James Henderson – What was your first watch, was it a gift? Is there a story behind it?
Guillaume Tetu – My first watch was a gift from my grand father, and it was in France, the quality was not really good, so after my first summer job, I decide to buy myself a real Swiss watch, and I choose a Swatch Irony Chrono, I was 18 and I was really proud of it.
JH – When you were a boy, what did you want to be “when you grew up”?
GT – When I was 12, I had my first lesson in technical design. It was a bit of a “manual realisation”, the perfect training to build the ‘mother’s day gift’ yourself… It was a revelation for me, to build something from scratch, from an idea, to draw it and sketch this idea, and finally build it. So I decided to study technical design during my studies, to become a technician and product designer.
JH – What got you into the watch business in the first place?
GT – When I started working (after my studies and one year of military service) I worked for a 3D computer aided design company based in Lyon (my home town). They were sending some consultants on temporary assignments to work with some customers, and my boss asked me one day : “Guillaume, do you mind if I ‘send’ you to Switzerland, I have a big customer who needs more people to work on the 3D database”. For me it was really my first opportunity to discover another country, and add some experience. I was sent to Gay-Freres, the metal bracelet supplier for Rolex. They was moving from a software to another one, and I was involved in the mutation of files designing and rebuilding many links and pins…
JH – Of all the watches you have been involved with, what is your “baby”? What is the one that you feel the strongest attachment to? Why?
GT – If I speak about HAUTLENCE, of course my baby is the first HL, it’s the origin of the company, and it became a real icon in the industry.
JH – Who else out there is making watches that interest you?
GT – As I worked with TAG Heuer for 7 years, I would say that this company is making incredible products. I was involve in many special projects, such as the golf watches, and the Monaco Sixty-Nine. Working at Tag Heuer was always a real challenge as we were pushing creativity and technology. It was a successful team with a wonderful spirit.
JH – If you weren’t doing this, what do you think you might be doing?
GT – For sure I would design other products, like cigar boxes, etc… or perhaps I would love to work in “the art of the table”, meaning close to fine food…
JH – What is a typical “day in the life” of Guillaume Tetu?
GT – When I’m in Switzerland, I wake up around 7, and arrive in the office before 8.30 after half an hour drive. As I’m leading the company, I organise the day to follow all the project, from design, production, to sales, and of course the finances. I keep an eye on the design and I’m involved in 3D building of cases, my team is working on movements and industrialization. I’m more and more involved in the marketing and brand representation. That’s why I’m traveling 1 or 2 weeks a month, depending on the period in the year.
JH – I have seen several photos on your Face Book page for American football – anything we should know?
GT – Heyhey…It’s not a war, it’s my sport…When I was still leaving in France (I was 18) some friends created an American football team in my small city, in the area of Lyon. I joined up “to try it”, and I never stopped! I am close to 40 and I’m too hold for tackle football, now I play Flag with my Friend Keith Strandberg. I was playing tight-end, and defensive- end, I had a lot of fun, and when I arrived in Switzerland I joined a local team, the Bienna Jets, and we played at a good level, so it’s an important part of my sports life. In 2006, I created a team in Neuchatel, the Neuchatel Knights (As Neuchatel means new Casttle…) but I’m now just the honorary president…
JH – What was the inspiration behind Hautlence?
GT – Around 2001 we were brainstorming with friends from the industry, and there was a lack of innovation, as everybody in the main brands was using standard movements from the Swatch group, or displaying the time with the typical 2 hands. It seemed that the only difference between the watches and the companies making them was the ambassador and the sport linked to it! But there were also some independent watchmakers making what the big companies then might have referred to as “garage” watches – people like Vianney Halter, or URWERK, and for us this represented a new world to be explored : designing new ways to tell the time, and showing really interesting mechanisms that you do not expect to see in a watch. Some people, collectors who want to be different than their neighbors, would like to have a unique timekeeper, so we drew up a few ideas, and we decided to construct it (crazy us… ahaha)!We jumped into the arena in 2004 after raising money to create the first movement and launch the company.
JH – While the readership of this blog is truly global – from a very American perspective – who are your best retail partners in the US?
GT – The US market became newly reborn for us when we decided to become closer with that market. Near the end of 2008, we changed our worldwide distribution to have a deeper contact with our retailers, and a stronger relationship with end customers.
So now we are rebuilding the network, and we have a good partner in Naples, Exquisite Timepieces, we just opened in the new Tourneau boutique on Madison Ave. in New York City, and I would love to open soon in the Philadelphia area with a real passionate watch connoisseur : Martin Pully.The rest of the (big) country is to be open, even though we have good and friendly relationships with former partners as Darakian in Southfield or Osters in Denver, we need to go step by step, with my local partner, Alexis Srakissian from TWI, we target to open around 10 Points of Sale for the entire US.
JH – What is the essence of Hautlence? What is “Hautlence-sequa”?
GT – HAUTLENCE is an “Atelier d’Horlogerie Contemporaine”, if I try to translate, it’s a “workshop of contemporary watchmaking”. It’s a Workshop because we design in house and produce some parts of the movement in house, and we supply craftsmanship, finishing, cases and dials. It is ccontemporary because we use all the tools and technology from today to reach our level of creativity. We are now improving the brand’s visibility and communication to become a well known and respected alternative brand.
JH – So what advice do you have for the next generation of watch entrepreneur/CEO?
GT – First – create a really different product and brand philosophy, there is no need for another “me too” watch. Be sure to provide the best quality as possible, and customer and after sales service that are really focused on the end consumer. Ultimately, they are the real ambassadors! As you may know, we have created a HAUTLENCE Owner’s club to provide our customers with a tailor-made service.
Finally, choose good partners in your sales network, to provide the best service during the sales presentation, and promote your product and brand values.
That’s it…All the best to Tempus Fugit readers, Guillaume