baume&mercier moa08124

What is it, resign as CEO season? Just the other day I wrote about how A. Lange & Sohne lost their CEO, and now the same is happening to Swiss watch brand Baume & Mercier. I still know them by their "original" name "Baume et Mercier." Guess that "&" was put in there for us Americans. These resignations are starting to look awfully fishy if you ask me. Michel Nieto, the CEO of Baume & Mercier just called it quits after being at Baume & Mercier since 2002. Just like A. Lange & Sohne, Baume & Mercier is part of the Richemont Group, and just like A. Lange & Sohne's loss of their CEO Fabian Krone, Richemont Group identified the reason for Nieto's resignation as a "strategic disagreement." Not that I don't believe PR speak, but either Richemont is handing out a canned response or we are going to see a major change in the organization of the group's brands in the coming months. I can't speculate if this is good or bad, but I anticipate change is 'ah comin' in the luxury watch world. Aside from the Swatch Group, Richemont Group is the largest collection of luxury watch brands. Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Actress Gwyneth Paltrow has been named as the new ambassador for Baume and Mercier, the luxury Swiss watch maker. The 38 year old actress will not be appearing on any promotional material according to press relations staff at Baume and Mercier. She will however be involved heavily in communication projects such as brand appearances at the Salon International De La Haute Horologerie which is a yearly showcase of the industries luxury watches in Geneva Switzerland. Baume & Mercier has been suffering from poor sales in recent years according to its Chief Executive Officer Alain Zimmerman. He made a statement saying that the brand has been suffering in recent years due to lack of appeal and that the watch maker will be ceasing production of all its watches but one. The only watch continuing production is the companies best seller the Classima. The watch makers announcement that it will be bringing on Gwyneth Paltrow as its brand ambassador is believed to be a last ditch effort to try and rebound its sales according to industry analysts. Recently Baume and Mercier have restarted production of its Linea and Capeland lines which will premiere in the Hampton collection in October of 2011. Zimmerman said 'Our positioning remains as a brand that offers high-quality products with a beautiful design.' Gwyneth Paltrow joins many other famous faces as a brand ambassador for Baume and Mercier. Previous brand ambassadors included Meg Ryan, Kim Basinger, Terri Hatcher and Evangeline Lilly.