WATCH: Roger Dubuis CEO Nicola Andreatta Speaks On The Watch Industry Going Digital During Live Webinar By Haute Time

Photo Credit: Haute Time

Global CEO of Roger Dubuis Nicola Andreatta joined Haute Time for a conversation about the watch industry going digital during quarantine, the brand’s latest timepiece collections, why Roger Dubuis is unique and always pushing the limits of innovation, the brand’s appearance on Michael Jordan’s The Last Dance Documentary and what the future of the industry looks like for the rest of 2020. Andreatta also spoke on the Webinar about the latest news rocking the timepiece world—brands pulling out of Baselworld and moving to a new show with FHH in Geneva in April 2021. Andreatta tuned in from his office in Geneva, as he looked forward to hopefully reuniting with his team in the coming weeks and going back to face-to-face work.

Nicola Andreatta serves as Roger Dubuis’ new CEO, who comes from a family that has been involved in various aspects of watchmaking for three generations. Born in Italy to an Italian father and Swiss mother, multilingual Andreatta is a dual Italian/Swiss national who nurtures a deep-seated fascination for new technologies and innovation. He combines this with an extensive background in managing multi-national scenarios within culturally diversified environments on several continents. Like Roger Dubuis, Nicola Andreatta combines unleashed creativity with an unbridled love of excess and larger than life experiences.

Watch the full Webinar below.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

ON GOING DIGITAL

“My team reacted very well. During this process, we’ve discovered new ways of connecting by working through a screen. This is something different than we’ve used in the past. Not only are we discovering new ways to communicate, but also new tools to use. Watches & Wonders as a digital show was unprecedented, and we showed new novelties and creatives all online. Everybody is on Zoom and social networks. For us, the responsibility is to create the right content to amaze our followers and the people who are connected to us.”

“The reveal of our latest creation during Watches & Wonders [Excalibur Diabolus in Machina] was an amazing exercise. We had fun creating all of the content that has been posted during the last 2-3 weeks and I think it gave us good coverage among the community.”

“The response was absolutely positive. Everybody is adapting and it’s about using your creativity to communicate. We hosted press conferences online to present our product and show our clients in one-on-one sessions with them the latest novelties of the brand, as well as our existing line.”

ON THE BRAND’S LATEST LAUNCH: EXCALIBUR DIABOLUS IN MACHINA

“Every time I see this video of this watch, I get so excited. This watch stands for everything that Roger Dubuis is all about. It’s an incredible timepiece, and it starts with the name. The name also encapsulates everything Roger Dubuis stands for, both from an aesthetic and technical point of view. It’s a single-flying Tourbillon connected to a minute-repeater movement. It was manufactured internally and we’ve been working quite a while to create this incredible timepiece.”

“At Roger Dubuis, we always have loved what is forbidden, and that’s why we decided to give this specific sound for our minute-repeater.”

ON WATCH BRANDS PULLING OUT OF BASELWORLD AND MOVING TO FHH’S NEW SHOW IN GENEVA

“Baselworld was an institution. I can’t forget the fact that I attended the Fair 30 years in a row. The first time I went to Baselworld, I was with my father with two bags going to visit all the different booths. We were manufacturing cases at that time. And for 30 years in a row I went back. So, the idea of seeing an institution disappearing is sad. That said, I also salute the fact that this brings us back to one theory—it’s important to group and regroup the industry around one important moment of the year, potentially in one single location. What we did with Watches & Wonder digitally is the future—something that will stay—this digital approach to the Fair, and the unveiling of new novelties for most of the brands. But we also need a physical place where we meet and communicate and gather the community of the watchmaking world. I love the way we introduced our novelties this year, but nothing can replace coming to Geneva, meeting with us, discussing the timepieces, touching them, seeing how they work—that is hard to replicate.”

ON ROGER DUBUIS’ DEBUT IN MICHAEL JORDAN’S “THE LAST DANCE” ON JORDAN AND PIPPEN’S WRISTS 

“It was incredible. That is the first thing I have to say. We didn’t know about it. When the series when live, I started receiving calls and messages saying ‘he has a Roger Dubuis on his wrist!’ It shows two things: a cigar and a Roger Dubuis. For me, it’s been incredible. I’ve been playing basketball for almost 30 years and Michael Jordan was always my idol….to me, he is the GOAT—the greatest of all time. So to see him wearing one of our timepieces, I was just amazed. And the buzz it created is simply incredible. The fact that he was wearing the watch and Scottie Pippen was wearing the watch. We worked with [Haute Time] a few years ago when Scottie got his first timepiece from us—the Double Flying Tourbillon, and he’s still wearing that on the wrist. I do believe that was the connection with Michael Jordan. It shows that both of them are guys with great taste! It came organically, it was not endorsed, so we are even more proud about that.”

“The watch suddenly rebounded everywhere. I opened social media and saw people commenting that Michael Jordan was wearing Roger Dubuis. It generated a lot of noise and attention, and we just spoke to our U.S. team and they told us we have clients calling inquiring about the piece he was wearing. So, I do believe that as soon as things resume back to normal, we will have more and more requests.”

ON ROGER DUBUIS’ RELATIONSHIP WITH LAMBORGHINI

“We are proud and happy about this partnership. It is the perfect expression of what Roger Dubuis is. Watches and cars are worlds that are very connected. We connected most on the way we do things and on the values that are behind what we create. We are both very expressive in the way we interpret the design of our products. We work on the “adrenaline factor” of Roger Dubuis with many events together with Lamborghini, giving our clients incredible experiences.”

ONE QUALITY OF ROGER DUBUIS THAT GIVES THE BRAND A COMPETITIVE EDGE

“If I had to use one word to capture the spirit of Roger Dubuis, I would say excess.”

“We like to reinvent the rules. We like to reinvent the game. Our aim is to go always forward, find a way to exceed the way the world is made up today. To find a way for our clients to come to our brand and experience something they’ve never experienced before.”

“We want our clients, what we call our Tribe, to come to us because they find an amazing world that they would potentially never leave.”