Breaking News!

In Late breaking watch news, it is confirmed that Marcia Mazzocchi, President of A Lange & Sohne for the US has been succeeded by former President of Panerai and Breitling for the US, Phillipe Bonay. This comes as a huge shock to the watch world in the United States because Marcia has single handed run A lange & Sohne in the United States for the last 8 years. She will still continue to be a part of A Lange & Sohne in a sales director capacity which has to be a huge slap in the face. Marcia and her brother Mark Bernhardt were responsible between 10-15 years ago for the building of growth and expansion of IWC in the United States even before Richemont acquired the brand. Marcia is a women of class, knowledge and sophistication and it will be very hard to imagine her in any other role. Even though she traveled like a million miles around the world, she is definitely poised in being an instrumental part of being involved hands on with collectors and retailers and in my opinion is one hell of an ambassador between the US and Germany.

To her credit she is a one women show running this very prestigious brand and it wasn’t till almost three years ago she had an east coast rep. She has a way about her that goes beyond business that makes certain retailers feel that she has known them for years it was personal, and it was this very weapon in her arsenal of building relationships that made her quite successful, and I am sure this was also the very reason for her demise. The tough part is always being able to draw the line, and when business gets personal that line get blurred. I know retailers who have said that because of the relationship, they felt compelled to order more product and because of this there was more product than a fucking museum sitting on shelves, which had price tags in excess of $100,000, which weren’t moving, this translated to the retailers being on credit hold because they couldn’t pay their bills.

I don’t know the real reason for her demotion, but it is sad to see a women like this who has built so much awareness and identity in the US market not being able to leave with her dignity, instead she gets a bump down to fries, not to trivialize her role. I wish her all the best and hope that she is doing ok, because even though I never knew her very well, I have always respected her because she is one women in shark infested waters of a industry run by men and she did it with so much grace and passion. Richemont should really honor Marcia for her hard work and commitment because she did something that very few have the ability to do.

Her successor Phillipe Bonay is no stranger to the watch industry, He has been with the Richemont group on and off for the last 10 years and had amazing success with the growth of Panerai which came to him as a result of his involvement before that with Piaget. Panerai was his passion project which he nurtured like a child, Even though Tall, Lanky and really fuckin awkward he understands business and is a character that you either like or dislike. Phillipe is a French man who could come accross as quite arrogant, but to be honest he is just socially challenged, because from what I understand he doesn’t work well with crowds of people. After Phillipe made the decision two years ago to leave Panerai and go to Breitling, you could tell he just wasn’t into it and he had lost his mojo.So after leaving Breitling only six month’s later he then temporarily went to help good friend and contemporary Ronnie Wolfgang with recently acquired Richemont brand Roger Dubuis.

I feel that this could be quite an interesting move for Phillipe, to run a brand like A Lange & Sohne because it is a lot more technical and exclusive than Panerai and needs serious attention in the United States market. As much as Lange is a collectors brand with their high end complications, I know that they have watches from their heritage which are more Pilots driven which we have yet to see. I am sure Phillipe who understands the US market very well, can dig deep into the archives and give life to a brand who needs a little bit of reviving.