The Business of Watches [009] Audemars Piguet CEO Ilaria Resta Drives Double-Digit Sales Increase For Brand's 150th Anniversary Year

0:00Welcome to the Business of Watches, where horology meets high finance and each tip tells the story of markets, margins, mish, and mechanical mastery. I'm your host, Andy Hoffman, Senior Business Editor at Hodinkee. In this series, we dive deep into the global watch industry, a place where centuries-old craftsmanship intersects with billion-dollar valuations, executive brand strategy, and investor speculation. From Swiss Valleys to Silicon Valley, we trace the movements shaping this uniquely resilient sector. Just how big is the business of timekeeping? Well, some estimates place the entire watch industry from ultra-luxury maisons to smartwatches and microbrands at north of$100 billion globally.

0:51But behind that figure is a complex web of legacy, innovation, and ever-shifting consumer tastes and demand. This is the podcast for collectors, analysts, watchbuyers and sellers, and anyone who's fascinated by the intersection of riskwear and wealth. Because if time is money, then money is most certainly time. So let's get down to business.

1:20It's been a banner year for Audemars Piguet. Not only did the Le Brassou watchmaker celebrate its 150th anniversary, the brand was responsible for some of the most important and newsworthy releases and events in 2025. From its novel and innovative perpetual calendar design, set and operated through its crown, to its highly wearable and user-friendly RD No. 5, Audemars Piguet has dictated the conversation this year. At the helm is Alaria Resta, a veteran business executive but still a relative newcomer to the business of watches. This was a year that Resta put her stamp on the brand, building momentum and culminating in a tour de force showcase at Dubai Watch Week with what was undoubtedly the most impactful and impressive display from a brand at the show, and possibly a preview of what's to come when AP returns to Watches and Wonders in 2026.

2:34It was at Dubai Watch Week that we caught up with Resta, and she had plenty to say about what the anniversary has meant for the brand, but also what her plans are for the future. Specifically, she outlines AP's performance in a challenging time for watches, what the future production mix will look like, how AP plans to play in the fast-growing secondary market via certified pre-owned, and what we might see from specific model lines, including the Royal Oak Offshore, the evolving Code 1159, and the shaped watches and previously discontinued models in the back catalog. Most importantly, Resta talks about her strategy to bring new kinds of buyers and clients into watches and Audemars Piguet.

3:27Here's our conversation with Alaria Resta.

3:38Alaria Resta, the CEO of Audemars Piguet. Welcome to the podcast here at Dubai Watch Week. Thank you for joining us. Thank you, Andy. Glad to be here. So how are you finding this show? What is the mood? How has it been for Audemars Piguet? You've got a magnificent booth, stand, building. Well, the mood couldn't be more positive because we are here with so many friends in the watchmaking industry. It's a great happening that celebrates watchmaking at the best in a year that has been definitely a complicated year for the industry. For us, it has been the year of celebration of the 150th anniversary, so a wonderful year where we could pay tribute to our past.

4:25But at the same time, as you know, we launched lots of novelties. So, as I say, we had two eyes looking backward at our past and two eyes looking forward at a bright future. And, I mean, how do you think, I mean, I guess we're getting to be near the end of the 150th anniversary year. How do you think the brand has done in terms of marking that with product, with literature, ideas, with celebration for the brand? Do you think you've made the connections and made the points and the ideas about the brand? I think it was an exemplary year in terms of bringing to life all the strategies that we have been launching to bring forward Audemars Piguet in the future years.

5:10The first strategy is watchmaking at the center of everything we do. And definitely in the exhibitions that we have done around the world in different places, we really put forward all the expertise in watchmaking from the entire industry, not only from Audemars Piguet. So I really see these exhibitions as an opportunity to engage younger generations, people who definitely love watchmaking, people who don't know anything about it, but they want to learn. It's a real opening to the broader public. And we have had thousands and thousands of visitors around the world. We are talking tens of thousands.

