Jean-Marc Pontroué, Panerai CEO, receives the Passion Horlogère Watch of the Year trophy

Appointed CEO of Officine Panerai in April 2018, Jean-Marc Pontroué wasted little time in putting his stamp on “the Officine“. A high flyer of the Richemont group, where he has spent almost 20 years, this dynamic CEO embodies the Panerai project for the years ahead. A project built around the Panerai customer: the new one that every brand is chasing, but also the longstanding, passionate one commonly known as the “Paneristi “.

We met him in Paris when he received the Passion Horlogère Watch of the Year award, won with more than 34% of the votes. A triumph he savoured without restraint, and for which he thanks the readers of Passion Horlogère.

Hello and congratulations, Mr Pontroué. Today (15 March 2019, editor’s note) you received the Passion Horlogère Watch of the Year trophy for the Panerai Submersible Chrono, Guillaume Nery edition.

Thank you, it is a pleasure and an honour to have received this first award of the year.

Mr Pontroué, what are you wearing on your wrist today?

I am wearing a Submersible BMG. It is one of the latest products launched by Panerai. This watch captures the whole Panerai spirit. Its material is exclusive to us. “Bulk Metal Glass” (metallic glass, editor’s note), which is anti-magnetic, shock-resistant and scratch-resistant. That is the Panerai spirit in a nutshell. And it is a 47 mm on top of that… It is a piece I really enjoy wearing, during the week as well as at the weekend.

You took the helm of Panerai a few months ago, almost a year now. What was your first observation?

My first observation, and I am not saying this for the sake of the interview, is that this is an incredible brand! An incredible brand that did not exist in business terms just 25 years ago, and which today is one of the 20 biggest players in watchmaking. A brand with a very strong local clientele. In other words, in France we sell to French customers, in the United States to Americans, in Japan to Japanese customers… So it is a very solid brand with a product that has a very strong identity. In fact, on some of our products we do not even put the logo. It is a product that stands out among the 700 watch brands that exist in Switzerland.

A Panerai is recognisable without needing a logo. By its case, its indexes, its thickness, and so on.

When you took over at Panerai, you talked about customers, you talked to customers, and you talked about experience. Could you tell us more?

It is very difficult to run a brand without really knowing its customers. You always feel you know a brand, because Panerai products are well known, the communication is well known, and so on. So there is that superficial knowledge of the brand, and then there is really getting inside the brand.

Getting inside the brand means getting to know the teams, the organisation, the processes, the identity, and above all every driving force of the brand, in order to know how to develop it over the next three, five or ten years.

And that is where knowing your customers is essential.

Whether it is end customers or the Paneristi, since we are lucky to have Paneristi all over the world. Whether it is retailers or our franchisees… This whole community that revolves around Panerai is extremely important, because it is the one that feeds the brand every day and gives you a number of messages and signals to know how to steer the brand in the future.

Mr Pontroué, you are a sportsman, a man of challenges and a man of passions. Do you have other passions besides watchmaking?

Oh yes, of course, fortunately! Panerai is… I am not saying that 740 people all fit that profile… but Panerai is a brand of passion! First and foremost it is a brand of people who have drive. And what we look for in the people we hire at Panerai, beyond their expertise in their own fields, is their drive. The desire to develop this brand and to be part of a team that can potentially walk and run faster than the others.

So yes, running is one of my hobbies. Reading, art, and the travels I am lucky enough to make very regularly to many countries are among those hobbies too. And the boundaries between work, personal life and hobbies are all a bit blurred. I wear a Panerai when I run, and I very often do “morning runs” when I visit a country. I gather the whole local Panerai community and we go jogging at 7 in the morning.

Is it work, is it business? I have no idea. Everything merges, there is a fusion of everything we do, and this brand of passion that is Panerai suits me perfectly.

Panerai is a luxury brand. How would you define luxury?

There is this idea of developing concepts that are not commonplace. Concepts that are what I call disruptive. That are innovative compared with everything that has existed in this industry, which dates back more than 250 years. So how do you manage to reinvent concepts that have never existed? That creative added value is part of the notion of luxury. Then there is rarity: how you develop concepts that are not available everywhere. And then there is how you make it known. How you have communication that breaks the norms, that stands out from the whole communication environment we all know, and that lets you set yourself apart and differentiate yourself from the competition.

All great leaders are inspired by something. Is there a figure or a philosophy that inspires you?

Buddhism. Everything to do with art… museums, inspiring places. The automotive industry…

I am very curious by nature. And knowing what is happening in other industries brings ideas. Materials, shapes…

I was at the Geneva Motor Show last week, and when you see how this industry is developing in electric and hybrid power, new materials, new shapes, new ways of building and thinking about the car over the next 10 years… these are all sources of inspiration for us. Look at boats. Of course, Panerai draws a lot of inspiration from boats. There is a boat show in Paris, we are lucky to have that! When I work with Luna Rossa in Italy, they work with materials we do not have in watchmaking. And why shouldn’t we have those materials in the watch industry too? All these different environments are very powerful sources of inspiration for developing a brand. Or for leading and managing teams.

You mentioned the Paneristi earlier, who are among the readers of Passion Horlogère. If you had a message for them, what would it be?

First of all, I am very proud, because I have been working for some thirty years, and this is the first time I have worked for a brand that has a community of enthusiasts and connoisseurs beyond the Panerai teams who work 12 hours a day for it. That is a considerable asset for us. And we are lucky to have this community of people who follow us, who love us, who may even criticise us… But it is always inspiring and always interesting. In most of the countries I have visited, I have met the local Paneristi community, and I will keep doing so, because these are people who give me a great deal in terms of historical reference.

You can read every book there is about Panerai, and heaven knows there are plenty, but nothing replaces the inspiration of the Paneristi, who from the very beginning took part in the development of this brand and contributed greatly to making Panerai what it is today.

So we will keep doing it. I look forward to attending their next big convention in Amsterdam in October, where they all get together, and it is always an opportunity to share our upcoming projects with them, or at least some of the projects we will have for 2020.

Mr Pontroué, what time is it on Panerai time?

On Panerai time it is exactly half past nine, we are in Paris, and it is a great pleasure to begin this last day of the week with you.