Adrian Bosshard, CEO of Rado.
LEADERS
Rado’s CEO, Adrian Bosshard: “We are unbeatable value for money.”
When Adrian Bosshard joined Rado as the Swiss watch company’s chief executive, the world was in crisis. This was July 2020, and with Covid raging and mass restrictions on movement, manufacturing and retail affecting every area of life, the watch industry – like most others – was in rapid decline.
Mr Bosshard, a former professional motorcycle racer, had been with Swatch Group 23 years by that point, working for a number of its brands, including as chief executive of Certina and Union Glashütte. But when he was approached by Swatch Group chief executive Nicholas Hayek Jr to take on Rado, the brief, he says, had nothing to do with the effects of the pandemic.
“Demand came back on a very, very high level,” says Mr Bosshard of his first few months in the job. “Mr Hayek’s brief was that Rado is a brand which is unique and different to the competition and to take all that uniqueness to the countries where today we have still big room to progress.”
Since the world opened back up, Mr Bosshard has been on a global tour with his new charge, stopping off in the US, the UK, China, Japan, South Korea and many other of the 70 or so countries where Rado has a presence. He says the brand has good global coverage, with 12 per cent of the business now in North America – “a highly growing situation,” he notes – 24 per cent in the Far East, 26 per cent in Europe and 36 per cent in the Middle East and India, where, he adds, Rado has “by far the highest market share.”
Consumer appetite for Rado appears to be on the up. Data gathered by the Geneva consultancy DLG (Digital Luxury Group) indicates that average monthly Google searches for the brand climbed 28.15 per cent between 2021 and 2023, a figure that puts it ahead of its competitors TAG Heuer and Breitling in growth terms, but behind Tudor, Longines and Oris.
Mr Bosshard is placing a lot of faith in India, where Rado enjoys exceptionally high levels of market awareness, compared to the competition. DLG data pointed to 1.34 million average monthly Google searches for Rado in India last year, shading TAG Heuer’s 444,000, Breitling’s 78,000 and Tudor’s 54,000, figures that were typically reversed in mainland Europe.
Globally, appetite for Rado appears greatest in India, too, according to DLG. Of the 3 million global average monthly Google searches for Rado in 2023, 47.4 per cent were recorded in India, significantly ahead of the US on 7.0 per cent and the UK on 4.9 per cent.
Rado’s Indian promise gives room for optimism, says Mr Bosshard. “Purchasing power is growing there,” he says. “A very important part of the [watch-buying] population will come from there in the future.” A watch industry report published by Deloitte in October backed up Mr Bosshard’s prediction, singling India out as the next major growth market for Swiss watches: “We predict that India will enter the top 10 Swiss export markets within a decade,” said the report’s authors. It currently lies 22nd, according to the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry (FHS), with exports of Swiss watches to India amounting to 218 million Swiss francs last year, after a 16.5 per cent annual increase.
For now, Rado’s Indian dominance is an outlier. “The Indians are very keen to offer watches for special occasions in their lives,” says Mr Bosshard. “For these events, they search for timepieces which are not just for a time slot, but for life. Our ceramic watches, with their premium movements give a lot of confidence to customers.”
Under Mr Bosshard, Rado has also invested heavily in cricket, India’s most popular sport. According to Ormax Media, of the 678 million Indians who view sport on TV, 612 million follow cricket. Last year, Rado entered a new partnership with the England and Wales Cricket Board, a relationship that meant its branding was an ever-present during last year’s Ashes Series between England and Australia and that last week led to the release of Rado’s first limited-edition cricket watch, the Captain Cook High-Tech Ceramic x England Cricket. According to the German analytics company Statista, 17.8 million viewers in the UK alone tuned into the summer-long series. “The feedback in the UK and overseas was very promising,” says Mr Bosshard, adding that he intends to expand the brand’s involvement in the sport.
Less clear are Rado’s revenues. In its most recent annual report, Swatch Group reported net sales were up 12.6 per cent to 7.9 billion Swiss francs in 2023. The group does not break down its performance by brand, and all Mr. Bosshard will say is that it was a “positive year” for Rado and that his company’s results were in line with the group’s.
Independent analysts paint a different picture. Morgan Stanley’s annual watch reports suggest Rado has yet to recover its pre-Covid revenues. In its 2019 report, Morgan Stanley estimated Rado’s revenues totalled 350 million Swiss francs, but in its 2023 report, published in February, it suggested that figure had slumped to 220 million Swiss francs, down from 255 million in the previous year. Over the same period, Morgan Stanley estimated that Chanel, which also specialises in ceramic watches, leapfrogged Rado, increasing its watch revenues from 150 million to 400 million Swiss francs.
