Viva Primero

<In Person>

Aldo Magada, the newly appointed CEO of Zenith, in conversation with Mitrajit Bhattacharya and Ami Gandhi, dwells on his goals, the El Primer o movement and his visit to India

Zenith has gone through a lot of changes in the past decade. What are your key priorities for the brand? 

Basically, Zenith has had two CEOs in past 12 to 13 years. Jean-Frédéric Dufour did a great job by renovating the Manufacture—the real heart of a brand. And I think it was a very clever move to redo everything. He put back Zenith on the market with more links to the past collections. Also Theirry Nataf did a very good job with the El Primero.

The brand is not here to serve me; I’m here to serve the brand. One thing is to go back to the roots, but you cannot only rely on the roots, you also have to move towards the future. And that’s my mission.

What will be the key focus areas…products, marketing or the Manufacture?
First, our focus will be on products. By this I mean, we need to concentrate on El Primero which is unique to Zenith. The best chronograph movement in the market and the only one with high frequency since 1969. The second thing is definitely the Manufacture. And in terms of marketing; it’s very important when you say Zenith, for people who know the watches they always think about El Primero. We need to have a real face of Zenith. The face of Zenith is El Primero. The twist of the open-worked dial makes it recognisable from a distance of say 10m.

El Primero has been a defining movement in the development of mechanical movements. What probably is the way forward with El Primero?
Well, the journey has been extraordinary. It has set a benchmark in the industry. It is still one of the best in the market. But as every product, you have to make an evolution—having may be a different dimension on the sub dial or to think about more integration in terms of functions. We are launching the project to have a new one, which will respect the El Primero. It will not replace the El Primero, but will be besides El Primero. Allow us to start the development from scratch, to make sure that we can have, a new generation El Primero. We are sure to find a clever way to achieve it. For me, Christophe Colomb, is a good example of what Zenith can deliver.

In the past few years, particularly during Jean Frédéric’s period, there was a lot of push to make Christophe  Colomb a product line, to really create a niche, in fine watchmaking area. Do you have plans to pursue goals of creating products like Christophe Colomb in order to reshape haute horology?
I think it’s important to continue, as I do not want to use Christophe Colomb only in advertisements. We can put 20 different movements, and I think at the end, what we really need, is the Minute Repeater. We can do much better, and that’s something we have to think about, the Zenith way of doing the Minute Repeater.

When you say Minute Repeater are you talking about more gongs or better sound or ease of use?
Definitely, better sound. It has to sound good, it has to be interesting. We are trying to find a way in terms of how we can think differently. For a Minute Repeater the bigger the sound, the better it is.

At the Watch World Awards, Zenith’s Christophe Colomb won the Watch of the Year in 2011 and two years later Breitling Emergency II won the same award. What do you think of these special watches?
True, they are very special. It’s not because I used to work for Breitling. It’s the brand for pilots today. Zenith, I would say, was very involved in the air, in the 20s, in the beginning of the things, until the 70s. Zenith stands for a more classical interpretation of being the brand for lovers of aviation. Our association with aviation is more like IWC’s association with the Spitfire.

The aspect of Zenith, which connects with every Indian, is Mahatma Gandhi. You have a legacy with Gandhiji as he had a Zenith pocket watch. How do you feel being the custodian of the Gandhi legacy?
For us Gandhiji is very important for being someone who had an incredible adventure: political as well as human. We love to be a part of any adventure. For instance, Felix Baumgartner, a man who broke the speed of sound on the edge of space in a freefall, was an adventure. Louis Bleriot, who achieved a major first by crossing the English Channel by air, with his Zenith on his wrist, was an adventure. We don’t have a watch which is just a trophy. We were lucky that Indira Gandhi (née Nehru), one of India’s most successful Prime Ministers, gifted a sterling silver version of the Zenith’s pocket watch to Gandhiji.

Your visit to India, it’s like a fresh beginning for Zenith. What are your expectations from India?
Well, I think it’s more about what the consumer can expect from Zenith. Basically, we have the ambition to be present at the proper points-of-sale.

To have a chance to display our collection; to explain the brand because the brand is not very well-known. If known, it’s probably known for the engine, not for the watch. We want to be a part of this luxury market which is growing in India. We have been here for a century now and will make sure that we go ahead step-by-step. It will take time because India is not a market which you come in and then explode. We have to develop our marketing. We have to develop our network, may be not a big network but we have to. The ambition of the brand here in India is to be a part of watchmaking environment in this country, and to build the brand properly.

Zenith pocket watches were companions of authentic globe-trotters since the beginning of the 20th century. This is how one of them was to become a rare object cherished by the Father of our Nation: Mahatma Gandhi. Recently Mumbai witnessed the exhibition of the iconic Gandhi watch by Zenith. The pocket watch was officially launched in India at the hands of Aldo Magada, the newly appointed CEO of Zenith.