Interview: Stanislas de Quercize, Cartier chief executive

Stanislas de Quercize is planning a busy start to 2015. "We are going to put on 110 new creations at SIHH," says the chief executive of Cartier, the jeweller and watchmaker owned by Richemont, the Swiss luxury group.

Exhibitors at the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH) include Richemont's 11 watch brands and five independent watchmakers.

On display, Mr de Quercize says, will be the most complex watch Cartier has ever made - a grand complication composed of 578 pieces that took more than five years to develop. Cartier will also unveil a setting called Vibrant for its Ballon Bleu range, and launch a new montre de forme, called Cle.

The blaze of activity is part of Mr de Quercize's push to bolster Cartier's reputation for creativity, which he sees as the "mission" of the 168-year-old maison, founded in Paris in 1847 by the master jeweller Louis-Francois Cartier. "My priority has always been to be daring in how we create," says Mr de Quercize.

During Mr de Quercize's tenure, the French brand has made substantial investments in its creative capabilities, following the course set by his predecessor, Bernard Fornas, whom Mr de Quercize succeeded in 2013. Previously he had served for eight years as chief executive of Van Cleef & Arpels, another high-end Richemont marque.

Cartier's most recent investment was a metiers d'art workshop, which opened in September near the Swiss watch- making bastion of La Chaux-de-Fonds. Mr de Quercize declines to say how much Cartier spent on the project, but adds that it was only one of a number of investments the brand has made in recent years.

"We have also made major investments in haute horlogerie - we now have 29 movements which are entirely made in-house," he says.

The success of Cartier is crucial for Richemont's fortunes. Like all the Swiss luxury group's brands, Cartier does not provide information about its profits or revenues. However, analysts reckon its annual sales are close to $5.9bn - almost half the $12.5bn turnover Richemont achieved last year.

With operating margins that analysts put at close to 35 per cent, the brand was also thought to be the main contributor to the $2.8bn operating profit posted by Richemont for the same period.

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"I think Cartier is doing well in jewellery. In watches they are doing well at the low end," says Luca Solca, an analyst at Exane BNP Paribas. "But like everyone they are struggling with gold watches and watches with precious stones because demand for these in China has come to a standstill. The high end could become [still] more of a challenge if Russian consumers are hit by the fall in the value of the rouble."

Mr de Quercize refuses to be drawn about Cartier's progress in specific markets, but does acknowledge that the uncertainty around the globe "makes people think twice" before they buy. However, despite such pressures, he remains confident about Cartier's prospects.

"Since 1847 we have seen that there are cycles that go up and down, but there is a positive end to every cycle," he says. "The intent of people to acquire the best is still there."

Indeed, despite the headwinds, Cartier's chief executive sees opportunities for the brand to exploit, insisting that interest in high-end watches and jewellery remains undimmed among cultured consumers with an interest in art. "I have never seen so many museums being built as now. I have never seen so many people queuing up for exhibitions," he says.

One source of opportunity, Mr de Quercize reckons, is the growing number of people who own not just one but a collection of watches. Another is the jewellery market, where Cartier has traditionally been strong.

At the moment, he says, about 90 per cent of jewellery produced globally is unbranded. From Mr de Quercize's perspective, this makes little sense, and he believes that persuading more people to buy branded jewellery could pay dividends for Cartier.

"People wouldn't acquire paintings or a picture that is not signed. If they buy unsigned jewellery, and then want to sell it at auction, it will not be worth more than the value of the stones and the gold," he says.

"If they buy something from Cartier, they are buying something [from a company] with a history going back more than 160 years. They are buying something with provenance."

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