“These are estimations,” counters Mr Bosshard presented with the report, while acknowledging that the actual figures remain a business secret. “And Rado is an underestimated brand. My job is I’m working for the end consumers and for our customers, not for the analysts.”
In 2018, Rado was part of the Swatch Group Baselworld exodus. At the time, it was reported this would save the group $50 million. While other brands have migrated to the Watches and Wonders Geneva fair, including Rado’s competitors TAG Heuer, Tudor, and Oris, Swatch Group has maintained its stance.
Mr Bosshard does not believe this has been to the detriment of his company. “We had much more funds and resources available to host local events where we have the full attention of the audience,” he says. “We are now closer to reality, to the market and to local customers, and we have a better return [on investment] and engagement.”
He rules out a return to a Swiss fair. “I believe this is a more appropriate approach for a brand like Rado and we will not change this at all for the future.”
The problem where it occurs, he says, is coming from the Far East and from China and Hong Kong. The FHS’s February figures showed monthly exports to China were down 25.4 per cent and 19 per cent to Hong Kong, compared to the same period in 2023. “We have suffered like all industry in China,” says Mr Bosshard. “But on the other side we see very good balance globally.”
He believes China will recover. “We are absolutely sure it will come back,” he says. “Nobody knows exactly when but, it will not be endless because the willingness for Chinese to buy luxury will definitely remain.”
Much of the industry’s problems he puts down to the continuing strength of the Swiss franc. Is he worried about this? “Of course,” he says. “All our costs are in Switzerland. This is not just a challenge for the Swiss watch industry. We are forced to adopt prices in local currencies and this is never an advantage because we want to remain in this affordable luxury segment.”
Outside the Swatch Group, many brands have focussed on reducing volumes and increasing prices in a bid to increase margins and offset the impact of the global cost of living crisis, which has largely passed high-net-worth individuals by. Mr Bosshard says he wants to continue to offer “affordable luxury” watches, starting with quartz pieces for under a thousand Swiss francs. “It’s absolutely our aim and our obsession to offer [watches] for this amount of money,” he says. “Our segment is very important and there we see big potential globally to develop.”
As well as keeping to within the 1,000 to 5,000 Swiss franc bracket, Mr Bosshard says Rado’s claim to be a “master of materials” will stand it in good stead. The company’s pioneering approach to materials was once radical. In 1962, the DiaStar watch in hard metal set new standards of scratch-resistance, so much so that original pieces from the time still have a glossy sheen. Likewise, in 1986 Rado became the first maker of a ceramic watch, some 14 years before Chanel introduced its J12 and longer still before pieces such as Omega’s commercially successful ceramic Speedmasters.
But the industry has upscaled over the past decade, and legion brands now produce watches in space-grade materials, including some of Rado’s Swatch Group sister brands. Has Rado lost its material advantage? “I believe when you are the first to do something, you are always a step ahead of the rest because of the experience you have acquired,” Mr Bosshard says. “We are also the brand offering for the most fair price these kind of features and the variation of colours,” he adds. “Nobody else can compete, within or without the Swatch Group.”
Looking from the outside, some might wonder whether Rado could yet benefit from the MoonSwatch effect. Swatch Group has now produced millions of the Omega x Swatch MoonSwatch bioceramic mash-up, backed up by more modest interest in the Swatch x Blancpain Scuba 50 Fathoms. Asked whether he would like to see a Swatch x Rado collaboration, Mr Bosshard seems amused. “This is definitely a decision which will be taken from the top management of the group, by Mr Hayek,” he says.
Looking ahead, Mr Bosshard predicts a positive year for his company. “We’ve seen the FHS’s results,” he says. “But a year is 12 months and we believe the challenges we are facing in China we will be able to absorb in other areas in the world and to report double-digit growth in local currency. I’m positive about 80 per cent of our countries. Where we are cautious is China and Hong Kong.”
No matter where, though, he points to one advantage he believes Rado has over the competition. “We are unbeatable value for money,” he says.
Robin Swithinbank is an international journalist, author and speaker. His work has been published in the New York Times, the Financial Times, Vanity Fair and Business of Fashion. Last year, he co-authored Beyond Time on the history of Bulgari watchmaking. His next book on Jacob & Co is due to be published later this year by Assouline.
