Jean-Christophe Babin is rewriting the future of the watch fair, giving the world its thinnest mechanical watch this year and what the digital age is all about
Jean-Christophe Babin is rewriting the future of the watch fair, giving the world its thinnest mechanical watch this year and what the digital age is all about
Jean-Christophe Babin’s Instagram account features dazzling photos of pop star Dua Lipa and dazzling actor Zendaya wearing Bulgari jewelry at the Grammys and Oscars respectively. After all, he is the brand ambassador. But the biggest ambassador for one of the most diversified luxury brands in the LVMH portfolio is Babin, who has been Bulgari’s CEO since 2013. His followers on the social media app are just shy of a few hundred and #jcbabin has crossed 11.1 million views on TikTok. , this Italian knows what it is about.
Zendaya at the 2022 Oscars
“I guess I just do my job,” he says over a video call in the middle of Watches & Wonders 2022. “The watch industry is not as big as fashion and many other industries. If the keynote speaker of the brand in fashion is the designer, then in our market it is a mix. Of course, Bulgari has Fabrizo Buonamasa for watches, Lucia Silvestri for jewellery, but The responsibility is often borne by the CEO. Some CEOs overdo it, some do it less, I try to find the balance.”
This digital reach was useful when it came to promoting two new watch fair formats – LVMH Watch Week and Geneva Watch Days – introduced during the pandemic. Babin, 63, has clarified his opinion about the inconvenient timing of big watch fairs in the past, with SIHH in late April and Baselworld in early May. They figured it out too late for the customers. So along with other maids in the LVMH group – Hublot, TAG Heuer and Zenith – started LVMH Watch Week in 2020 at their Bulgari hotel in Dubai. That was in January, when events around the world were canceled as a result of Covid.
balancing work and fun
Then came the Geneva Watch Days in 2021, with a core group of founding brands. “It worked because it is decentralized, agile, and it is self-managed and the cost is quite limited compared to traditional watch fairs,” he tells me. back then he mentioned new York Times That 2019 Baselworld cost Bulgari 5 million Swiss francs, while the Geneva Watch Days worked out to less than a million francs in total for the 17 participating brands. Scheduled for August this year, Geneva Watch Days is big, with 30 participating brands. “Like Bulgari, more brands have realized that it makes sense to introduce some watches before Golden Week (holiday time for the Japanese), before Diwali, before Thanksgiving, before Christmas, New Year’s, Chinese New Year Obviously if we stop introducing novelty presents in early April, we have 10 months before Christmas and that’s a long time,” he explains.
Priyanka Chopra with Babina
Priyanka Chopra for India
Babin, who is known to be the life of the party and still finds time for quiet moments of diving and backpacking, has spent 18 months in India in his youth and is a big fan of biryani. He has often said that India is underrated and plans to open his second store here later this year. “India is the next big project after China, where we are firmly established. We will accelerate this year and have tied up with Priyanka [Chopra] Because we needed a very strong face of the brand. There is no one better than Priyanka to express our lifestyle. ,
Of course, the market is still buzzing about Bulgari’s announcement last month of the world’s thinnest mechanical watch, the Octo Finissimo Ultra. Marking the 10th anniversary of the Octo collection, it is limited to 10 pieces, and is thinner than a 10 cent coin at 1.8mm! But it also has a QR code on the barrel, the key to the Metaverse, and your own unique NFT artifact.
What did he initially make of the Metaverse, I always ask Babin with a smile. “Today there are two worlds, the real and the virtual, and there are even more bridges between those two worlds. We realized how fast this was evolving and that luxury must be entirely within the metaverse,” he revealed, Stating that the brand is still not ready for virtual products in gaming.” Because the quality of gaming is yet to fit in with the excellent quality of a Bulgari necklace or watch. But it will come. ,