Hands-on approach to marketing timepieces at Bell & Ross

The Life: The UAE was last year the world's ninth largest market for luxury watches. The chief executive of Bell & Ross speaks about how the company competed in a crowded marketplace.

Carlos Rosillo, the chief executive of Bell & Ross, says there is a desire for consumers to get interaction with luxury brands. Courtesy Bell & Ross

Bell & Ross, a luxury French watch brand, makes timepieces worn by people like astronauts, pilots and divers.

Here, the company's chief executive, Carlos Rosillo, talks about the difference between a luxury watch and a mass-market alternative.

Bell & Ross takes its inspiration for some of its designs from aircraft cockpits. Why?

It's a passion and a source of inspiration. In terms of aeronautics, nothing has been designed better than a cockpit to be easy to understand. When you care about visibility, you cannot get better than an aircraft cockpit.

How do you develop your watches? Do you speak to divers and pilots to see what they would like?

Speaking with customers is, of course, one part, just to understand the mission but it doesn't make the technical innovation. The technical innovation comes from the engineering point of view. We work with engineers to develop the technique bearing in mind the objective. And the objective was quite clear: to make a watch that is easy to read even under the water.

How did you compete with bigger and more established luxury brands when you launched in 1992?

It's not how big you are but how quality [-orientated] you are, so beginning as a small company was not a burden. On the contrary, it was an asset because we knew what we wanted. We had a philosophy. For instance, our philosophy was to have four design principles: visibility; precision; functionality; and reliability. Having these principles we established a clear mission. From day one we were positioned as a very high-quality brand.

What is the difference between a luxury watch brand and a mass-market one?

The desire for the consumer to get interaction with luxury brands is more important than for standard [brands]. It is the same as art. What is the difference between art and looking at wallpaper? It is the design, the attraction, the emotion that you have. If there is no emotion, there is no luxury. The quality ... the time spent to produce the object [and the] clear vision of the object gives it an appeal than is different to a standard product.

Would you say marketing is more important for a luxury watch brand than a standard brand?

I'm not sure that marketing is so important for luxury brands. I think creativity is the most important [aspect]. For instance, we don't have a marketing department here in our company. But we have a strong creative team. Luxury has more connection with art than marketing, I think. The marketing is not that important. The communication is to speak about your creation and to explain what you have done. But it is not marketing.

* Gillian Duncan

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