At Breguet, the Focus Is on the Watch

Yet for all its grand history and technical excellence, Breguet hasn’t risen to the same commercial heights as some of its competitors in the prestige watchmaking arena. In a March 2022 report, Morgan Stanley estimated Breguet’s 2021 sales at 280 million Swiss francs ($301 million), placing it at No. 22 on a list of Switzerland’s top 50 watch brands by sales. (By contrast, Audemars Piguet, another highly regarded brand, ranked fourth with estimated sales of 1.58 billion francs, and Patek Philippe ranked sixth, with estimated sales of 1.53 billion francs.)

In Los Angeles, as he prepared to spend a day greeting clients and admiring contemporary art at Frieze, Mr. a Marca did not seem fazed by the brand’s market positioning. He said the biggest lesson he learned from Mr. Hayek Sr., whom he described as “pragmatic, direct, with a vision,” could be summed up in a few words: “the product, the product, the product!”

Timepieces are a natural focus for Mr. a Marca, whose expertise lies in industrialized production. He joined the Swatch Group in 1992 after earning a technical degree at the École Horlogerie Microtechnique in his hometown, Porrentruy, a 15-minute drive south of the Swiss border with France.

Apart from a short stint doing consulting work outside the watch industry, Mr. a Marca has been at the group ever since. He spent his early years working for a handful of its subsidiaries, including the movement-making companies Frédéric Piguet and ETA.

While serving as an internal quality control and production consultant for Swatch’s prestige brands, he met Marc A. Hayek, a grandson of Mr. Hayek Sr. and chief executive of Blancpain. “We have worked together for 22 years so we know each other well,” Mr. a Marca said. “He always plays devil’s advocate, which I like.”

The men seem to agree that Breguet’s future remains firmly rooted in its past. Tradition-bound to the extreme, the brand has not been one for trendy collaborations, celebrity ambassadors or even online sales. Mr. a Marca acknowledged that Breguet was working on an e-commerce rollout, but, by and large, it remains one of the watch world’s most conservative operators.