In January 2022, the luxury conglomerate Kering (formerly PPR) announced a management buyout of its stake in Sowind Group SA, the Switzerland-based collective that owns the legacy watch brands Girard-Perregaux and Ulysse Nardin, in a deal organized by the brands’ CEO Patrick Pruniaux.
The French-born Pruniaux transitioned to the watch industry from wine and spirits in 2005. Following a stint at TAG Heuer, he joined Apple in 2014 to spearhead the launch of the Apple Watch in 2015. Pruniaux joined Kering in 2017 assuming the helm of Ulysse Nardin and was tapped to head Girard-Perregaux the following year. He now manages the brands independently.
“What I see is a very strong appetite in the market for independent brands and brands with messages that are different, like Ulysse Nardin or Girard-Perregaux,” Pruniaux says. “People enter the watch market through mainstream brands and mass luxury brands, and they gather knowledge. The more educated they become, the more they dig into and get interested in brands like us.”
In November, Girard-Perregaux launched the Neo Bridges Aston Martin Edition (US$37,700), limited to 250 pieces, connecting the brand’s historic three-bridge architecture from 1867 to the current era of contemporary watchmaking.
Meanwhile, Ulysse Nardin gave its iconic and disruptive Freak, which debuted in 2001, the camouflage treatment for the Freak ONE OPS (US$66,500) featuring a 44mm black DLC titanium case, complemented by a khaki green palette.
Pruniaux recently spoke about the new models and how he views developing these distinct but connected brands.
PENTA: How do you describe the core values of each brand?
Patrick Pruniaux: Girard-Perregaux is clearly the most informal haute horlogerie manufacture. We belong to a league of some of the best gifted watchmakers, but we probably have the most free-spirited mindset. You don’t suddenly decide overnight you’re a rare breed. But I think that’s the feedback we get, and this trend is only going to grow.
Ulysse Nardin is a disruptive manufacture. There’s all the history inspired by the sea and the expertise.
How does the new Girard-Perregaux Neo Bridges Aston Martin Edition represent the values you describe?
It strikes the ideal balance that Girard-Perregaux consistently achieves—melding precise watchmaking expertise with a modern and informal design twist. This piece is particularly meaningful for us, marking a significant step in our evolving partnership with Aston Martin, a collaboration that has kept both parties evolving since the very beginning.
This time, we trusted our partner and threw down the challenge of redesigning some components of the movement. They not only met but excelled at adapting to the meticulous scale of watchmaking, drawing inspiration from their latest model, the DB12. And here’s the thrilling twist: they handed us a challenge, too! Adorning the Neo bridges with a subtle iridescent green, reminiscent of the evolving paints on their models. Our challenge was to achieve this effect without burdening the two components with numerous layers of paint.
Same question for the new Freak ONE OPS?
The Freak ONE is the quintessence of the Freak collection and it encapsulates Ulysse Nardin’s spirit and values. It’s an innovative and unconventional watch with no hands, no crown, no dial. The Freak ONE is a powerful expression of what we stand for—more than 175 years of high horology with sound and unique technical expertise. It’s a highly technical watch that revolutionized watchmaking, but it also has intense emotional value. No other watch has similarly broken every traditional rule of watchmaking and reshaped the art of horology in its own image.
Given their distinct identities, how will the brands evolve?
They have their own agendas, and they will grow in their own ways. We have different teams with different mindsets, spirits, and even skills. So, they will evolve very differently.
The common recipes are that they have rich histories, so we’ll leverage that. We also think pure when it comes to being a manufacture, and we are very focused on the craftsmanship. The third thing is distribution—we chose to partner with the best retailers in the world, and we do not have our own distribution.
Is there manufacturing synergy between the two brands?
The two bands don’t share any movements, but we do share some facilities, which is the manufacture. Apart from that, we share some expertise. Some watchmakers will work on one brand then the other, which makes the job more interesting for them. At the same time, there are some haute horlogerie watchmakers that are more specialized on one brand or the other.
We are among the manufactures that develop the most movements. Every year, we launch between one and two new movements—probably one core range and one in high horology. This is really rare. Also, we talk about our history, but we are very innovative.
How is the partnership with Aston Martin evolving?
It could not be better. The two brands have similar stories. After we signed the deal, we spent even more time together, and every time we met, we would talk further and explore new things. We discovered that it’s like getting married—the more you know your partner, the more you discover they are a perfect partner.
It’s also interesting that the two brands are very similar in terms of momentum. They are probably at the same stage in terms of brand development. Obviously, they have a lot of expertise in terms of mechanics and Formula 1. And design wise, they push the boundaries. The history, the way to do things and the will to look forward are very similar.
This interview was edited for length and clarity.
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