On this week’s episode, JCK editor-in-chief Victoria Gomelsky and news director Rob Bates discuss Signet CEO Gina Drosos’ impending retirement, reflect on her successes over the past seven years, and speculate on what’s ahead for new CEO J.K. Symancyk. Then the conversation turns to Victoria’s recent New York Times report on the coming-of-age for independent watchmakers. Formerly struggling creatives are moving from the fringe to the mainstream, partnering with major companies in the luxury sector and seeing their pieces sell at auction for over a million dollars.

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Episode Credits
Hosts: Rob Bates and Victoria Gomelsky
Producer and engineer: Natalie Chomet
Editor: Riley McCaskill

Show Notes
01:50 Signet’s Gina Drosos passes the torch
05:52 Welcome to the jewelry world
10:45 The rise of indie watchmakers
20:05 A small but mighty market

Show Recap
Signet’s Gina Drosos passes the torch
Rob and Victoria open the podcast with the news that CEO Gina Drosos is retiring after seven years at the helm of Signet Jewelers. Rob compliments the retail giant on a smooth transition, which has been in the works for a year. “She made Signet a more agile company,” Rob says. As a result, they were able to pivot online quickly in 2020 and serve customers virtually.

He also notes that when Drosos stepped into her role, Signet faced myriad problems, from a gender discrimination suit to excessive sub-prime credit on its books. Now the company is back on solid financial footing. During Drosos’ tenure, Signet closed about 1,000 stores—leaving it with its current 2,700—but also expanded steadily by gobbling up competitors like Blue Nile, James Allen, and Diamonds Direct. “You can argue whether that’s good for the industry, but it was certainly good for Signet,” Rob says.

Welcome to the jewelry world
Rob and Victoria discuss that while Drosos’ successor as Signet CEO, J.K. Symancyk, has held top executive jobs at PetSmart and Meijer, he’s new to the jewelry industry but will become one of its key players overnight. “It’s a very idiosyncratic, personal business,” Rob points out, and there’s always this tension between wanting to bring people into the trade and insiders’ reservations about newcomers. When a new CEO arrives, inevitably a learning curve follows, as well as the looming question of whether that person will make major changes or minor tweaks, Rob says.

Victoria wonders how a high-level executive gets up to speed in a new industry. “What immersion do they go through to understand what this industry is all about?” she asks. “I don’t think pet supplies prepare you for the complicated supply chain that is the jewelry industry,” not to mention the level of emotion people bring to the product. Reading back issues of JCK might a good starting point, she suggests.

The rise of indie watchmakers
Rob asks Victoria to share highlights from her recent New York Times article about independent watchmakers. She says the term emerged about 20 years ago to signify a new generation of artisanal horologists who operated without corporate oversight or affiliation with luxury conglomerates like LVMH, Richemont, and Swatch Group. “They positioned themselves as the struggling artists of the watch world,” Victoria says. “At first it really didn’t mean much. They didn’t make many timepieces, they didn’t have a lot of customers, [and] a lot of independents struggled to connect with people.”

These iconoclasts faced serious obstacles in the early 2000s, in part because the retail gatekeepers weren’t interested in their limited-edition, avant-garde designs. “There wasn’t a business model to support them,” Victoria explains. But in the early 2010s, Instagram changed the rules of the game—watch enthusiasts were now able to DM makers and order their products online, allowing up-and-coming designers to build business.

Even before the pandemic, there were hints that the wider watch world was paying attention to names such as Maximilian Büsser, François-Paul Journe, Philippe Dufour, and Kari Voutilainen. Demand for their timepieces grew, as did the secondary market, which reassured potential collectors that the products were a sound investment.

Business really took off starting in 2020, when “collectors were home, locked down, looking for things to do, looking for ways to spend their money,” says Victoria. Independents who would have been anonymous engineers toiling behind the scenes in a previous age “are now the belles of the horological ball,” as she puts it.

Large companies like LVMH have been seeking out indie makers for partnerships—some might argue, putting the creatives’ independence at risk. In August, Chanel announced that it had bought a 25% stake in Büsser’s brand, MB&F. “These once starving artists are now commanding incredible sums,” Victoria reports. Case in point: Two F.P. Journe pieces recently sold at auction for over a million each. What’s more, she says, some indie makers “have waiting lists going out the door.” Kari Voutilainen’s fans have to wait eight years for one of the designer’s watches, according to Victoria.

A lot of independents make a name for themselves by winning awards at the annual Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève in November, often referred to the Oscars of watchmaking. This year Victoria has been invited to serve on the jury, along with illustrious figures from the watch world. She promises a full report later this fall, so stay tuned.

A small but mighty market
Rob wonders whether it’s hard for small watch brands to compete with heavy hitters like LVMH and Rolex. “It’s not selling that’s the problem,” says Victoria. “If you’re making fewer than 100 pieces a year and you put your product up on Instagram, you’re going to get many times that number of orders. It’s actually making and delivering that’s the problem, given [current] supply chain crunches.” A number of independents are vertically integrating because access to parts and components has become so challenging, she says.

Indie watch designers could have an edge over big-name brands because of their size. “We’re talking about artisans at heart who are making small batches and who often can connect directly with collectors online,” says Victoria. Collectors love being able to talk to the artists. “They can hear about the inspiration. They can even offer a few ideas and in some way be involved.”

Independent watchmakers account for a low percentage of the watch market overall, but it’s an important and fascinating segment. “It’s a really big category even though in terms of number of pieces it’s quite small,” Victoria says.

Any views expressed in this podcast do not reflect the opinion of JCK, its management, or its advertisers.

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