5:48And Dubai Watch Week is definitely the culmination of this year of celebration. The other key pillar of our strategy, of course, is to continue moving forward on watchmaking innovation. And we have been launching at the beginning of the year the new Coupé, which was on purpose, again, attributed to the perpetual calendar of the late 70s that in a way saved Audemars Piguet from the quartz crisis, together, of course, with the Royal Oak. And going back to that movement, but moving it forward with a setting that is so user-friendly and ergonomic for clients is in a way an opportunity for us to bring forward a usable perpetual calendar for every day.

6:35Perpetual card that you don't put in the safe, but you can use and set yourself. It's interesting. Yeah, I mean, I'm getting a sense of a theme in terms of some of the major releases we've seen from you this year about client experience, usability, wearability, not just about the intricate and extraordinary complications and movements. I mean, you know, is that something that you think that you're sort of focusing on partially in your role as CEO? Indeed it is, because we're talking two things that are very close to my heart. On one side is usable watches, watches that are part of the everyday life of people.

7:14And we celebrate the relationship of the user with the watch. And we make it so ergonomic, not only from a comfort standpoint, but in any aspect of the design of the watch. For instance, if you look at the date of the perpetual calendar, even the way the little intendation of the wheel have been thought to be ergonomic in the reading. But everything related to using the watch is part of a broader philosophy of opening watchmaking to many more people. That's why we do exhibitions, because exhibitions open the doors to people who are just interested in learning more. That's why we published a book, a book that is not Audemars Piguet book, is The Watch.

8:00The title of the book is inviting people to just learn more about complications, but also about how a watch is made. And in that book, you see the collaboration of suppliers and all the people that have been working broadly in this industry, including our, we don't call competitors, but the other fellow partners in this journey of watchmaking. So all this is the philosophy of is a wonderful product, is a wonderful industry. Let's celebrate it and open the doors. Indeed. And so it certainly has been a year of celebration, a year of some very high profile releases for you. So what is that going to look like in terms of, you know, the top and bottom line for the company?

8:42I mean, it's well established in the past that Audemars Piguet made around 50 ,000 watches a year, sales of around 2 billion Swiss francs. What's the trajectory of the pattern for those metrics? This year specifically has been an incredibly successful year where we had a double-digit growth, which has been specifically remarkable in the current context where we know that the Swiss exports have gone down. And this is a testament of when you have the right proposition for clients, like, again, these exhibitions, this approach of opening, but also the right launches, things can and will continue to go well.

9:22I believe in the next years in a growth that is sustainable and organic. I'm not looking for an extreme acceleration of growth because I don't think it's the right thing to do for the brand, for our philosophy of production and manufacturing. Also, because one of the most important metric of success for me will be the percentage of complications that we produce. And this is something that we look very carefully at. And if we need to make a choice, we'd rather invest on long-term innovation and development of more complications. So does that mean we're going to see, you know, production that probably looks somewhat similar to what we've seen this year?

10:05And that's the plan going forward, but more complications? A different mix of products. Indeed, you will see more complications. We have a good portfolio of complications, but as you know, there are some missing in our portfolio. And as watchmakers, enthusiasts and fanatics as we are, we like to experiment in new territories of complications, in new display of time, in new interpretations of time. And this is the avenue moving forward. So we need to create space for this type of manufacturing focus. Within the model range, I mean, you well know that sometimes Audemars Piguet is criticized for being too focused on the Royal Oak and also the offshore.

10:52Obviously, the Code 1159 exists and has been continued to evolve with new models and new designs. At this point, do you see those model lines being sufficient to achieve those goals, more complications, different iterations, or does Audemars Piguet need to come up with new model lines? Well, we have two focus areas for the future. The first one, as I told you, is complication, but also what we want to do with those is differentiate the complications by product line. The idea is if we do a chronograph on the code, it will look like differently from a chronograph on the Royal Oak. Because each of the cases is different, the type of client is different.

