Join Wei Koh in conversation with Georges Kern, CEO of Breitling SA, filmed at Dubai Watch Week 2025, as they discuss the revival of one of watchmaking’s most storied names: Universal Genève.
In this candid and wide-ranging conversation, Kern reflects on leadership during challenging times and why moments of pressure demand greater creativity, patience, and conviction. Drawing parallels to cycling and endurance, he explains how difficult climbs reveal who can truly hold pace—and why, in watchmaking, restraint and originality matter more than noise.
Wei and Georges explore the philosophy behi...
0:25And you mentioned that, okay, we understand we're in a challenging tide, but as a cyclist, you say that when you start going uphill, that's when you really reveal who can hang and who can't, right?
4:24Can you give us a hint or just to who these artists are?
9:24... was like, okay, that was cool that George created this and these extraordinary bracelets, but how will he take part of that suppleness, that beautiful living quality of those bracelets and apply it to something more prêt-à-porter?
13:02How important was it for you to give people that emotion?
14:11Do you see this more as a brand related to direct-to-consumer, or do you believe more in partnerships with retailers, or a bit of both?
Ladies and gentlemen, how are you? It's Waco from Revolution here with the one and only Joric Curran, master, not a Brightling, but a Brightling group. Can we say that? Is it the house of brands?
House of brands. Okay. So before we get into the timepieces arrayed before us, I want to talk to you about something that you said during the CEO round table here at Dubai Watch Week 2025. And you mentioned that, okay, we understand we're in a challenging tide, but as a cyclist, you say that when you start going uphill, that's when you really reveal who can hang and who can't, right? Or as Warren Buffett likes to say also,
Exactly. I am of the belief that the greatest way to compel this industry to success during periods of crisis or challenge is with extraordinary creativity. And I think you've certainly done that not only here, but I'm just going to put on record now. I can't we can't show you the watches, but what's coming in March also, which actually far surpassed my expectations, which were already lofty because George and I
No, no. My expectations were here, but you crushed it also because of the level of finesse in which they're executed, which of course are watches I cannot show you nor even really talk about. But anyway, you just got to take my word for it. In the meantime, George, tell us about these two trilogies that we see arrayed before us.
So this is one of the most iconic products of the brand. This is called the Compax, which was made famous by Nina, who is the wife of the former and late Formula 1 driver Jochen Rindt, this Austrian German Formula 1 driver who is the only world champion to die in his Lotus a couple of races before the end of the season, but he became world champion. Very nice lady, and she in a way invented and made that product famous. So we have the classic Nina with a white dial, we have the devil Nina with a black dial, and then we added one which never existed just to make it interesting. It's always a brown dial for instance, always a blue dial. And she was the one who in a way invented that look with the bones for that Compax. And you know that Eric Clapton was the one wearing the tree Compax, which we're going to show to you and to your community at another moment. And what we did here, we basically took old movements in a new case but in 36mm diameter, which was the original size at that time. And we asked a Japanese gentleman to make these bones, and he is what we call in France Maître de France. So you have in France these artisans, if you want, leather, wood, and they get these awards because of their talent. And that gentleman, who by the way is Japanese, won the prize, made these straps in a way he wanted to do it. I mean these pieces are all sold, but I'm going to show it to you. It's absolutely phenomenal. Everything is handmade. Just the strap is roughly 5,000, but it takes ages to make it and it's so beautiful and so stylish and so classy. It's incredible. And we sold these two sets to artists, very famous artists in the United States. Musicians.
Austin Butler playing Elvis Presley. So what I love about this is it's an incredible elevation of what we saw that Nina used to wear. I love the idea of watches not necessarily being representative of gender, but being a revelation of strength of character. And she used to wear a timing device, very well made, a chronograph, but on this military-like wooden strap. The bon strap has its origins in having two levels on it also, so that your skin is protected from the watch as well when you're in the cockpit. But she suddenly somehow made it just incredibly chic. And I love how you took the spirit of that and didn't replicate it, but elevated it in this extraordinary way because that has got to be the sexiest bon strap I've ever seen. And I say that for either a man or a woman. It's just extraordinary. I love how it's got this really organic silhouette that hugs the curvature of the watch and tapers in this very elegant way also. And the subtlety, the suppleness of the leather is really extraordinary. Even by color. You see it green and black or beige and black.
Kern, G. (2025, December 27). Georges Kern on Reviving Universal Genève, Quiet Luxury and Modern Watchmaking [Interview transcript]. Revolution Watch. CEOInterviews.AI. https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1052487/
MLA
Georges Kern. "Georges Kern on Reviving Universal Genève, Quiet Luxury and Modern Watchmaking." Revolution Watch, 27 Dec. 2025. Transcript, CEOInterviews.AI, https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1052487/.
BibTeX
@misc{kern2025_1052487,
author = {Georges Kern},
title = {Georges Kern on Reviving Universal Genève, Quiet Luxury and Modern Watchmaking},
howpublished = {Interview transcript, Revolution Watch. CEOInterviews.AI},
year = {2025},
month = {dec},
url = {https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1052487/},
note = {Speaker-attributed transcript with timestamps}
}
