Gregory Kissling, CEO of Breguet: “The Brand is at a Real Turning Point”

Upon his arrival in October 2024, Gregory Kissling, CEO of Breguet, succeeded in setting a new pace for the brand, which many had considered a sleeping beauty. A legendary house responsible for technologies that still shape modern watchmaking today, it is being reborn under the leadership of this native of Neuchâtel, a microtechnology engineer who trained in Le Locle. He is restoring the visibility, coherence, and creative energy that Breguet had been lacking for several years.

Specializing in materials, robotics, and watchmaking, Gregory Kissling began his career at Cartier in the late 1990s, at the heart of the movement construction department, alongside Eric Klein (2021 Gaïa Prize), whom he still considers his mentor today. The early 2000s, a pivotal period in the development of mechanical movements, offered him the opportunity to innovate in the design of less traditional haute horlogerie. However, his need to shape innovation through the product led him to join another watch brand. “I’m not interested in innovation for innovation’s sake. It has to bring real benefits to the product and the consumer,” he says.

He chose Omega at a time when the company was undergoing a major transformation, from the development of the Co-Axial escapement to the search for new materials. He spent more than twenty years there. During those two decades, he also led cross-functional, multi-brand, and multi-company task forces within the Swatch Group. He worked on researching new alloys for Omega, but by 2021, he would also be the man who shaped the famous collaborations between Swatch and Omega, and later Blancpain. When asked just days before the launch about the new collaboration between Swatch and Audemars Piguet, he remained tight-lipped, bound by confidentiality. Here is our interview.

What made you decide to leave Omega for Breguet after twenty years?

It happened unexpectedly, in the middle of 2024. I was completely satisfied with my position at Omega. When you’re passionate about what you do, time flies, and in this case, leading product development at Omega was like a fresh start every year. It really kept me motivated. But the opportunity was too good to pass up. I gave myself a few days to think it over, and then I picked up a pen—the old-fashioned way—to write a letter to the group expressing all the admiration and motivation I felt for joining the brand. This offer came at a good time in my life. Of course, the stakes are high, and leading a brand isn’t something you can learn overnight, but I’m well supported, and I stay in touch with Raynald Aeschlimann, Nick, and Marc Hayek. My summer of 2024 was very intense, between the Paris Olympics with Omega and my immersion in Breguet’s history before I took office on October 1. I was incredibly fortunate to have access to a vast amount of the brand’s archives. The transition with my predecessor took place over the course of a month and went very smoothly. By early October, I had already finalized and secured approval for the strategy for Breguet’s 250th anniversary.

Had the product strategy for this major celebration already been developed by your predecessor?