11:41And we want to make sure that we tailor made our movements to the different families of products. Next year, we will be also focused on the offshore, which has been a very important pillar of our architecture. And the offshore will position more clearly towards the sport complications that was historical positioning when it was launched. So there will be this type of focus. And then we continue exploring shapes and we will see what's happening next year. Yeah, I mean, you've done some sort of limited edition special shaped model watches. I mean, some of us have been looking back at previous models in the catalog with the heritage of the brand.

12:21And yeah, is there room to do more of that? I think there is, because if you look at the rise in interest of vintage watches, in reality is signaling a trend which is bigger than that. The trend is going back to the history and the roots of brands and going to the authentic nature of the brand. That's why we are looking to continue being inspired even more by our story, which is, by the way, a very rich story of models, because indeed the Royal Oak is an important pillar, but is 52 years younger out of a 150 years history of the brand. And there is so much inspiration from previous models, but we don't want to do that in a nostalgic way, just reproducing the past.

13:11The past is a guardrail to tell us this belongs to us, if you want, as a DNA, but we can do and we want to do more than that. So, yes, the answer is it's an inspiration. We will continue looking at that and also think through how do we push it further from a mechanical standpoint. And you talked about the offshore. I mean, considering the sort of mark that you're leaving on the brand in terms of usability, in terms of accessibility, I mean, what's that going to mean for the offshore going forward? Because it's a great part of the lineup. It's a great part of the lineup and it fits a clear segment of our clients.

13:48We want a watch that can express their free-spirited exploration of the world. We know that offshore is used very often when, of course, people practice sport, when they travel. And there is this side which is much more exploratory in the sense that openness to new materials, the combination of materials. There is, of course, the desire to have certain materials that fit the lifestyle of the offshore. So this is all the thinking that we have been doing over the last year or so to make sure that the architecture of our line fits the purpose and the mission of each line. So we are very strict in for this line, the offshore, the code or the Royal Oak and concept.

14:32The movement is intentional in delivering that purpose. The material we choose is just not a material, it's a material that serves that very purpose. So there is a linearity and logic for the choices that we are going to make moving forward. Are we going to see more variety in size on the offshore, do you think? Indeed, with time, because as you know, this is one of the vectors where it requires patience because the size of the movement is rethinking completely of the movement from the main plate to the bridge to all the other wheels. So we need to work on those. But the idea is in the broad spectrum of innovation, size will be one that we look at.

15:17Interesting. And, you know, I want to bring up something. I mean, you know, there's a story published a few months ago suggesting that you might be leaving the brand. The board of Audemars Piguet put out a statement basically vehemently denying that this was the case and giving your full support. Has there been any fallout from that? How has it impacted your ability to lead and do the job at Audemars Piguet? Well, it's fake news, complete fake news. We moved forward past that news quite smoothly, celebrating an amazing year with outstanding results. The board said what they had to say. I'm here and I intend to be here and never was the intention to leave the company.

16:02Very good. Thanks for calling that because I think it certainly had a lot of people talking. You talked about vintage, talked about heritage. Obviously, you're working on a Audemars Piguet certified pre-owned program or CPO program. Can you give us any details on what that's going to look like, when we're going to see more from that? I mean, it's been something that the brand itself has been working on even before you arrived a couple of years ago. Yes, you will discover more when we are ready to launch it. in the last two years, we rethought completely the model of the CPO. So the way we are going to launch the CPO is an Audemars Piguet type of CPO.

16:43So you should expect a very different take from the existing offerings, which are excellent offerings. So we didn't want just to duplicate what was existing in the market. If we are there, it's to offer a different service to our clients and more to come. Okay, so you're not going to give us any details. But I mean, is it going to be, as you say, a different kind of model? It'll be unique to Audemars Piguet? Very unique to Audemars Piguet. That's why it took us a while to define exactly the business model. And most importantly, the service we offer uniquely to our client, because that's really the purpose is to offer a service that they need and they want.

