does Panerai’s CEO switch herald end of group’s watch division?

Jean-Marc Pontroué has posted on social media to say he is leaving luxury watch brand Panerai after seven years at the helm. His announcement has sparked a flurry of speculation about a potential in-depth reorganisation within Swiss luxury group Richemont and its watch-making division. The next day, on the evening of March 18, the Italian watchmaker, which Pontroué had been in charge of since 2018, confirmed his departure and announced that Emmanuel Perrin will replace him. Perrin will take up his duties on April 1 and will report to boss of Richemont Nicolas Bos.

Pontroué worked for 25 years at Richemont, holding executive positions at other watch brands too, including six years at the head of Roger Dubuis and more than a decade at Montblanc. He has notably led Panerai on a strong growth track, making this little-known brand one of the most renowned names in watch-making in the 2000s, bringing in technical innovations, new materials, and committing to sustainable development.

Perrin too has been enjoying a lengthy executive career at Richemont, where he has been for 33 years. He has notably worked for Cartier and, in 2017, he was appointed head of Specialist Watchmakers distribution, in charge of a division that includes eight Richemont watch brands (A. Lange & Söhne, Baume & Mercier, IWC, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Panerai, Piaget, Roger Dubuis and Vacheron Constantin).

“[Perrin’s] in-depth knowledge of the group and the watch-making sector places him in a good position to spearhead Panerai’s continuous growth and long-term success,” Panerai said in a press release, without giving further details.

Perrin’s move to Panerai might mean that Richemont’s watch-making division will be disbanded, giving each individual brand greater independence than before, according to sources cited by the specialised press. During the eight years in which Perrin was in charge of distribution for the group’s specialised watchmakers, he has worked to downsize the brands’ network of independent retailers to the benefit of their own monobrand stores, causing dissatisfaction among retailers and disrupting the watch brands’ own store fleets.

Asked by FashionNetwork.com about the possible closing down of the Specialist Watchmakers division, Richemont has not replied. It is clear that the arrival of 40-year-old Bos at the Geneva-based group’s helm in June 2024, when he was named CEO, is driving a series of changes within the group’s organisation, as shown by the plethora of new appointments at the head of many Richemont brands in recent months. If the Specialist Watchmakers division’s closure was to be confirmed, it would signal a major shift for Richemont.