With the launch of Bremont’s revamped Supermarine dive watch collection last week, Davide Cerrato, the U.K. brand’s new CEO, offers a taste of the vision he has for Britain’s largest watchmaker.
Having worked for Tudor, Montblanc, and Panerai, Cerrato has extensive experience in branding, product design and development, supply-chain management, and production. Meanwhile Bremont, founded in 2002 by brothers (and accomplished pilots) Nick and Giles English, has been deeply rooted in the aviation world. Part of Cerrato’s strategy is to focus on a broader theme of “adventure exploration,” encompassing sporty watches segmented for land, sea, and air.
Take the new 40mm Supermarine S302 GMT collection, which includes a piece with a green and blue aluminum bezel (US$3,750 on strap/US$4,200 on bracelet), Cerrato’s personal favorite. There’s also a limited-edition Supermarine Ocean (US$4,000 on strap/US$4,450 on bracelet) in connection with world-renowned free divers and conservationists, Ocean Ramsey and Juan Oliphant.
Water resistant down to 300 meters (980 feet), the S302 GMTs have been redesigned for heightened legibility and feature new accents across the dial and crown, refined hands, vintage lume on the dial and bezel, and a new 24-hour bezel design. A chronometer-rated automatic movement with a 50-hour power reserve powers the watches.
“Aviation was the history of the early days of the brand, and it was very relevant at that point,” he says. “Now, to be honest, there are not many people who are pilots and not many who are into planes. We want to give the brand an image or identity that can be relevant on a global standpoint and build an icon in a more universal watch that can appeal to different targets, countries and cultures.” Currently, he is planning to scale up in the U.S. and Middle Eastern markets.
In 2021, Bremont achieved a milestone in bringing mechanical watchmaking back to Britain with the release of its ENG300 movement series after investing in a manufacturing line for machining base components. Its watches are assembled at its 35,000-square-foot factory, dubbed “the Wing,” in Henley-on-Thames, England. The ENG300 marked the first time in 50 years that mechanical movements have been built at scale in Britain.
Cerrato speaks about his vision for the quintessentially British brand.
PENTA: What were your impressions of Bremont before you joined and have they changed now that you are onboard?
Davide Cerrato: I’ve been following the company from afar since the beginning. I know the segment in which it operates very well because I spent 10 years at Tudor and six years at Montblanc, which compete in the same category.
Twenty years ago, when they talked about bringing watchmaking back to British shores, I think people were laughing. Now, here we are.
How have you watched it evolve?
The company has been growing organically since it was founded. It’s very authentic, there is a lot of fashion and strong ties to Britishness and the British spirit. The company has very strong fundamentals, but because they’ve grown organically, I think there is too much complexity between the number of stories and the narratives told, the number of products and so on. We are now really more into “simplify to amplify”—focusing on a single message, reducing the number of products, reorganizing the lines, and going to an iconic watch.
What have you done to achieve these goals?
We have greatly reduced the number of references, and we have repositioned our entry price point with more aggressive pricing because that’s where a big part of the market Is—people are really looking for value. The segment of £2,500 to £3,000 (about US$3,000 to US$3,675) is a very important one, and that’s where you create a strong source of new customers getting into the brand.
How do you envision leveraging the brand’s Britishness?
There is a link to what I call the British indomitable spirit. There is an original point of view on things that is very British. The way in which we are leveraging this is we are refocusing our narrative on adventure exploration, which has been a narrative of the brand for a long time. It’s very relevant for the new generation and we definitely want to connect with younger people.
Also, adventure and exploration allow us to create a very powerful segmentation, which is adventure in water, land, and sky. We have a diving-watch line, Supermarine, which is the sea adventure part. Then, for land adventure, we are going to launch a new line, which will be a new design direction. And then next year, we’ll work on the aviation line.
How important is having a hero model for a watch brand?
You absolutely need to have at least one model that people will associate with your brand. At the moment, we don’t have it, so that’s why we have been working to upgrade the design of the Supermarine line. We are also launching a new line linked to land exploration and very much linked to our military association, where in the future, we can potentially have our new icon growing.
This article has been edited for length and clarity.
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