SJX Watches
Interview: Patrick Pruniaux, CEO of Ulysse Nardin
Over the past five years, a new generation of bosses has taken over the watch world. Many share common traits that distinguish them from the preceding generation of chieftains: a charming informality and a nose for courting the next generation of consumers – millennial and otherwise. Patrick Pruniaux is a leading member of his class, who was tapped to run Ulysse Nardin in August 2017. A year later, he was elevated to run Kering’s watch division, which meant taking on leadership of Girard-Perregaux as well. Mr Pruniaux has done a remarkable job of revitalising Ulysse Nardin – not just with fresh marketing, but more crucially with new watches that make sense. He’s streamlined the range of offerings and introduced more accessible watches, with much of his efforts focused on arguably the most important Ulysse Nardin watch of the modern era – the Freak. His strategy for the Freak is notable for being all-encompassing, ranging from aggressively affordable pricing with the Freak X, while pushing hard at the boundaries of material science and engineering, culminating in the Freak NeXt. The Freak X Mr Pruniaux took a surprisingly roundabout way to arrive at one of the top jobs in watchmaking. He started in drinks and spirits at Diageo and then Moët-Hennessey. He then entered the watch business with TAG Heuer, where he rose to lead retail and sales. But the most instructive phase of his watchmaking career, ironically, was at Apple. The computer maker r...