17:22And in the last years, the market changed. So we started this project some time ago, but it's recently that we crafted the final model. We still need time to finalize it. And talk to me a bit about how the volatility and, you know, the politics and market dynamics, which has basically been sort of, you know, an overall bit of a downturn in demand for the industry as a whole. As you say, we've seen watch exports come down, but how does that play out at Audemars Piguet, though, working at a higher level in terms of price point, waiting lists for plenty of models. I mean, how do you feel it in the business day to day?

18:07And then how do you plan for when those shifts in the market actually play out? Let me tell you the forces that affected the Marpegade because they might be not all common to the total market. Definitely common to the market and not only the market of watchmaking, but common to the entire many sectors is, of course, the role of the strengthening of the Swiss franc, since we report and that's affecting the Swiss companies. Then we had increase of the gold for all the companies where there is gold in the mix. It has been affecting the role of the tariffs and definitely China that has been slowing down.

18:48These were the four macro forces that defined in a way 24 and 25. These forces didn't affect us in terms of softening of demand, but of course we suffered an increase of costs like everybody else. We are delivering a very solid financial performance, top and bottom line, but not without efforts, just to be very clear. Somebody was telling me, was telling yesterday that indeed it's like pedaling uphill and very few have the skills to do that. And I think we see now that it's becoming a tougher job to succeed in watchmaking, which in a way has been the case for many decades. We have been on a roller coaster with this industry.

19:31But I'm extremely positive because the signals I see are positive in terms of demand and interest in watchmaking. I would be worried if I wouldn't see the young generation interested. And what I see is exactly the opposite. I see an average age of clients opening the door of Audemars Piguet and I'm sure of the other brands at a much younger age than the previous generation. What I see is I see a genuine interest for mechanic, for the movement and much less watchmaking as a status symbol, which is interesting because it's much more sustainable. You can change status symbol very easily, but when the passion is there and is a genuine passion for watchmaking, it's there to stay.

20:15And how do we see that? We see the interest of visiting our museums, the manufacturing, reading articles on watchmaking. More and more that we issue, you guys play a critical role, journalists, in bringing the attention to the inside watch, the movement, the behind the scene of the production. and interesting masterclasses because we have been offering masterclasses to clients, thinking this is something very specific for the passionate. In reality, since we opened the door very, very recently to sign up for the masterclasses to the general public, we see younger kids with families being really interested in learning more about this industry.

20:55And you realize it's no longer an industry. It's truly culture, it's art, and it's a form of education. that we want to sustain further. So I am extremely bullish and positive about the future of watchmaking in general. And, you know, it's not something that since I've been talking to you in this role that you really like to talk about and focus on, but, you know, you're a woman CEO in the watch industry. That's still a very rare thing. And I think that you want Audemars Piguet to appeal to more women clients. How have you done on that, do you think? And what ways have you, you know, what tools have you used, do you think, to expand, you know, that customer base?

21:43It all starts from the basic of listening, understanding your client base, right? And women, like men, have their own needs, desires, and interests. And surprisingly, the first learning is that we have been doing a mistake in watchmaking by classifying watches by gender. This was right some time ago. I'm not denying that there was that type of preference. But if you look at the world of today, women do not choose the watches that we think are meant for them and the other way around for men. So, yes, definitely there are certain models that cater for women, the more for men. Yes. But when we say complication for men and complication for women, we make a fundamental mistake in creating a bias that in reality doesn't exist.

22:32And this is what I'm trying to break as a barrier, number one, to attract women. Because when I see a client, a woman, I first ask the question, why do you use a watch? What is the role of the watch in your everyday life? and based on the answer and based on their knowledge and interests, you realize that many of these women actually are very interested in having even a big diameter or they are absolutely not interested in having diamonds on the dial, but they rather want to see a complication. And there is room for everything. Like in everyday life, we play with our clothes. In the morning, you wear a suit.

