Georges Kern

Georges Kern
CEO of Breitling
Born	Georges Kern (1965-01-25) 25 January 1965 Dusseldorf, Germany
Education	Business Administration, University of St. Gallen, Switzerland

Georges Kern (born 25 January 1965) is a German-Swiss entrepreneur, who has been CEO of Swiss watchmaker Breitling since 2017. He studied Political Science in Strasbourg, France, and graduated in Business Administration from the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland.

Career

He acquired experience in the fast-moving-consumer-goods sector at Kraft Foods Switzerland before moving into the watch industry by joining TAG Heuer.

In 2000, he joined the Swiss luxuxry good group Richemont Group and integrated the watch brands A. Lange & Söhne, Jaeger-LeCoultre, and International Watch Company (IWC) following their acquisition.

In 2002, at the age of 36, he became the youngest CEO at Richemont when he was chosen to run IWC Schaffhausen.

In 2017, he was promoted to Head of Watchmaking, Marketing and Digital at Richemont and focused on supervising the Specialist Watchmaking Maisons.

In 2017, Georges Kern was appointed the new CEO of the independent watch company Breitling SA, where he is also a shareholder. The British investment group CVC acquired 80 percent of the shares in Breitling in April 2017, with 20 percent of the shares remaining in the hands of the brand's previous owners, the Schneider family. In November 2018 also the remaining shares were sold to CVC. In 2021, the private Swiss equity firm Partners Group acquired a minority stake in Breitling and in 2022 increased their stake and became the majority shareholder. Breitling made its first major acquisition in 2023, buying Universal Genève.

Georges Kern doubled the turnover of Breitling between 2017 and 2023 and transformed the brand to one of the top 9 luxury watch brands (source: Morgan Stanley).The watchmaker represents an inclusive, casual and sustainable interpretation of luxury. In December 2024, Georges Kern was awarded “Swiss Leader of the Year” by Handelszeitung and Swiss Leaders. Since 2022, Handelszeitung and Statista have ranked Breitling among the ten “Best Swiss Employers” for four consecutive years, securing first place in 2024.

Georges Kern served as a member of the Young Global Leaders at the World Economic Forum from 2005 to 2010 and became Founding Curator of the Global Shapers Community in Zurich in 2011. He is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Swiss-American Chamber of Commerce and of Soeder, a Zurich-based soap manufacturer, where he also serves as an investor.

Philanthropy

Alongside his corporate objectives, Kern also supports a range of charitable causes. He was on the Board of Trustees of the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation, which supports socially disadvantaged young people through social sports programs. Georges Kern was also a patron of Fondation Antoine de Saint-Exupéry pour la Jeunesse, which supports underprivileged young people on their path to adulthood. At his initiative, IWC was certified as a carbon neutral company. Breitling is one of the leaders in the industry in regards to sustainability and has partnerships with Surfrider, Climate Impulse, Sugi and Qhubeka. In the political sector he served as a member of the party leadership of the Green Liberal Party of Switzerland, working in the Fundraising & Brand Development departments from 2020 until 2024.

Works

• Kern, Georges A. "Engineering the Intangible: Strategic Success Factors in the Luxury Watch Industry" (pages 153–180), Evolving Business Models. How CEOs Transform Traditional Companies, Springer International Publishing (2017) Editors: Franz, Christoph, Bieger, Thomas, Herrmann, Andreas (Eds.)

Film Production

Georges Kern realized one of his passions when he produced the French comedy My Dog Stupid, based on the cult novel by John Fante. It marked Kern's debut as a film producer and starred Yvan Attal along with Charlotte Gainsbourg, Ben Attal, Pascale Arbillot, Adèle Wismes, Pablo Venzal, Eric Ruf, and Sébastien Thiery. The film was released on October 31, 2019.

Further reading

Watch brands move business online to beat lockdown - Financial Times
"Letter: A fine mechanical watch will outlive its owner" - Financial Times
«Breitling ist vom Macho-Image weggekommen» - nzz
Interview de Georges Kern - Worldtempus
On the Road With Georges Kern of Breitling - New York Times
Georges Kern: «Breitling ne peut être cantonné à l'aviation» - Le Figaro
Raus aus der Nische: Georges Kern über die Zukunft von Breitling - Luxify
Inside Breitling s asia business strategy with CEO Georges Kern - Bloomberg
„Die Uhrenbranche spürt wieder Rückenwind“ - Handelsblatt
Georges Kern: CEO Breitling - GMT Mag
Breitling-CEO Kern: «Emotionalität bleibt, Visionen sind gefragt» - Finanz und wirtschaft

References

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