LEADERS
Rado’s CEO, Adrian Bosshard: “We are unbeatable value for money.”
Adrian Bosshard, CEO of Rado.
When Adrian Bosshard joined Rado as the Swiss watch company’s chief executive, the world was in crisis. This was July 2020, and with Covid raging and mass restrictions on movement, manufacturing and retail affecting every area of life, the watch industry – like most others – was in rapid decline.
Mr Bosshard, a former professional motorcycle racer, had been with Swatch Group 23 years by that point, working for a number of its brands, including as chief executive of Certina and Union Glashütte. But when he was approached by Swatch Group chief executive Nicholas Hayek Jr to take on Rado, the brief, he says, had nothing to do with the effects of the pandemic.
“Demand came back on a very, very high level,” says Mr Bosshard of his first few months in the job. “Mr Hayek’s brief was that Rado is a brand which is unique and different to the competition and to take all that uniqueness to the countries where today we have still big room to progress.”
Since the world opened back up, Mr Bosshard has been on a global tour with his new charge, stopping off in the US, the UK, China, Japan, South Korea and many other of the 70 or so countries where Rado has a presence. He says the brand has good global coverage, with 12 per cent of the business now in North America – “a highly growing situation,” he notes – 24 per cent in the Far East, 26 per cent in Europe and 36 per cent in the Middle East and India, where, he adds, Rado has “by far the highest market share.”
Consumer appetite for Rado appears to be on the up. Data gathered by the Geneva consultancy DLG (Digital Luxury Group) indicates that average monthly Google searches for the brand climbed 28.15 per cent between 2021 and 2023, a figure that puts it ahead of its competitors TAG Heuer and Breitling in growth terms, but behind Tudor, Longines and Oris.
Mr Bosshard is placing a lot of faith in India, where Rado enjoys exceptionally high levels of market awareness, compared to the competition. DLG data pointed to 1.34 million average monthly Google searches for Rado in India last year, shading TAG Heuer’s 444,000, Breitling’s 78,000 and Tudor’s 54,000, figures that were typically reversed in mainland Europe.
Globally, appetite for Rado appears greatest in India, too, according to DLG. Of the 3 million global average monthly Google searches for Rado in 2023, 47.4 per cent were recorded in India, significantly ahead of the US on 7.0 per cent and the UK on 4.9 per cent.
Rado’s Indian promise gives room for optimism, says Mr Bosshard. “Purchasing power is growing there,” he says. “A very important part of the [watch-buying] population will come from there in the future.” A watch industry report published by Deloitte in October backed up Mr Bosshard’s prediction, singling India out as the next major growth market for Swiss watches: “We predict that India will enter the top 10 Swiss export markets within a decade,” said the report’s authors. It currently lies 22nd, according to the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry (FHS), with exports of Swiss watches to India amounting to 218 million Swiss francs last year, after a 16.5 per cent annual increase.
For now, Rado’s Indian dominance is an outlier. “The Indians are very keen to offer watches for special occasions in their lives,” says Mr Bosshard. “For these events, they search for timepieces which are not just for a time slot, but for life. Our ceramic watches, with their premium movements give a lot of confidence to customers.”
Under Mr Bosshard, Rado has also invested heavily in cricket, India’s most popular sport. According to Ormax Media, of the 678 million Indians who view sport on TV, 612 million follow cricket. Last year, Rado entered a new partnership with the England and Wales Cricket Board, a relationship that meant its branding was an ever-present during last year’s Ashes Series between England and Australia and that last week led to the release of Rado’s first limited-edition cricket watch, the Captain Cook High-Tech Ceramic x England Cricket. According to the German analytics company Statista, 17.8 million viewers in the UK alone tuned into the summer-long series. “The feedback in the UK and overseas was very promising,” says Mr Bosshard, adding that he intends to expand the brand’s involvement in the sport.
Less clear are Rado’s revenues. In its most recent annual report, Swatch Group reported net sales were up 12.6 per cent to 7.9 billion Swiss francs in 2023. The group does not break down its performance by brand, and all Mr. Bosshard will say is that it was a “positive year” for Rado and that his company’s results were in line with the group’s.
Independent analysts paint a different picture. Morgan Stanley’s annual watch reports suggest Rado has yet to recover its pre-Covid revenues. In its 2019 report, Morgan Stanley estimated Rado’s revenues totalled 350 million Swiss francs, but in its 2023 report, published in February, it suggested that figure had slumped to 220 million Swiss francs, down from 255 million in the previous year. Over the same period, Morgan Stanley estimated that Chanel, which also specialises in ceramic watches, leapfrogged Rado, increasing its watch revenues from 150 million to 400 million Swiss francs.
