In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the watch market experienced a tremendous boom. It was particularly pronounced for smaller, more artisanal independent brands, who may produce as little as a few tens or hundreds of watches annually. This is in contrast with large, established manufactures that have an annual production that numbers in the tens or even hundreds of thousands per year.
One such brand is H. Moser & Cie., which produces around 3,000 pieces per year. Although the watch market has softened considerably over the past year or two, the outlook of H. Moser & Cie. is still extremely positive—the brand has come off a record year and looks to be on track for another one for 2024. “It’s the beginning of a cycle, I believe. It’s high, but I think it’s going to go higher,” says H. Moser & Cie. CEO Edouard Meylan. He credits the COVID period as a time when watch buyers began recognising and understanding the quality of his products, and began building a connection and trust with the people behind them. “They realised we’re here because of passion, but also for the long term,” he says. His watches began performing extremely well on the secondary market, and while the main motivation of watch buyers in this segment is an appreciation for the craft, value is something that cannot be ignored. “I think you always feel better if you think that it’s a smart investment. If you like the product, but when you come out of the store and you realise it lost 50 per cent of its value, it’s not nice,” he articulates. “Whereas if you buy something you like and it still holds or increases in value, then you feel better. It’s easier to make that investment.”
It was not always so rosy. H. Moser & Cie. was acquired by MELB Luxe, the Meylan family company, in 2012. Edouard became CEO in 2013 and, at the time, the brand carried a fraction of the desirability it has today. “It was an era where people were still buying established brands more than independent brands. There were a lot of the questions I heard in the beginning, such as ‘What’s going to happen to my watch in five years when you go bankrupt?’. Because a lot of people thought independent brands would disappear,” he recalls.
Things started off slower than he would have liked but, today, his company has outperformed his expectations. He attributes this success to a great team and a clear direction. “We tried a lot of things. We’re entrepreneurs and take risks. There’s no reward without taking risks, and I think it paid off. There are certain things that didn’t work, but we kept on pushing and exploring, and finding our way,” he says. He adds that having a clear, consistent design and a holistic communication approach that resonated with a certain community—the sort of community that appreciated the brand’s provocative, humorous messaging—worked very well for the brand.
This CEO position was Meylan’s first true leadership role, and one of the additional challenges he faced was the stigma of being one of the co-owners. “You need to prove yourself to others—that was the first challenge. A few of the successes we had right at the beginning, things like the Swiss Alp Watch, inspired confidence,” he says. The staff turnover was quite high at first, as the company settled into its culture, but those who stayed are still there today—and are quite proud of the company’s achievements. “The beginning [was to prove] that you are the right person for this, and I don’t think there is that question anymore,” Meylan adds. Today, he directly manages about 100 people from the company’s headquarters and manufacture in Switzerland, with another 20 or so in regional offices globally.
Prior to this, Meylan had never worked at a traditional watch manufacture—but he benefitted from growing up in the Vallée de Joux, one of the Swiss heartlands of watchmaking. He also learnt from his father, Georges-Henri Meylan, who was a long-time watch executive, most notably as CEO of Audemars Piguet until 2009. As a result, Edouard was instilled with the traditions and culture of watchmaking. “You appreciate the hard work behind it. You value it and you respect it,” he says.
“I think for me, 10 years ago, the big difficulty was trusting the people around me,” Meylan says as he reflects on his career. “I was doing a lot more on my own back then, until I found the right people around me that I could trust. And I think that was a big lesson, this truth. Find, or build, your circle of trust. And they don’t have to be mentors. They can be your peers, or [people who work for you]. I have a few people that are kind of outsiders—they don’t work with me or for me, but I throw ideas at them; you need those kinds of people. You need to have people that are empowered and entitled to tell you when you’re screwing up.”
