WATCH PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF H. MOSER & CIE.WATCHES Bloomberg Pursuits October 30, 2017Meylan away from watchmaking. After
obtaining a degree in micro engineer-
ing from the Swiss Federal Institute of
Technology in Lausanne and dabbling a
bit at PwC, he returned to the industry
in 2003 to manage distribution of high-
end independent watch brands in Asia.
His travels there led him to understand
its swiftly growing market. After getting
a master’s degree at the Wharton School
of the University of Pennsylvania, he
co-founded in 2008 Celsius X VI II SA, a
pioneering company in the luxury mobile
phone sector. In 2012 he returned to help
his family at Moser and took the helm the
following year.
The warmth of a family-led company
can be felt in the Neuhausen am Rheinfall
office where Moser employs 55 workers.
When Meylan walks in, he switches
among French, German, and English in
an instant, and his talking-with-his-hands
style means his elegant Moser watch is
never far from view. He says he consid-
ers the brand to be a startup and expects
everyone to pitch in and come up with
creative ideas. Twice a year he summons
a group of employees and friends to
brainstorm—and it’s out of these sessions
that his marketing ideas are born.
Earlier in 2017, Meylan took on another
issue: For the past decade, for a watch
to be sold with a “Swiss Made” label,
at least half the value of its movement
had to come from and be assembled in
Switzerland. Starting this year, the per-
centage was increased to 60 percent of
the value of the entire watch to encourage
more companies to bring production to
the small country. The Swiss government
made much fuss about this—but critics
such as Meylan see it as mumbo jumbo
that encourages brands to deceive cus-
tomers. With so many watch parts sourced
globally, it’s almost impossible to call a
given watch truly Swiss Made, he says.Moser’s watches are tested to ensure they can withstand day-to-day movement and pressureThe Swiss Mad (left) and the Swiss AlpThe Swiss Mad (left) and theIn protest, Meylan had his watchmak-
ers create a truly 100 percent Swiss time-
piece—out of Swiss cheese. He named it
the Swiss Mad watch, and it came with
another video, in which Meylan appears
as William Tell and throws punches
at various products that have Swiss
Made labels, like chocolate. (Have you
met any cocoa growers from the Alps?)
Throughout, he wears a familiar red cap
that proclaims, in white lettering, “Make
Swiss Made Great Again.”
Moser also removed the Swiss Made
label from its timepieces. The Swiss Mad
and a prototype of the Swiss Alp went
under the hammer for 125,000 francs in
a May Christie’s auction, with proceeds
donated to the Foundation of Swiss
Watchmaking Culture.S
ince the Meylans took over Moser,
the business has almost doubled
the number of watches it builds
per year. There are plans to open bou-
tiques in Zurich and Hong Kong in the
next 24 months. Meanwhile, in the past
two years, the average age of the buyerhas dropped precipitously: It now ranges
from about 25 to 45, compared with a
previous range of 55 to 65, Meylan says.
Part of the reason for the change was the
introduction of a lower-priced entry-level
timepiece at 11,900 francs, down from
15,000 francs; another part is Meylan’s
panache. Youth is key to longevity in the
watchmaking world. Loyalty is high; a
person who owns one watch from a brand
is much more likely to buy another.
“Moser is still a small brand in the
Swiss watch industry, but it has found
its niche and is getting more attention
thanks to the marketing stunts like the
Swiss Alp Watch,” says Rene Weber, an
analyst at Bank Vontobel AG. “Edouard
is fully aware of this and takes brilliant
advantage of it,” adds LVMH’s Biver.
“We need to be different,” Meylan says.
“We need to ask ourselves, What are the
others not doing? And with our marketing
campaigns, edgy, sexy, provocative have
become our trademark.” Things have
changed over the past five years, he says.
“When I started here, friends would say,
‘Moser who?’ Now we’re on the map.” 70