Five months into the role, the Swiss watchmaker’s new chief executive explains why price has to be earned, why partnerships are won in the execution and why he sees no reason for pessimism
Empowering luxury leaders with exclusive insight.
Featured Insights
RETAIL5 min read
When Luxury Becomes Too Accessible
Modern luxury is increasingly negotiating a difficult balance between exclusivity and relevance. Collaborations like Swatch × Audemars Piguet reveal how brands are adapting to a more participation-driven luxury economy but they also raise uncomfortable questions about how much accessibility luxury can absorb before symbolic prestige begins to weaken.
DIGITAL6 min read
Presence over archive: how heritage brands can lead with digital authority
There is an unspoken rule in heritage brand design: the more storied the maison, the more it should disappear. Let the product speak, let the archive breathe, keep the identity quiet and the palette restrained. The brand as vessel, not voice.
DIGITAL7 min read
FOBO: Why the Luxury Industry’s Fear of Becoming Obsolete Is the Only Fear Worth Having
FOMO is out. FOBO – the Fear of Becoming Obsolete – is the defining anxiety of our professional moment. For an industry built on permanence, heritage, and the primacy of the human hand, it may also be the only fear worth taking seriously.
Podcasts
The Luxury Society Podcast. Weekly dialogues with luxury leaders.
The Luxury Society Podcast, brought to you by DLG, brings exclusive insider conversations on the transformation of the luxury industry as it expands its influence across sports, entertainment and culture.
Blending data-driven insights, expert analysis and engaging storytelling, it connects executives, visionaries and emerging trends in a dynamic mix of fact, expertise and entertainment.
Hosted by Robin Swithinbank and David Sadigh.
Back in the hot seat: new Breitling CEO Jean-Marc Pontroué gives his first interview
Wind it up: Bulgari’s Jonathan Brinbaum on solving watchmaking’s volume problem
Neighbourhood watch: The 1916 Company CEO John Shmerler on Luxury Retail 3.0
Success is not final: former Cartier CEO Cyrille Vigneron on how to stay ahead in luxury
The great luxury reset: how to beat the chaos with Professor Stéphane Girod
Shooting for the Moon: Davide Cerrato on rebooting Bremont
Latest Articles
LEADERS6 min read
Bulgari’s Jonathan Brinbaum on Bringing Value and Volume Back Together in Swiss Watchmaking
At Geneva Watch Days, Bulgari’s watch managing director weighs a shrinking unit count against resilient export value, and sets out how creativity, women buyers and a disciplined reading of the secondary market could restore the balance.
LEADERS12 min read
“AI Has No Taste”: Antonio Carriero on GEO, Desirability and the Machine-Mediated Watch Market
At a Geneva Watch Days panel on generative engine optimisation and desirability, DLG’s Senior Advisor Antonio Carriero argued that artificial intelligence cannot originate desire, only mediate it. He explains why GEO should be treated as hygiene rather than strategy, and why the brands that win by 2030 will be both machine-legible and unmistakably human.
LEADERS7 min read
The 1916 Company’s John Shmerler on why the secondary watch market’s growth spurt is just getting started
John Shmerler, chief executive of The 1916 Company, argues that Rolex’s Certified Pre-Owned programme has reset consumer trust in resale watches, and that the industry’s true blind spot remains what happens after the sale, not before it.
LEADERS7 min read
Cyrille Vigneron: The Luxury Industry Is Waiting for a Recovery That Isn’t Coming
Cartier’s former chief executive, now chairman of culture and philanthropy, on why the past six years bear no resemblance to the sector’s previous downturns, and why some brands are mistaking a lasting cultural shift for a cycle waiting to turn.
LEADERS6 min read
Luxury’s Old Playbook Is Running Out of Road, Warns IMD’s Stéphane Girod
Three decades of expansion were built on a tripling of the global economy. IMD’s Stéphane Girod argues that engine will not return at the same pace, and that brands mistaking the slowdown for a cycle are misreading their situation
LEADERS6 min read
Davide Cerrato on Bremont’s Turnaround: Fewer Watches, Firmer Prices, a Trip to the Moon
Three years after taking the helm of the British watchmaker, Bremont’s chief executive tells why cutting the collection, holding the price ladder and a lunar rover collaboration are the pillars of its recovery.
LEADERS6 min read
The Architect of Private Luxury: Guido Terreni on Parmigiani’s Relaunch and the Future of Independent Watchmaking
As Swiss watchmaking consolidates around a shrinking group of dominant names, the chief executive of Parmigiani Fleurier makes the case for a different kind of desirability — one built not on visibility, but on discernment.
LEADERS6 min read
How Acqua di Parma Is Navigating a Polarised Fragrance Market Without Losing Its Identity
As prestige fragrance outpaces every other beauty category and niche players multiply, Acqua di Parma CEO Giulio Bergamaschi tells why the brands best placed to endure the moment are those that never chased it.
