In the face of a worldwide downturn of interest in so-called ‘boutique brands’, Hautlence is shaking things up. Sure, business is off, but Guillaume Tetu, COO of Hautlence, is not just sitting around waiting for things to get better, he is doing something about it.
“We have had to rebuild the image of the brand, because after the launch of Hautlence, we didn’t have enough product to satisfy demand,” Tetu admits. “After that, we established the sales network, then the crisis hit. Before, we were just selling watches, but we did not build the brand.”
Hautlence’s strategy is to be closer to the market, to be in the position to educate consumers on the brand and fine watches in general. This means a lot of travel for Tetu, to meet with all the partners and try to meet as many consumers as possible. “We are creating our first joint venture, to have our own distribution in Asia,” Tetu explains. “To be closer to the market, we have to do things differently. The best way for us was to find a good partner for the local market and to own the company together, and have our own sales team, so we can control the message.”
Hautlence is working to find the right partner in the United States and other parts of the world. For Russia and Europe, the brand plans to handle sales from their headquarters in Neuchâtel, Switzerland.
HLQ 04
HLQ 03
For BaselWorld this year, Hautlence is introducing the HLQ 03, in black titanium with pink gold, and the HLQ 04, which utilizes a new honeycomb dial and a special deep black steel coating. The HLQ 03 and 04 are 43.8 mm. Also to be introduced in Basel is the HLC, a smaller version of the HL, the first round watch in Hautlence’s collection, a 41 mm timepiece that features a mother-of-pearl dial. All watches are manual wind and use proprietary Hautlence movements.
Hautlence does all its own watch development, designing every piece and part, then the brand uses a network of specialist suppliers throughout Switzerland. The watchmakers at Hautlence assemble the limited production watches in their workshop in Neuchâtel (Hautlence is an anagram of Neuchâtel). Unlike other small brands, Hautlence is not dependent on movement suppliers like BNB (which recently went out of business, leaving many companies without a source for movements) – Tetu manages the production himself, a big job for a small brand, but one that Tetu sees as necessary to maintain the brand’s uniqueness and true independence.
Source: Europa Star April - May 2010 Magazine Issue
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