Top 7 Moves Georges Kern Has Made as Breitling CEO

Georges Kern has been given a lot of credit for improving Breitling’s status in the industry, and rightfully so. Since his tenure as CEO of Breitling began in 2017, Breitling has roughly doubled their revenue and become one of the top ten luxury watchmakers. You might say Breitling has “toned it down” a bit, but more importantly their lineup has become more coherent as well. Here I’ll list all my favorite moves that Georges Kern has made as Breitling CEO.

Georges Kern’s Career Before Breitling

First, let’s briefly cover Kern’s pre-Breitling trajectory: After studying Political Science in Strasbourg and Business Administration at the University of St. Gallen, he began his professional journey at Kraft Foods Switzerland before entering the watch industry with TAG Heuer. He joined Richemont Group in 2000 and ultimately became IWC‘s CEO at just 36 (the youngest CEO at Richemont), and was briefly promoted to Head of Watchmaking, Marketing and Digital.

But when CVC Capital purchased Breitling in 2017, they immediately hired Kern to run their new (to them) brand. He would waste no time leaving his mark at Breitling, kicking off what the brand calls the “Retro Modern Era.”

Phasing Out the Winged B

The “winged B” Breitling logo is cool and all, but I think people unavoidably associate it with the chunky 1990s-2000s Breitling era.

Georges Kerns decided to (mostly) drop the winged B soon after he arrived at Breitling, although you can still find it on models like the Aerospace B70 Orbiter and the Endurance Pro. Overall, I think the new script-B logo is cleaner, and it’s actually closer to what their original logo looked like.

Dropping the “Aeromarine” Moniker

Some of Breitling’s lineup was considered part of what they called the “Aeromarine” lineup from about 2007-2017. It included some Avenger models as well as some Superocean models, but it was confusing what it was supposed to mean exactly. Air and water? I mean, doesn’t that describe just about any Breitling? Anyway, Georges Kern put an end to that nonsense quickly. Good call.

Relaunching the Premier Line

Before the Premier, Breitling’s only classy/low-key line was basically the Transocean. The Transocean lineup was perfectly fine, but not particularly distinctive, and it never got a ton of attention from collectors. Two-register automatic 42mm chronograph Premier models debuted in 2018, and they were a success. The 40mm manual-wind versions released in 2021 seemed to get even more attention (especially the pistachio one), and in 2023 Breitling reimagined the color schemes of the 42mm lineup a bit.

Some non-chronograph Transocean models (like Day+Date models and simple 40mm automatic models) effectively marched on under the Premier moniker for a while, but Kerns has (wisely I think) made the Premier lineup chronograph-only at this point. That certainly tracks with his philosophy of coherent branding.

There are tourbillon chronographs, triple calendar chronographs with moonphase (Datora), split-seconds chronographs (Duograph), and even a perpetual calendar chronograph in the Premier collection today. They’re all either 40mm or 42mm, and prices range from $9,000 for a two-register steel version on a leather strap all the way up to $73,000 for the tourbillon model in a platinum case.

Removing the Tachymeter from the Navitimer

The Breitling Navitimer is famous for its rotating slide rule bezel, which involves two rings of numbers on logarithmic scales, useful for calculating airspeed or even doing multiplication. It requires a lot of numbers–and traditionally, Navitimers also had a tachymeter scale on the dial, which requires even more numbers.

The unapologetic clutter and bigness of the earlier Navitimer style was part of its charm I suppose, but I think the decision to drop the tachymeter scale was a good one. The Navitimer dial still has plenty going on; don’t worry.

Georges Kern Dropped the Breitling Navitimer 8

I give Georges Kern immense credit for dropping the Navitimer 8 collection. Breitling nerds might say “Wait a minute, wasn’t the Navitimer 8 launched in 2018 during the Kerns era?” and yes, it was. Purists were immediately offended by the lack of a slide rule bezel on a watch named “Navitimer.” It wasn’t a hit.

But Breitling didn’t ignore their fans; they quickly renamed it the “Aviator 8.” And what did they do when the Aviator 8 didn’t sell well? They dropped it from the lineup. I think this demonstrates a refreshing lack of hubris on Kern’s part. He didn’t insist on his “vision.” He tried something new, customers hated it, and he moved on.

Rouleax Bracelets on All Chronomats

Georges Kern clearly understands the need for Breitling to differentiate its lineups. If you look back at Breitling 10-20 years ago, you could grab models from all sorts of different lineups–Aerospace, Chronomat, Airwolf, Seawolf Avenger etc.–and they all kinda looked the same, with the same shiny appearance and rider-tab bezels. Breitling has made the smart decision to drop some of those models (like Airwolf) while visually differentiating the remaining ones.

The Avenger still has a rotating rider-tab bezel similar to that of the Chronomat, for instance, but now Avenger bezels are all monochromatic, whereas the numbers on Chronomat bezels contrast with the background. And one of the biggest recent differentiators is that while the Avenger gets more typical bracelet and strap options, Chronomat models are now only offered on Rouleaux bracelets or Rouleaux-like rubber straps (with the exception of a handful of ladies’ models offered on leather).

The term “Rouleaux” refers to a stack of rolled coins, which is appropriate for this stacked-horizontal-bar bracelet style. Breitling pioneered the Rouleaux bracelet in the 1980s and revived it in 2020. Before, you couldn’t really tell which model a Breitling was at a glance–which isn’t great for branding. They all just vaguely looked like Breitling watches, but Georges Kern has largely changed that.

Georges Kern Has Made No New Breitling Watches Over 46mm

The massive (51mm) second-generation Breitling Emergency is still in the catalog (for now), but aside from that, Breitling seems to have discontinued everything above 46mm. The 48mm option quietly seems to have been removed from the Superocean lineup. The Superocean, Superocean Heritage, Classic Avi, and Avenger families now all top out at 46mm, and aside from the Emergency II, none of their other models exceed 44mm. No more 48mm Navitimer GMT, no more Superocean 48, and no more Super Avenger 48.

None of these thoughtful, rational ideas are revolutionary by any means. But collectively, the results speak for themselves. The Georges Kern era has brought Breitling from the #19 watch brand to one of the top ten luxury watch brands in the world. They really seem to be hitting their stride right now, and we’ll certainly keep you updated with all the 2025 Breitling releases.