Gen Zers are fueling sales of Audemars Piguet’s $40,000 watches. They ‘went through lots of crises’ and long for ‘treasures of the past,’ its CEO says

We live in a time of extraordinarily fast technological change. Yet for one European industry, time still moves at exactly the same pace as it did 300 years ago: Swiss mechanical watchmaking. 

The industry is experiencing a second golden age, with record global sales and volumes last year. Its exports were worth $25 billion in 2023. Ilaria Resta, CEO of renowned Swiss watchmaker Audemars Piguet, says the boom is due in part to a new generation’s appetite for “treasures of the past.”

“[Gen Z] are very different, even from the Millennials, because they went through lots of crises,” Resta said. Other generations have been forward-looking. “For my generation, Gen X, a departure from the past was self-asserting,” she says. But “in a way [Gen Zers] want to go back to years when they didn’t even live.”

Audemars Piguet consolidated its place among the “Big Four” independent Swiss watchmakers in 2023, alongside Rolex, Patek Philippe, and Richard Mille, growing its revenues by 2% to an estimated 2.35 billion Swiss Francs ($2.7 billion), according to Morgan Stanley. (Resta confirmed the brand’s upward trajectory to us, without disclosing exact revenue numbers.)   

Resta’s outlook is somewhat of a departure from the business world’s current zeitgeist; that rapid technological advancement is the be–all and end–all. Still, innovation is part of the equation for mechanical watchmakers like AP. “The ‘complications’ are the same as 300 years ago, but at the same time there is a push for boundaries on materials, aesthetics, and innovation,” Resta said. 

“This coexistence is extremely interesting for a new generation,” she concluded.

Resta, who’s Italian and a former P&G executive, is the highest-ranked woman in an industry still dominated by men. But to her, her gender is not noteworthy. In fact, AP has stopped distinguishing between men’s and women’s watches. 

“It is in a way profiling people by gender, [whereas] the only real distinction is … size and ergonomics,” she said. “That’s why we have more diamond pieces now chosen by men, and bigger watches chosen by women. We are transversal.” 

It is not the only issue that evaporates once your products retail for $40,000 and above, it turns out. So do debates on political preferences, or any contention on the role of environmental, social, and governance issues, Resta said. “[Our watches] are absolutely politically neutral,” she told me. “We are on the wrists of [all kinds] of people.” 

That point was apparent during our interview, which took place during an Audemars Piguet owners reunion in a five-star hotel suite overlooking Lake Geneva. Among the participants were men and women of all ages, though most probably not of all socioeconomic strati. “[Owning a watch] brings people together,” Resta said. “People tell us they became friends here.”

More news below.

Peter Vanham
peter.vanham@fortune.com
@petervanham

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This edition of CEO Weekly Europe was curated by Aslesha Mehta.