We are increasingly seeing highly qualified women taking positions which are traditionally 'reserved" for men. Despite a few tasks which are the domain of female craftspeople since decades (e.g. the famous RĂ©gleuses who create perfectly shaped Breguet balance springs) few women have conquered top po
We are increasingly seeing highly qualified women taking positions which are traditionally 'reserved" for men. Despite a few tasks which are the domain of female craftspeople since decades (e.g. the famous RĂ©gleuses who create perfectly shaped Breguet balance springs) few women have conquered top positions in the watch industry. Cartier's Carole Kasapi-Forestier or Dubey & Schaldenbrand's Cinette Robert are some notable exceptions.
The Zurich-based newspaper Neue ZĂĽrcher Zeitung has very recently published the transcript of a conversation with another eminent female figure in the watch business, Mrs Jasmine Audemars, President of the Board of Audemars Piguet.
I found the interview very interesting, a conversation with:
- a top representative of a famous haute horlogerie brand
- an entrepreneurial women looking back at an impressive career
- a key representative of practical female emancipation
So here we go (my translation):
Jasmin Audemars was born 7 decades avon into one of the most famous and longstanding watchmaking families, the Audemars family of Le Brassus. Very soon she realised that there was something like a 'glass ceiling" magically - but invisibly - preventing women from taking a career path similar to men.
Jasmine Audemars did not mind, and she asked for a double challenge: making a career as a woman, and doing this not in her family's watch company but as a journalist, a fledging business already in the late 70s/early 80s Her aim was always the top...
As a result of her efforts and aptitude she eventually became editor-in-chief of the «Journal de Genève», as the very first women in this position in Switzerland. She held this position between 1980 and 1992. She admits that she was addicted to hectic atmosphere of the day-to-day newspaper business, "it was pure adrenaline" she says.
Then, aged 50, her father called and asked her to take over the presidency of the 1875-founded watch company…
Jasmine Audemars was not prepared for this: the loved her journalistic job, AP more or less survived the quartz crisis and her father showed no signs of fatigue or any desire to retire.
So she asked for a one-year respite, at which's end she decided to accept her father's offer. What tricked her over were the apparent similarities in the two job (making decision supported by a core team, pulling all strings and trying to achieve a compromise amid diverging opinions) as well as her passion of watchmaking.
Meanwhile (very) affectionately referred to as 'La Grande Dame de l'Horlogerie Vaudoise', she lists as her main responsibilities (i) developing the company in a financially sound manner and (ii) ensuring the continuation of AP as a family business. To this end values like integrity, respect and passion are essential. Mrs Audemars freely admits that she does not care much which celebrities currently wear 'her' watches - "that's marketing" she uses to say. More important is that the tranquility and the wideness of the Vallée de Joux region are reflected in the brand.
Jasmine Audemars sense a great responsibility for her native region: "we are the largest employer here, and thus we carry considerable responsibility for both the people as well as the nature". Consequently already her father Jaques-Louis Audemars set up a foundation to protect the forests in the valley and to ease access to education for underprivileged children. His daughter now makes user that AP as a company also operated according to these aims. The new factory building has been designed to fulfill the 'Minergy" standards (.i.e Swiss standards for low energy consumption in architecture).
Now at an age where most of us are already retirees for some time she still does not spend a second to step back - "hopefully never!" - but she has shortlist a few suitable people already...
For those of you firm enough in German you may want to read the entire article here:
just click me !
Best & thanks for reading,
Magnus
This message has been edited by Ornatus-Mundi on 2014-03-17 11:11:51 This message has been edited by MichaelC on 2014-03-17 12:23:48 
