A connoisseur of top-of-the-range watchmaking, Bernard Hertoghe is now head of perfect Breitling replica watches‘ Belux subsidiary. The brand has just opened a boutique in Luxembourg. We met up with him to find out more about this highly successful brand.
Céline Coubray: What do you wear on your wrist?
Bernard Hertoghe: The AAA UK fake Breitling Chronomat watches, a watch launched in 1984 and originally designed for the pilots of the Italian Air Force aerobatics team. It is typical of Breitling, with a roller strap and a bezel with riders, as was common in the 1980s and 1990s.
Is the world of aviation one of Breitling’s defining characteristics?
Yes, but not only. In the 1930s, we actually developed onboard instruments. In 1952, we launched the best replica Breitling Navitimer watches, designed for aeroplane pilots. Breitling has an image strongly linked to aviation because it was also the passion of the two former owners–Ernest Schneider, who bought the brand in the 1970s, and his son Théodore Schneider, who succeeded him. They were both pilots and had steered the brand’s communication in that direction.
But Breitling has always made other types of watches.
That’s true. For example, in 1957 the Superocean was launched, a watch that was water-resistant to 200 metres. When Georges Kern took over as CEO of Breitling in 2017, he repositioned the brand around three areas: air, land and sea, building on Breitling’s heritage. He has sought out a number of historic models and brought them up to date. This was the case for the Premier of the 1940s, the Top Time and the Superocean of the 1960s. Today, we have become a generalist brand. And not just a manufacturer of imposing men’s luxury Breitling copy watches designed for pilots.
We’re serious, but we don’t take ourselves too seriously.
Bernard Hertoghe, CEO, Breitling Belux
Top Breitling replica watches are Swiss-made. But in this age of globalisation, what does that mean?
100% of our movements and cheap China fake Breitling watches are made in Switzerland. We do, of course, have some bracelets, particularly leather ones, or secondary parts that come from elsewhere. We have a factory in La Chaux-de-Fonds where we make our movements. For example, we sell our Chronomat Automatic movement to Tudor and we buy its three-hand automatic movement, which we each rework in our own way. 100% of our movements are COSC-certified, which is a chronometry test. We are not the only ones to do this, but we are the only ones to have 100% of our movements certified.
What role does craftsmanship play in the manufacture of Breitling watches?
We have a semi-industrial process, which is also linked to the volumes we produce. Our own movements are assembled by hand, but of course we also use machines. We also work with the 7750 movement from Valjoux, which we dismantle completely, before adapting it to our needs and reassembling it. There is always an appropriation, an adaptation specific to 1:1 online Breitling super clone watches. Our bracelets and cases, like everything else in this industry, are made by specialists. In our desire to remain independent, we have developed our own movement, the B01, and we are also in the process of developing a three-hand movement. The long-term aim is to work exclusively with our own movements.
Traceability is an important issue for many customers today. What form does this take at Breitling?
It mainly concerns two materials: gold and diamonds. For gold, we work with the Swiss Better Gold association, which traces our raw material. We are not yet 100% Better Gold, but all our new products are, and by 2025 we aim to be. When it comes to diamonds, our positioning has shocked some people. Let me explain: we have gone down the road of laboratory-cut diamonds. The process is the same as the natural process, but it’s accelerated. It has the same purity and quality as real stones, but because it’s made in a laboratory, we know exactly where it comes from. We felt that using this type of diamond was right for us, because we are not a jeweller, and our diamonds are decorative and often small stones.
How are you positioned in the market? What is Breitling’s business development strategy?
We are a generalist brand, with a vast choice of Breitling replica watches for sale–classic, sports, men’s, women’s–always legitimate and based on our history. We want to offer a luxury watch that is inclusive, relaxed and sustainable. People who come into our shops should feel at ease, welcomed as if they were at home. We do everything we can to ensure that when customers leave our shops, they take away very good memories of their visit. We’re serious, but we don’t take ourselves too seriously.
Before the Breitling boutique opened, the brand was sold through multi-brand distributors. What kind of interaction and relationship do you have with them?
The aim of opening a Breitling boutique is not to take someone else’s slice of the cake, but to make the cake bigger. We work very well with the Kayser family and Lionel Windeshausen. Of our network of 260 shops, 40% are in-house, which means that most of our shops are managed by partners. In Luxembourg, it wasn’t quite like that. We have launched an in-house boutique, but we have very strong relationships with our local partners. And we all work with the same objective: to sell best quality fake Breitling watches and share the same values.
