TAG Heuer CEO Exits, Adding to LVMH Watches Woes
TAG Heuer CEO Antoine Pin has left the helm of LVMH’s largest watch label, the luxury conglomerate said on Friday, confirming a move first reported by industry website Business Montres at the start of the year.“After 23 years within the LVMH Group, Antoine Pin has decided to start a new chapter in his career. We thank him for his contribution and wish him success in his future endeavours. Antoine Pin’s succession will be announced shortly”, said LVMH, the world’s largest luxury group in a statement. LVMH said it will communicate his replacement at a later stage.Pin’s departure is a blow to the Paris-based luxury group. It adds uncertainty to the watches division, which is already facing difficult market conditions. Swiss watchmakers are grappling with multiple headwinds at once, including punishing US tariffs, a weak dollar and tepid demand from shoppers, who are crimped by rising costs of living. LVMH’s watches and jewellery business has struggled to improve business, with sales up 1% in the past 9 months of last year.Pin’s appointment was announced in September 2024 as part of a reshuffle following the retirement of long- serving Hublot chief executive Ricardo Guadalupe. Pin replaced Julien Tornare, who moved to Hublot only eight months after taking the reins at TAG Heuer.At the time, it was expected that Pin would steer the company deep into its new partnership with Formula 1. TAG Heuer’s role as the sport’s official timekeeper is seen as the cornerstone of a 10-year deal between LVMH and F1’s owners Liberty Media, estimated to be worth as much as $1 billion, and that is now entering its second year.In April last year, TAG Heuer introduced a new campaign “Designed to Win”, spearheaded by four-time F1 World Champion Max Verstappen, Hollywood actor Ryan Gosling, Olympic gold medalist Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, and Ryder Cup golfer Tommy Fleetwood. Motorsport legend Ayrton Senna, who was a TAG Heuer ambassador when he died in 1994, also featured.It was also hoped Pin, 54, would bring TAG Heuer some stability. Since the departure in 2013 of Jean-Christophe Babin from the watch label known for benchmark watch designs such as the Monaco and Carrera, it has cycled through six chief executives. These include current Loro Piana chief executive Frédéric Arnault, LVMH group managing director Stéphane Bianchi and one of the industry’s longest serving executives, Jean-Claude Biver.Babin, who remains as head of the LVMH Watch Division and will retire from his role as Bulgari chief executive in June, mentored Pin during his first stint at TAG Heuer in the early 2010s. Later, in 2019, Babin recruited Pin from Berluti, appointing him managing director of the Italian jeweller’s watch division.There, he oversaw the release of world-record breaking mechanical watches such as the Octo Finissimo Ultra COSC in 2024. Measuring 1.7 millimetres thick, at the time it was the thinnest mechanical watch ever made.Pin’s departure comes on the eve of LVMH Watch Week, which kicks off in Milan on Monday and will feature the latest models from TAG Heuer and other LVMH labels.Disclosure: LVMH is part of a group of investors who, together, hold a minority interest in The Business of Fashion. All investors have signed shareholders’ documentation guaranteeing BoF’s complete editorial independence.
