Editor’s Note
This article examines Breitling’s strategic repositioning under CEO Georges Kern, highlighting its successful transformation from a niche aviation brand into a broader, sport-focused heritage label.
Despite a challenging market environment, Georges Kern is pursuing expansion at Breitling. Eight years after financial investors took over the Breitling brand and Kern became CEO and co-owner of the watch manufacturer, he has transformed the brand from a niche player in pilot’s watches back into what it once was: a broadly positioned, sporty heritage brand with several well-known models and collections.
The repositioning has paid off financially: the average price of the watches rose from just under 5,000 to 7,200 Swiss francs and now exceeds that of Omega. Revenue grew from 380 million Swiss francs in 2017 to around 850 million in 2024. According to estimates by Morgan Stanley, Breitling is now among the top ten Swiss watch brands by revenue.
However, Kern’s plans have long extended beyond Breitling itself. He wanted to build multiple brands under this umbrella to cover the widest possible price spectrum in the luxury segment. He was clear that Breitling alone could not achieve this.
Therefore, the company sought two additional brands: one for the luxury segment with prices starting at 15,000 Swiss francs and one for more affordable models in the range of 2,500 to 5,000 francs. The main Breitling brand was to position itself in between, with prices from 5,000 to 30,000 francs.
The upper market will be served by Breitling with Universal Genève. This practically dormant heritage brand was acquired at the end of 2023 and has since been developed into an independent manufacture.
Now, Breitling has also found a solution for the lower price segment. As will be officially announced on March 18, the company is taking over the inactive brand Gallet and plans to position it as an affordable sister brand to Breitling – similar to how Rolex has done with Tudor for decades.
The first new models for both Universal and Gallet are expected to come to market in 2026.
Gallet is little known outside watch circles. After the quartz crisis of the 1970s and 1980s, the brand faded into obscurity. Previously, it had focused heavily on the American market. Nevertheless, Gallet has a long history: Breitling cites 1826 as the official founding year. At that time, Julien Gallet registered the name in La Chaux-de-Fonds. The former owner of Gallet, an entrepreneur from Zollikon ZH, had even claimed 1466 as the founding date, making Gallet the oldest Swiss watch brand.
Historically, Gallet produced some significant timepieces that thematically fit well with Breitling. It was a Gallet that timed the first 59-second powered flight of the Wright brothers in 1903. In 1938, the brand launched the Multichron Clamshell, one of the first waterproof chronographs. A year later came the legendary Flight Officer, which was regularly worn by, among others, US President Harry S. Truman.
At that time, Gallet acted primarily as an établisseur: the company did not manufacture its own movements but designed watches and coordinated their production. Breitling plans a similar strategy: externally, Gallet will appear as an independent brand, but internally it will be integrated into the Breitling structure. The movements will come from Sellita, an external movement manufacturer. Production, logistics, and management will run through Breitling; Gallet watches will also be sold in Breitling boutiques in the future. As Kern emphasizes, Gallet offers the opportunity to leverage economies of scale.
Georges Kern wants to reach new buyers with Gallet; not least those for whom Breitling has become too expensive. The brand has a long tradition and is appreciated on the vintage market. Another argument: since the quartz crisis of the 1970s, Gallet has practically produced no more watches.
But is this the right time to launch a new watch brand? Demand for Swiss watches is weak, and exports are declining. Even Kern admits that he has not experienced such a persistently depressed mood in the market in 30 years. According to figures from Morgan Stanley, Breitling has been unable to increase revenue in the past two years; unit numbers have been declining.