Meeting The Man

< CEO Speak >

Mitrajit Bhattacharya meets up with Alexander Bennouna, CEO of Victorinox, to talk about newer versions of their stealthy and impressive Night Vision timepiece

Your booth looks very impressive. What did it take to design and plan it out?
It took us many years not only to design but also to renegotiate a position among the Swiss-made brands. We needed more space because we were growing. Victorinox stands for quality and functionality worldwide, so it was important for our booth to project this statement in a tangible manner.

How did the brand fare last year, and what is the road up ahead?
Last year was good for us. We are still at a phase where we are expanding our distribution, which we pursued last year as well. It’s not just a question of how many point of sales and what sales figures we acquired; what’s more important is how many customers we managed to convince and convert into believing in the values that are important for us.

What can we look forward to in terms of the novelties that your House is coming out with, this year?
We have one new market introduction every three months, starting with the Infantry line. The Infantry line is characterised by its retro military inspiration. What is also new in this line is the Milanese or mesh bracelets extension, which gives it a more unisexual look. It’s a bracelet that was introduced in the 50s, so it reinforces a bit of the vintage side of the line. The benefit of this bracelet is that you can self-adjust it to the size of your wrist.

The Night Vision line had a very big launch last year…
The Night Vision was our product hero, our talking piece in 2012. It’s a line that has been in our catalogue since ten years. We have revised it through two consecutive generations, and when we introduced it last year, we decided to come up with a version that is quite classic and timeless. It had a leather strap and a metal bracelet. Everybody was waiting for the rubber strap version, and so, we are coming out with the rubber version now.

The rubber straps are in two colours, right?
Yes, in olive green and black. Interestingly, the one with the black ice PVD finishing combined with a monochrome design has a slightly chameleon effect on the dial. We introduced it with nylon strap, and this year, we are offering one in a leather strap version with this cuff protection underneath that was historically used to protect the arm against extreme temperatures. So, you still have the stencil cutting on the dial, a second hand or orange colour that provides a reminder of its military heritage. You can wear it with or without the cufflink.

All the models we see are largely 40mm-sized. Why don’t we see experimentation with different sizes? 
I think the benefit of sizes between 39mm and 40mm is that they make the watches very unisex. The versatility of the product is important; this is something that we have observed not only in the timepiece business but in other industries as well.