Credits: Article and images by Celine Yap @ Revolution Watch Magazine. See the original article here - https://revolutionwatch.com/czapek-xavier-de-roquemaurel-interview/
Can you remember the point when you were thinking, should you or shouldn’t you?
Very well. Very, very well. I called my board members (we were six at the board) to ask them for an opinion about the situation. That was around March 12/13. Two were risk adverse, one was a risk seeker like me, and the last one was neutral but more on the risk side. And I remember very well he said to me, “Xavier, fortune favors the brave.” There are so many opportunities when there is a crisis that now, if you accelerate, the moment the crisis will be over, because it will be over, you will be the first one ready. So March 12, we said, okay, we go for it. On May 26 2020 we launched the Antarctique and on that day it was all everyone was talking about because there was nothing else. All the big boys have shut down and so that’s the watch you remember. We got the best coverage ever and we sold the first 99 pieces in 17 days.
Amazing.
The following limited edition was 40 pieces, we sold it in 23 hours and 23 minutes. It remained like this for many more launches. Just incredible. That was the craziness of the post Covid moment. Now we have a market consolidation, an adjustment, not unlike a correction in the stock market.
No more crazy buying.
It’s not a drop, it’s not a decline, but it’s a slowdown. That affects everyone, every brand, big or small. We have to go through that, and thereafter it will start to grow again. But there was a small bubble, so it’s not bad that it becomes a bit more relaxed, you know. Less flippers, and no more speculators. That’s really good for the brand.
Credits: Article and images by Celine Yap @ Revolution Watch Magazine. See the original article here - https://revolutionwatch.com/czapek-xavier-de-roquemaurel-interview/
