Throughout her extensive career, Isabel Couturet has held the positions of General Manager at Flik Flak, The Swatch Group, Managing Director Gucci Watches & Jewellry France, Kerring Group, among others. Today she finds herself as the President of Seiko France & Italy.
1. Describe briefly your childhood.
I was born in Switzerland, on the Lac de Joux, and grew up in the south of France, in a beautiful countryside. My childhood was peaceful, close to the nature and to people.
2. As a child did you have any driving ambition?
I wanted to change the world … I wanted to make the lives of people around me better.
3. What is your first significant memory as a child?
Riding a bicycle with my eyes closed with my brother and thinking nothing could happen to us.
4. Have you ever had another profession?
Not really. I started my career as a store manager, and opened the most important Sephora store in the Champs Elysée. I have always loved to sell dreams and beautiful products and I have always loved to work with a team.
5. What made you decide to go in the direction you are currently in?
When I started to talk with Seiko, I saw that it is a company that was very well equipped for the future, in terms of technology, resources and most of all, character. It is a company with a long tradition and a very strong sense of its responsibilities to its customers. I felt that Seiko was exactly the kind of company that would do well in the years ahead and , so far, it seems I was right!
6. What’s the worst job you’ve had to do?
When I was a student, I was working at Mc Donald’s, smelling French fries all day long. It was awful but I learnt a lot in terms of management.
7. What’s been the hardest moment in your life so far, and how did you overcome it?
The death of my brother, I overcome by giving love to my kids and my friends, and in keeping my brother in my memories for life. Reading books and dreaming was also my therapy. I’m a resilient person, I never stop believing.
8. Who has had the strongest influence on you?
Writers are my best inspirations, Camus and Nietzsche changed my life and my way of thinking. I always have a book in my bag, which inspires me daily. A day without reading does not have the same flavour. Books help me to find inspiration and to make vision reality.
9. What are you most proud of?
A: Speaking on a professional side, I’m very proud to see the people I hired grow and themselves become leaders.
10. What advice would you give to a 20 something someone thinking of taking a similar path as you?
If you want to be in the watch industry, make sure that you know the fundamentals. Whatever your specialism, be it marketing or management, spend time in a service department or a factory and learn how a watch really works. It will be a joy to learn and a requirement in the coming age when deep technical knowledge will be vital.
11. Name three things on your bucket list.
1. Write a book
2. Play piano
3. Be a grand mother 😊
12. Where do you think the watch industry is going to be in 10 years time.
The watch business is going through changes today that are more radical and faster-paced than at any time since the arrival of the quartz watch half a century ago. So it’s very hard to predict where our industry will be ten years from now! But perhaps we can see some certainties among the many uncertainties. First, the luxury watch market will survive and prosper in any but the most pessimistic of scenarios. People will remain as fascinated by the magic of the mechanical watch and, as new technologies (new phones, 5G, AI etc) crowd into our lives, I think the appeal of a long-lasting, hand-made ‘objet d’art’ like a watch will grow even stronger.
Second, it is clear that, for a good few years yet, the ‘smart watch’ will continue to grow in popularity. I do not believe that it will diminish the appeal of the well-made mechanical watch at all. In fact, I think the owners of smart watches will appreciate all the more the value of a ‘real’ watch. But the smart watch will change the industry in one respect. It will make young people see the simple quartz watch for what it is, an increasingly old technology. Quartz will not disappear but only the very best quartz watches will command a premium so the future is about fewer, better watches and not about any ‘mass market’ idea.
Lastly, I am certain that the watch consumer will continue to be more and more intelligent and well-informed about his or her choices. Thanks to the internet, consumers will know more than ever about every detail and will not buy based on hearsay or half-understood truths. They will buy when, and only when, they know everything about the watch. I therefore think that the watch companies which will prosper are those that make watches in a high quality way, whatever the price range, and tell the truth about them to their consumers. Honesty and integrity will be the driving forces.
To learn more about Isabelle Couturet