Baume & Mercier appoints David Chaumet as CEO

Senior executive turnover continues at Baume & Mercier. The Swiss watch-maker owned by the Richemont group has appointed David Chaumet as CEO to succeed Geoffroy Lefebvre, who has been in charge for less than a year, having joined the company in June 2018 to replace Alain Zimmermann.

The Geneva-based watch-maker was founded in 1830, and is seriously struggling to get back on the growth track. A few years ago, Baume & Mercier shifted to a more accessible market positioning, offering a gateway to the world of luxury watches, but it is facing increasingly stiff competition.

Since last year, there is the added confusion caused by the launch of Baume, a new brand of affordable watches introduced by the Richemont group to attract millennial consumers. Besides the fact that the brand name is very similar to that of the long-established watch-maker, Richemont went as far as poaching the former Product Development Director of Baume & Mercier, Marie Chassot, and put her in charge of Baume.

In other words, the situation isn’t one of the easiest for Chaumet, who started in his role in early April. Chaumet has a 15-year experience in the watch industry. He worked formerly at Roger Dubuis, another watch brand owned by the Richemont group, where he was senior managing director Asia Pacific and specialist brand watch-maker for the Hong Kong-Macao region.

Chaumet started his career at Total, where he worked for over six years, lately as brand manager, before switching to the watch industry. In 2004 he joined the TWC Group (The Watches Connection) as director of operations, before moving to Roger Dubuis in 2008.

Baume & Mercier appoints David Chaumet as CEO

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