TAG Heuer CEO Julien Tornare.
Six months into the job as CEO of TAG Heuer has been nothing short of a super-intense time for Julien Tornare.
As head of the 164-year-old luxury Swiss watch brand, Tornare shares his thoughts about the future of the brand and why he is very upbeat regarding that.
“That’s why I’m here in Malaysia right now. To listen and hear what people have to say about the brand.
“Strategic decisions that I’m looking at are to reinforce our retail activities, which have been well developed over the last years but we need to inject even more of the retail culture, and that is going to be one of my priorities.
“We aim to offer the best experience to clients, the best level of service, the best environment, (like) where we are right now, here at this (The Exchange) TRX boutique which is brand new and features a brand new environment. It’s a pleasure for me to visit this place because it’s a real embassy for the brand.
“That’s what we need to emphasise even more, worldwide,” he tells StarChrono in an exclusive interview during his recent trip to Malaysia early this month.
Tornare: Technology is key in the watchmaking industry. — Photo: GLENN GUAN/The Star
Vision of time
The store in The Exchange TRX is TAG Heuer’s latest and seventh standalone store.
Sprawled over 1,300sq ft, it highlights a modern and sleek interior that pays homage to its legendary sporting and racing ambassadors as well as well-known celebrities.
In that space, customers get to explore TAG Heuer’s diverse collection, including iconic timepieces such as the Carrera, Monaco and Aquaracer series, besides limited editions and avant-garde creations.
TAG Heuer Aquaracer 300m. — Photo: TAG Heuer
Tornare, in his 27 years in the watch industry, used to be based in Hong Kong for several years in his previous role which covered the whole of Asia-Pacific and thus had regularly visited Malaysia.
He shares, “It’s here that I can always find people who are knowledgeable about watchmaking, and well-informed on what’s behind the brand.
“TAG Heuer has a lot to offer due to its long 164-year history; you have the know-how, the savoir-faire which is not always well-known enough but it’s very strong.
“And of course, it’s a very dynamic brand with a lot of things happening today.
“In Malaysia, you have tradition and culture but there are also fast-paced and modern developments that are happening.
“And when I see these amazing shopping malls that have popped out of literally nothing, it is a good cultural fit for the market.”
Tornare reveals that he is also looking forward to reinforcing TAG Heuer’s position in Formula One and car-racing, as this is part of the brand’s DNA and backbone.
“I know in Malaysia there is a strong culture in cars and car-racing, so again the fit between the brand and the market couldn’t be better.”
He teases that there will be an even bigger presence of TAG Heuer in motorsports in the coming future.
“We will reinforce our positioning and take a stronger role in time measurement, as we are also strong in chronometry where we’ve been timekeepers for many prestigious events.
“This would be something that would be developed in the future,” he adds.
TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph. — Photo: TAG Heuer
Stronger after global pandemic
Tornare opines that after surviving the Covid-19 global pandemic, many people have come to realise that the world as we know it can stop overnight.
“It’s the first time it had happened to everyone all around the planet and it was a big learning curve for us.
“Despite the different length of lockdown, we all got stuck at a certain time in our lives.
“So when we came out of that in 2021 (for some countries), there was a kind of revenge-buying happening.
“People had savings yet they couldn’t consume, so now suddenly they wanted to spend.
“We have seen waves of strong purchases all around the world.
“What we learned was that because there was no travelling, it was even more imperative to concentrate on our local clientele.
“TAG Heuer has been very dynamic, working deeper with local clientele, which has been very beneficial now that travelling has resumed, and we have even much stronger engagement with our local consumers. That’s something we all have had to learn and can only make the brand stronger in the future,” he says.
One of the ways that TAG Heuer has shown to their customers that the brand can be local and global at the same time, is through their appointment of more diverse brand representatives...the latest being South Korean actor Wi Ha Jun.
“Sometimes we need faces that cover the whole world but often we need to get closer to local culture and it’s important to highlight a local, familiar face.
“And this is something that we need to develop even more,” Tornare notes.
South Korean actor Wi is one of TAG Heuer’s ambassadors. — Photo: TAG Heuer
He acknowledges that technology is key in the watchmaking industry.
Not just about having good technology when making watches, to improve the precision and reliability of the watches, but also when doing business via e-commerce.
“This way of business has grown stronger, especially during the pandemic, and now it has become a channel of business that is important and relevant. It is not just because some people can’t visit a physical store, but because it’s convenient to order from the comfort of your home.
“This completes the offer of multi-brand retailers, boutiques and e-commerce,” says Tornare.
The luminescent Monaco Split-Seconds Chronograph. — Photo: TAG Heuer
World of haute horlogerie
The recent Watches and Wonders event in Geneva, Switzerland, was a great opportunity for the brand to launch the brand new TAG Heuer Monaco Split-Seconds Chronograph, which takes its classic chronograph – currently celebrating its 55th anniversary – and propel it into a more avant-garde positioning within the broader TAG collection.
Tornare says: “We are elevating the brand and becoming even more exclusive.
“So it was a great moment and opportunity for us to launch the new Split-Seconds.”
He says that although the watch isn’t currently available in Malaysia (at the time of this article going to print), many customers have already been asking about the watch.
“It is already sold out this year but we will be doing roadshows to take orders from customers who are willing to wait for it next year.
“It is such an impressive watch to look at, the finishing and detailing are an indication of the high-watchmaking.
“Some people might not expect that from TAG Heuer, however we have the historical legitimacy of making such watches in the early 20th century and now we develop with new technologies, ways to make this movement more contemporary, modern and effective,” he adds.
TAG Heuer Carrera x Porsche 963. — Photo: TAG Heuer
Respect time
When asked which is his favourite watch design in the TAG Heuer stable, Tornare hesitates slightly since “It’s difficult to pick only one!” but then indulges this writer, saying that it has to be the Monaco.
“For me, it is meaningful to a certain time and reminds me of the iconic Le Mans movie that I watched several times.
“It’s very difficult to create a square watch and you have to have the creativity, the guts and innovation to create such a shape.
“For us now to continue to develop Monaco is something I’m very proud of,” he says.
“It is a watch that you can see and recognise and identify from far away, making it different from all other watches,” Tornare highlights.
Delving into what time is, he replies: “I probably give the highest value to the concept of time because first of all, time is real but not concrete.
“Sometimes the same amount of time can go very fast or go very slow.
“You never really know how much time you have. I hate people saying, ‘I have time, I will do it tomorrow.’
“You don’t know if you have time, nobody has time.
“We basically enjoy the time, we use time but you don’t ‘have’ time, you don’t master time.
“So you need to have a lot of humility and respect when it comes to time.”
He muses that it is probably one of the reasons why he loves selling watches, “because these are exceptional mechanical tools to measure time.”
“And measuring time lets you decide how to divide it, make it readable and understandable.
“We need to use time the best way possible,” the Geneva-born Tornare, 52, concludes.
*It is announced this month that Tornare will be CEO of Hublot from Sept 1. Both brands are in the LVMH Group.
