Stéphane Linder Profile & Interview | The Home of TAG Heuer Collectors

There are very few men to have sat in the CEO chair at TAG Heuer since Jack Heuer departed in 1982. Christian Viros led the company from the early days of TAG in 1986 through to the LVMH acquisition in 2000 when Jean-Christophe Babin took over. Now in 2013, with Babin on his way to the top job at Bulgari, Stéphane Linder has taken over.

But where Jean-Christophe joined TAG Heuer from the world of detergents at Henkel, Linder is a 20-year veteran at TAG Heuer, having joined the company in 1993. During that time, he has played a key role in the transformation of TAG Heuer from a brand that had forgotten how to make watches in the 1990s, to one of the most innovative watch-making companies today.

Stéphane’s first day in the new role was the first of June 2013, so we were fortunate to have the early chance to talk with Stephane about his career at TAG Heuer and what he saw for the future.

Joining TAG Heuer

Linder is a graduate of the famous École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, having graduated as a Engineer. But watches were not what attracted him to TAG Heuer:

“I arrived at TAG Heuer, not because I wanted to be in watches, but because I was into car racing- I was a fanatic of Formula 1 racing, at that time I liked watching Formula 1 Grand Prix with Ayrton Senna. So, one time I saw in the newspaper that TAG Heuer were looking for an engineer in Product Development, and I knew of TAG Heuer from this long-standing association with motor racing”

Linder’s first role was as a Project Development Manager in the Engineering and R&D Department. Back in ’93, TAG Heuer was heavily reliant on sub-contractors to develop new models. TAG Heuer would make the design, but turning that design into reality was not a skill that existed in-house. His new role was part of the effort to rebuild TAG Heuer’s watchmaking skill, which had diminished during the 1980s.

Probably the best known of the projects that Stéphane worked on in those early years was the development of the Kirium, which in many ways represented a reawakening of design at TAG Heuer.

“I remember that we made a patent on the bracelet, which was “anti-pinch”. The bracelet was designed to be integrated, but the problem with these bracelets is that they tend to pinch the skin, or the hair. So, we designed a system so that the links could not touch each-other, using pins, blockers and stoppers. OK, it was not so complicated, but I think it was the first Patent that TAG Heuer had made since the early 1980s- or maybe late 1970s- so not that complicated, but more a symbol that we had started to do technical innovation again.”

Diversification

From 1997, Linder’s role changed, with a move to the Marketing side of TAG Heuer. As he explained:

“I wanted to get experience in thinking about the strategy- product strategy, working with the designers and the strategy of the brand. At the time, in R&D, you just receive what you should do, but you don’t shape why this is”

Things changed in 1998, when then-CEO Christian Viros first began to think about diversifying the TAG Heuer brand into products other than watches. Linder was placed in charge of the diversification project, which at that stage was a blank canvas: Pens? Leather bags? Fragrances? After an extensive study, it was decided that Eyewear was the logical first extension. But TAG Heuer wanted to do a lot more than just add its logo to someone else’s designs.

“We decided to start with eyewear, but we didn’t want to do a typical license deal- we wanted to go much further. We wanted to work with our own designers, choose the strategy, the price point and to use some interesting technology. We did the marketing, the displays….and then we worked with a partner to help execute the strategy- very different to the way many brand diversification work.”

Linder worked in this role through to 2001 when Jean-Christophe Babin arrived at TAG Heuer. Babin decided early that he wanted to focus on true innovation- to bring back watchmaking to TAG Heuer. Linder would play a key role in this change, perhaps the clearest expression of which was a bold idea developed under-cover.

Monaco V4

As regular readers will know, the idea for the Monaco V4 originated from Jean-François Ruchonnet, a designer who had been working with Linder at TAG Heuer on 3D animations. But Ruchonnet had an idea for more than movies:

“Jean-François said to me that we should make a crazy movement, something unbelievable…so he came one time and said “OK, I have an idea to make a movement that works on belts, not gears”, and so you can imagine that it would allow us to design the movement in a totally different way. So we agreed that we needed a design to show this idea. He suggested making a 3D movie to present this product, because if people see it work, it will be easier to understand how beautiful it is.”

“So, I had a Marketing budget, but no product development budget..so I gave him what he needed to make the movie from the Marketing budget, so long as he didn’t speak about it! When it was done I went to Jean-Christophe and said “I have something to show you”- but I was a bit scarred…it was a hidden project. Luckily, he loved it and we went and made a prototype and that’s how it started”

Bringing together R&D and Marketing

In 2003 Linder was given a new challenge- as Product Director. The new role brought together Marketing and R&D- not all of marketing (advertising and communication remained separate), but strategic marketing and design as a way of fostering new ideas.

The team started with the release of the first prototype Monaco V4 and then moved to develop the watches that started TAG Heuer’s reputation for innovation:

“We had developed the Monaco V4 with Guy Semon, who had joined as a consultant, then we had the Calibre 360, the Monaco Twenty-Four, Grand Carrera Pendulum…really the birth of innovation that you now see.

Once we had this, it was a highway, because we had built the structure and the team, with the right people. But it was hard! From 2003 to 2008 we had 4-5 years without real results…nothing was released, and so there was a lot of pressure- What are you guys doing? Where is the V4? So, we had a few years without results.”

In 2007, Linder was placed in charge of the remaining Marketing functions, including development of the boutiques, internet strategy, and catalogues. Given this move, TAG Heuer needed someone focused full-time on R&D, with Guy Semon the obvious choice to move to a permanent role with TAG Heuer.

Stéphane Linder then moved to the US in 2010 where he was the Vice-President of Sales for North America, a role in which he remained until winning the nod to succeed Babin in May 2013.

Interview with Stéphane Linder

David Chalmers: Stéphane, I wanted to start with Re-editions. TAG Heuer was a leader in seeing this opportunity in 1996-97 and brought back the Carrera and Monaco and then made several other vintage-inspired models, like the Autavia, Monza and Targa Florio. But since the Silverstone in 2010, this seems to have stopped- yes, there are heritage inspired models, but no “true” re-editions. Over the last couple of years, brands like Tudor and Jaeger Le Coultre have released watches to great acclaim that are similar to Heuer designs…so why did TAG Heuer stop with the re-editions?

Stéphane Linder: Yes, this is true. And I have to say that I was very much behind the re-editions in the late 1990s- Carrera. Monaco, Targa Florio- we released what we called “Full New Designs” so it was the era that we did this, and now it’s true it’s not really “Full new Designs”, it’s taking an existing product like the Carrera or Monaco and doing a special Heuer edition.We still do Full new designs, like the Carrera Mikrograph, but its true that it’s not like we use to do.

We stopped because, and this is a question of priorities, we began to come up with these new innovative ideas- Avant Garde products coming from innovation- the Microtimer quartz, Monaco 69, then the V4 and we just couldn’t do everything. And I think what happened is that we were concentrating so much on making these huge statements in innovation, which actually brought us a lot- because when you innovate, you build teams, you build knowledge and you build visibility.

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