23:09In the night, you wear a dress. And we see women and men playing a lot with an assortment of watches that is extremely diverse. So my first point is listen to women, like listen to men, listen to young generation and really observe how they use the watch. And when you observe, you see things that they cannot even verbalize. Never ask people what they want. Observe how they live their life. And that's where ideas come from. And women more and more are interested in mechanical watches, in complications, and are interested in watches with a story. Like, for instance, the Sarwil on the code is a complication that is particularly loved also by women.

23:50The tourbillon, the new codes, 38 tourbillon, are very much liked by women, like men as well. So again, I'm trying to break this paradigm and it is working. So we are growing proudly more than 25 % with women targets. Wow. So can you give me some more metrics on that? I mean, in terms of your growth. Growth, yes. Yeah, this is the growth. This is the real world. Yes. So we're growing faster with women than with men because, of course, we started from a lower base. Can you give us any sense of that percentage, men versus women in terms of your class? The large majority remains men, of course. Let's say I think we are in the 30s roughly for women and the rest is men.

24:40And you would know that that's actually probably better than many of your peers in class? Based on the studies run around watchmaking in the next seven years, they should reach 45 % of the market of mechanical watches. So we should follow the market, right? There is no reason why we shouldn't. And you think you can get there? Yeah, for sure. I think we can. Last thing, I mean, you and I have been talking over the past little while ahead of that panel we did the other day. And, you know, I was asking you about what things coming into the watch industry as an outsider that you've been surprised about or frustrated about and that you are, you know, a little bewildered that the Swiss watch industry does things this way.

25:27Talk to me about some of those things and then what you think you can do to make those things better. Let me tell you that the surprises and the wonderful things of this industry are by far the majority of my observation. I think it's an industry that I always respected and liked from outside, but I never realized the love, the passion, the genuine interest and knowledge that exists in this industry. And most important of all that I've never seen anywhere, this cohesive and interconnectivity that exists among companies in watchmaking, suppliers, but also other brands and other companies. There is a true, genuine interconnectivity that comes from historical reasons where companies were depending on one another.

26:20They were co-developing movements together. They were co-signing the dials of the brand. And it's just an amazing emotional signal of ability to work together. And this is something that surprised me and made me fall in love with this industry. That's why I really never talk about competition. And why is that? Because the addressable market is so big. And actually, one another, we are helping creating interest and passion for watchmaking. and I love the collectors when they come to our AP house, they come also with another brand and I always ask them, don't hide it. There is nothing. You should be proud.

27:02You have an amazing piece from another company that made the history of this watchmaking. So for me, this is the biggest surprise and something I'm extremely proud and that's why one of the reasons I felt in love for this category. But you also found that the industry sometimes on certain issues and tasks moves too slow. Do you think that you can, you know, make that pace of change increase and shift? I think we need to respect the timing of watchmaking development that have a reason for existing. So everything that is manually done needs to remain manually done and keep the tempo. I like also that we don't set a deadline to innovation because that's dangerous, especially when you want to invent something new.

27:48If you set a deadline, ultimately you make a compromise. So that's something that I respect and I think is important that remains as such. What we can all do better is listening to the external, being more open to the stimuli from other categories, other markets, and be learning and cross-fertilizing. Excellent. Alaria Resta, thank you for your time. Really appreciate it. Thank you so much for inviting. Thank you.

28:18And that's the business of watches for this episode. We hope you enjoyed. Please head on over to Hodinkee.com where you can join the discussion and leave any comments or questions about this episode or the business of watches in general. Who knows? We might even answer your question on a future episode. Thanks for listening and see you next time. We'll be back in two weeks with a fresh episode of The Business of Watches. Until then, I'm Andy Hoffman, and I'll see you on Hodinkee.com.