You spoke earlier about the importance of a warm welcome. Can you tell us about the layout of the new boutique?
The concept developed here is that of a New York-style industrial loft, with noble, raw materials, wood, bricks and metal. Naturally, we’ve added touches of yellow, the brand’s signature colour. To recapture the notion of inclusivity I was talking about earlier, we’ve avoided the entrance hatch and have a bar, a sofa and comfortable armchairs. It’s warm and retro-modern. We’d rather have to ask our customers to leave at closing time than have people hesitate to come in because of a cold, unwelcoming atmosphere.
Of the top three Belux points of sale, two are in Luxembourg.
Bernard Hertoghe, CEO, Breitling Belux
How does Luxembourg rank in terms of sales in Europe?
You can imagine that in terms of sales volume, Luxembourg is far behind other markets, but it is very well placed in terms of the number of replica Breitling watches wholesale per inhabitant. It’s an incredible market. The quality of our customers and their level of knowledge is astonishing. There’s a real passion for fine objects and tradition. It’s an especially good market because VAT is lower and we also attract a regional clientele. That makes it a nugget on the European map. Of the top three Belux outlets, two are in Luxembourg.
How much of your sales volume comes from online sales?
It’s still very marginal. But it depends on the market. The United States and the United Kingdom are more fond of it. In Belux, it’s very anecdotal, because the proximity of sales outlets favours physical sales. The Internet can be advantageous if you can buy for less. But for our Swiss made fake Breitling watches, whether you buy online or in a boutique, the price is the same. So a lot of people prefer to go to our points of sale, see the watches for themselves, take advantage of the advice from our teams and have the opportunity to put the watch on their wrist.
What is the profile of a Breitling customer?
Of course, they must already have a certain purchasing power, but thanks to the diversity of the products we offer, our clientele starts in their early thirties and has no limits. With the different materials, the variety of sizes and the price ranges, we can appeal to a broad customer base. It’s still a rather male clientele, since more than eight out of ten Breitling replica watches site UK are sold to men, but we’re working to reach a female clientele as well. It is certainly in this segment that we have the greatest room for growth. I’d like to say that if someone goes into a Breitling boutique and comes out without a watch, it’s because they’ve come to ask us for directions.
If someone goes into a Breitling boutique and comes out without a watch, it’s because they’ve come to ask us for directions.
Bernard Hertoghe, CEO, Breitling Belux
Breitling was known for its large dials. Is this still a distinctive feature of the brand?
Yes and no. We have ladies’ watches that start at 32-36mm and, for men, that are between 38 and 46mm. So there are still big watches, but also smaller, more classic, slimmer watches. Breitling has also opened up a lot to the Asian markets, where the trend is towards smaller cheap Breitling copy watches.
What is the biggest challenge facing Breitling today?
Its expansion. In the Belux region, we have doubled our sales in three years. We have an incredible war machine, with Georges Kern, one of the watch industry’s greatest professionals, at our side. We have a lot of projects on the go and growing can, at times, present certain risks. But in terms of products and marketing, I am very impressed by the direction we are taking. At the moment we have to be patient, because there is an economic slowdown, but we have a royal road ahead of us.
Breitling has just acquired a very important brand in the watchmaking world: Universal Genève. Can you tell us a little about it?
The acquisition of Universal Genève is scheduled for 2026. There will be a management team independent of Breitling replica watches shop. This takeover represents an incredible renaissance, because Universal Genève is a brand with a lot of passion and history. Taking it over is a great responsibility. But if Georges Kern has succeeded in restoring Breitling’s product legitimacy in the face of this 140-year-old heritage, I am very confident about what he will be able to do with Universal Genève. And we also have a third, more affordable brand in the pipeline. But it’s still too early to talk about it…
Mini biography
Bernard Hertoghe, a Belgian by birth, studied marketing at EPHEC in Brussels. After working for Swatch Group between 1995 and 2014, he became official distributor for Audemars Piguet, Jaeger-LeCoultre and Vacheron Constantin in the Belux region. In 2003, he also became an official distributor for Breitling fake watches paypal in Belux. Since 2021, he has been managing director of the Breitling Belux subsidiary.