“These are estimations,” counters Mr Bosshard presented with the report, while acknowledging that the actual figures remain a business secret. “And Rado is an underestimated brand. My job is I’m working for the end consumers and for our customers, not for the analysts.”
In 2018, Rado was part of the Swatch Group Baselworld exodus. At the time, it was reported this would save the group $50 million. While other brands have migrated to the Watches and Wonders Geneva fair, including Rado’s competitors TAG Heuer, Tudor, and Oris, Swatch Group has maintained its stance.
Mr Bosshard does not believe this has been to the detriment of his company. “We had much more funds and resources available to host local events where we have the full attention of the audience,” he says. “We are now closer to reality, to the market and to local customers, and we have a better return [on investment] and engagement.”
He rules out a return to a Swiss fair. “I believe this is a more appropriate approach for a brand like Rado and we will not change this at all for the future.”
The problem where it occurs, he says, is coming from the Far East and from China and Hong Kong. The FHS’s February figures showed monthly exports to China were down 25.4 per cent and 19 per cent to Hong Kong, compared to the same period in 2023. “We have suffered like all industry in China,” says Mr Bosshard. “But on the other side we see very good balance globally.”
He believes China will recover. “We are absolutely sure it will come back,” he says. “Nobody knows exactly when but, it will not be endless because the willingness for Chinese to buy luxury will definitely remain.”
Much of the industry’s problems he puts down to the continuing strength of the Swiss franc. Is he worried about this? “Of course,” he says. “All our costs are in Switzerland. This is not just a challenge for the Swiss watch industry. We are forced to adopt prices in local currencies and this is never an advantage because we want to remain in this affordable luxury segment.”
Outside the Swatch Group, many brands have focussed on reducing volumes and increasing prices in a bid to increase margins and offset the impact of the global cost of living crisis, which has largely passed high-net-worth individuals by. Mr Bosshard says he wants to continue to offer “affordable luxury” watches, starting with quartz pieces for under a thousand Swiss francs. “It’s absolutely our aim and our obsession to offer [watches] for this amount of money,” he says. “Our segment is very important and there we see big potential globally to develop.”
As well as keeping to within the 1,000 to 5,000 Swiss franc bracket, Mr Bosshard says Rado’s claim to be a “master of materials” will stand it in good stead. The company’s pioneering approach to materials was once radical. In 1962, the DiaStar watch in hard metal set new standards of scratch-resistance, so much so that original pieces from the time still have a glossy sheen. Likewise, in 1986 Rado became the first maker of a ceramic watch, some 14 years before Chanel introduced its J12 and longer still before pieces such as Omega’s commercially successful ceramic Speedmasters.
But the industry has upscaled over the past decade, and legion brands now produce watches in space-grade materials, including some of Rado’s Swatch Group sister brands. Has Rado lost its material advantage? “I believe when you are the first to do something, you are always a step ahead of the rest because of the experience you have acquired,” Mr Bosshard says. “We are also the brand offering for the most fair price these kind of features and the variation of colours,” he adds. “Nobody else can compete, within or without the Swatch Group.”
Looking from the outside, some might wonder whether Rado could yet benefit from the MoonSwatch effect. Swatch Group has now produced millions of the Omega x Swatch MoonSwatch bioceramic mash-up, backed up by more modest interest in the Swatch x Blancpain Scuba 50 Fathoms. Asked whether he would like to see a Swatch x Rado collaboration, Mr Bosshard seems amused. “This is definitely a decision which will be taken from the top management of the group, by Mr Hayek,” he says.
Looking ahead, Mr Bosshard predicts a positive year for his company. “We’ve seen the FHS’s results,” he says. “But a year is 12 months and we believe the challenges we are facing in China we will be able to absorb in other areas in the world and to report double-digit growth in local currency. I’m positive about 80 per cent of our countries. Where we are cautious is China and Hong Kong.”
No matter where, though, he points to one advantage he believes Rado has over the competition. “We are unbeatable value for money,” he says.
Robin Swithinbank is an international journalist, author and speaker. His work has been published in the New York Times, the Financial Times, Vanity Fair and Business of Fashion. Last year, he co-authored Beyond Time on the history of Bulgari watchmaking. His next book on Jacob & Co is due to be published later this year by Assouline.
