Weil stamp.
Numerous factors go into a Raymond Weil watch creation. Market feedback, overall brand strategy, creative ingenuity, technical feasibility, materials and components used — all have a bearing on the creation process. Employing the famed Swiss sapphire crystals, and marrying style and appearance, Raymond Weil’s accent is on elegant simplicity. And that just sells.
Raymond Weil has traditionally sought out the high-end market in the region, which Bernheim says is “still fast growing. Additionally, we see that the middle market is shrinking a lot because people are squeezed to meet the various family requirements given the prevailing economic conditions. We have remodelled our showrooms to bring our customers into a much more upmarket, exclusive outlets.”
The exclusivity is justified. One of the “last, independent, family-owned watch businesses,” Raymond Weil has a “rich tradition in watch manufacturing,” reminds Bernheim. “We have the experience that none of the others can pretend to have.”
Bernheim says competition pushes the watch maker in “making sure that generation after generation the brand stays at the top.”
While the focus of Raymond Weil watches might lie in the Dhs4000 to Dhs60,000 high-end range, the middle bracket has not been entirely ignored. “It is part of the every day permanent sales but we need to be much more careful about the higher end,” says Bernheim.
Weil, says Bernheim, “is a very, very humble person. He likes arts, culture, music, and is very enthusiastic. He only dreams about watches. Or about planes.” (Weil, exuding his much commended enthusiasm, had obtained his airplane pilot’s licence at the age of 56).
Bernheim shares with Weil, a love for arts. “I think it is fantastic to be so close to such a famous person, such a genius. It has enabled me to learn from him and develop the ethos further on and try to keep the heritage of Raymond Weil watches alive and even more dynamic. It is my responsibility to adapt to the present market needs with all the changes we have been going through.”
Celebrating the new slogans, ‘Time to Celebrate,’ ‘Time to Create,’ and ‘Time to Dream,’ says Bernheim, reveals the company’s perceptions of the watch industry.
“You need to create, and if you create that is to celebrate your dream,” he adds. “It is important as a watch manufacturer to make the end-user understand this simple joy of wearing a dream.”
Raymond Weil brings in new ideas of “shape, movement, design, and other facets,” says Bernheim, in its bid to ‘dream, create and celebrate.’
And success saga ticks on…
