Panerai’s CEO Jean-Marc Pontroué talks with Riga Ramadhan about the brand’s strategy for this year, the Panerai experience and more
Panerai has a rich history that started in 1860 in Florence. For decades, the brand supplied the Italian Navy and particularly its specialist diving corps with precision instruments. The designs developed by Panerai at that time, including the Luminor and Radiomir, were covered by the Military Secrets Act for many years and were launched on the international market only after the brand was acquired by the Richemont Group in 1997.
At Watches and Wonders Geneva 2023, the brand revisits its storied and legendary Radiomir timepiece, a design with ties to the Italian Navy that dates back to the 1930s. This year, Panerai honors its legacy by updating the Radiomir line with brand-new models that pay homage to its origins. To that end, the brand launched the Radiomir Annual Calendar with intricate time-telling elements from each month of the year down to the very second, the Radiomir Quaranta in Goldtech, which is described as “the contemporary and most versatile of Radiomir interpretations” and the Radiomir California that sports a 45mm dial—a first for the collection.
To learn more about the brand’s journey this year, how the Radimoir has evolved for today’smarket and everything in between, we spoke to none other than the CEO of Panerai, Jean-Marc Pontroué.
DAMAN: What is your main strategic focus this year regarding relaunching the Radiomir collection?
Jean-Marc Pontroué: As you can see, for the last couple of years, we did some Submersible models. We then launched the 70 years of Luminor. Then, we did our sustainability program, which occupied Panerai for several months. Then, two years ago, we started to say that Radiomir is the child we didn’t really spend enough time with. So, we were thinking, now it’s the time since the Submersible has been such a huge success. Let’s take the time to restage the history of the brand. History with Florence, Italy and even Eilean—the 1936 Bermudian ketch built in Fife’s legendary shipyard that we restore—because we have the opportunity to do so. For me, Radiomir is a conservative line in our assortment. That’s why Radiomir is only available in red gold, platinum and steel and is not available in ceramic, Carbotech [a proprietary composite material based on carbon fibre], DMLS [Direct Metal Laser Sintering], BMG-tech [Bulk Metallic Glass] and so on.
DA: Was this refocus on the Radiomir collection meant to increase the overall value of the brand?
JP: Not really. We are getting higher and higher in value, but you probably have seen that this year has developed a lot at the entry price point. What we communicate is the high end, but it doesn’t prohibit us to also have more variety of products in the entry price point segment. I will never forget that not everybody can buy watches in the 15,000 to 30,000 euros range. And that we have always been present in the 5,000-euro segment but never with choice. Our opening price point has increased. Previously, we had no variety. It was always a black dial model. Now we have blue, white, black—we have more variety of models.
DA: Almost all current Panerai models come from two fundamental styles, the Radiomir and the Luminor. Is that an advantage for the brand or does it limit your creativity?
JP: I think it’s a very strong advantage. Many luxury brands have one concept and they overdevelop in different finishings. So, when you work at Panerai, we often say that the hero is a product because we have these four families. There is the Luminor with the safety lock system. We have a slimmer one, the Due, and a sporty one, the Submersible. And then we have Radiomir. But in the end, we are at the start of creativity. The big opportunity I had when I took over this brand is that we have a very strong product platform.
DA: Speaking of which, Panerai has also started presenting timepieces alongside relevant experiences like diving trips alongside free-diving world champion Guillaume Néry and even training with the legendary U.S. Navy SEALs. Could you tell us more about this strategy of offering experiences and whether this is a long-term strategy?
JP: The Panerai experience works extremely well. It’s when we offer a limited edition that you get only if you are part of an experience at Panerai. But yes, we are dedicated to continuing to have the experiences. The experience we have this year is with the GIGN [Le Groupe d’intervention de la Gendarmerie nationale; the elite tactical unit of the France’s National Gendarmerie] in May. In short, 15 people will spend 48 hours in Paris to work with anti-terrorist forces. The next one is in Spain, where our customers will go to two islands, Ibiza and Mallorca, and they will test supercars and superboats in the Mediterranean. We have another one again with the Navy SEALs, which will be open to non-Americans.
Numbers-wise, we can do only five experiences per year. Why? Because we have three people who are fully occupied with organizing these experiences. Five experiences mean about 150 people. So, it means you have 150 individual travel arrangements to organize. It’s not like you take 150 people from one spot in Geneva to bring to another spot in, let’s say, Neuchâtel. That’s easy. Here, you’re organizing as many people as airlines do. This is not what I call bringing you something you can easily buy.
DA: Finally, a very notable aspect of the Panerai image is the Paneristi. What are your thoughts on this community and how do you handle them?
JP: I always say that the Paneristi, a community which has more than 30,000 members worldwide, are the best marketing department in the watch industry. They have proudly shared their enthusiasm and dedication to Panerai with the whole world. To make a long story short, the Paneristi are very strongly regarded in our organization. We host one evening every year, which we call the P-DAY, when the Paneristi gather for their convention in different cities.
So, we maintain very close contact with them. I try to see most of them when I travel. They also give us a lot of good insight into the products.