Lip, born again (and again)

By Benjamin Teisseire

December 2023

Founded in 1867 by Emmanuel Lipmann, Lip is an iconic brand of the French watchmaking industry. As a family business, it proudly flew the Gallic colours until the 1960s, when it was hit hard by the quartz crisis. After the last family member, Fred Lip, was ousted in 1971, the company was taken under self-management by its employees on two occasions (1973 and 1977). It eventually filed for bankruptcy in the 1980s. But with its rich heritage and over 150 years of history, in 2014 Lip found a buyer to revive this jewel of the French watchmaking industry, in its original stronghold in Besançon.

Lip, born again (and again)

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By Benjamin Teisseire

December 2023

estoring the reputation of a legendary brand is no easy task. At its peak, Lip was producing 300,000 watches a year, but then the brand vanished from the watchmaking scene.

It wasn’t until a local family took an interest that Lip was finally reborn. Pierre-Alain Bérard has been CEO of the brand since its takeover. A native of Besançon and the son of a watchmaker, the young man saw his father Philippe create the Société des Montres de Besançon (SMB) in 1978.

He says, “Our history and that of Lip coincide. My father created SMB on the arrival of quartz, which destabilised Lip. We do assembly and development, and we subcontract for distribution groups and licensed brands. Personally, I’ve always seen Lip as part of the horological landscape. When Mr Bernerd reached out to us to ask if we’d consider buying Lip, he said: ‘You have the know-how, you’re from Besançon and you understand what a family business is.’ Taking over Lip’s business was a no-brainer for us.”

“The foundations were in place for the brand to regain momentum, but we had to start from scratch,” Pierre-Alain Bérard continues. “Between 1990 and 2000, Lip watches were cheaply made in China and sold in supermarkets. After the buyout, we mothballed the brand to purge the market of these low-quality products. We wanted to go back to Lip’s iconic models, the ones that built its reputation. That’s where the brand’s strength lies.”

Indeed, some Lip watches are steeped in history. The Churchill model was presented to the illustrious British statesman in 1948 by the French government; in 1950, the Himalaya was the first tool watch to ascend above 8,000 metres (before Rolex!). There were also watches created by famous designers, such as Roger Tallon and the Mach 2000.

The main challenge was to rethink the collections and ranges, as Pierre-Alain Bérard notes: “With 150 years of history, adventure and design, it’s not easy to choose which ones to keep and which to discard.” However, the “decluttering” is proceeding steadily, sales are picking up again, and Lip is being nursed back to health.

According to 2022 figures, the brand now assembles more than 80,000 watches a year. It uses Ronda calibres for its quartz models and Miyota calibres for its automatic models. Pierre-Alain Bérard states, “In terms of sales, quartz and automatic models are split 50-50. In terms of volume, quartz still accounts for almost 70%. We are positioned between 189 euros for quartz and under 500 euros for automatic models. But we also have a diver – the Nautic 3 – equipped with the G100 movement assembled in the region by Humbert-Droz, using Swiss components, at under 1,200 euros, as well as a limited edition Lip Rallye chronograph powered by a Japanese Seiko Time Module NE86 calibre at less than 1,500 euros.”

The intention seems to be to expand sales of automatic mechanical watches while remaining ultra-competitive. Is this the strategy chosen to build Lip’s future? Pierre-Alain Bérard clarifies: “Of course, our first objective is to repatriate watchmaking know-how, whether alone or in partnership with other players, to create watches that are as Made in France as possible. We will be relaunching our legendary T18 calibre [the movement used in the Churchill] at the end of the year with components supplied by La Joux-Perret, assembled by Humbert-Droz. We have high hopes for these developments. We want to continue to increase the proportion of automatic movements with a high level of quality, and a positioning close to that of Seiko, for example. But let’s face it, at the moment we can’t survive without selling quartz watches.”

The objective is clear: “We want to restore Lip to its former glory, exceed 150,000 watches in annual production within three years and return to the legendary brand of our childhood – the brand that marked life’s great events, the brand we handed down to our children, the brand that expressed the excellence of French watchmaking!” A revival seems to be well and truly under way at Lip.