Earlier today, Mr. Jean-Claude Biver, President of the Watches Division at LVMH and President of the Board of Directors at Zenith watches, announced the appointment of Julien Tornare as CEO of Zenith, effective May 1st, 2017. Mr. Julien Tornare a veteran coming from Vacheron Constantin will report to Mr. Jean-Claude Biver. In this role, Mr. Tornare will be focusing on the renewal of Zenith, developing its markets and activating its marketing initiatives.
In the words of Mr. Jean-Claude Biver: “Julien’s strong international and commercial experience in watches will be crucial to the development of Zenith, which is enjoying renewed success since Baselworld and the launch of Defy El Primero 21”.
Julien Tornare is an Economics graduate from the University of Geneva who joined Vacheron Constantin in 2000, as head for the Swiss market and later became President of Vacheron Constantin North America. Mr. Tornare also directed Vacheron Constantin international sales from 2009 to 2011 and subsequently helped develop the Asia-Pacific region as Managing Director until April of 2017.
This is another interesting move by Zenith and one that hopefully will bring more clarity to the brand's overall positioning and product strategy. After the sudden depature of Jean-Frédéric Dufour at the beginning of 2014 and the short tenure of Aldo Magada at Zenith, we feel that there's been a lack of continuity on the brand's product strategy; hopefully, bringing someone with the level of expertise and past experience as Mr. Tornare will help Zenith watches get back on track. Only time will tell.
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