In addition, Parmigiani can also use Gucci-Hermès's channels for top consumers to expand the sales of its watches.
It can be said that all of this is the most favorable outcome for Parmigiani.
After spending a few days with Beatrice in Switzerland, Barron finally decided to acquire the watchmaking industry of the Santos family.
The Gucci-Hermès Group will acquire the remaining 75% of the shares of VMF Movement Factory from the Santos Foundation, and also obtain 75% of the shares of Parmigiani Fleurier. The remaining 25% of the shares will still be in the hands of Michel Parmigiani, the founder of Parmigiani.
It must be said that Barron's aristocratic status also played a certain role in the acquisition, just like his personal use of the Bentley Mulsanne sedan, which made many wealthy people interested in this new Bentley flagship. In the field of luxury goods, he, the old money class with the blessing of "noble blood", can play a leading role.
When Barron returned to London to attend the annual "Guardian Day" event, Hadera Payne, senior vice president of the Gucci-Hermès Group responsible for the acquisition and management of the watch business, also approached another young watch brand, Richard Mille. More
than a decade later, Richard Mille's popularity is still very high. When it comes to this brand, many people may first think of "very expensive"!
Indeed, Richard Mille's watches are very expensive, with an average price of US$180,000, which is about 1.24 million yuan in Chinese currency, and it is not uncommon to see watches that cost tens of millions of Chinese yuan - this is far more than the price of high-end brands in many people's traditional impressions, such as Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet, Vacheron Constantin, Lange and the like.
Therefore, it is also called "the billionaire's ticket"...
In fact, Richard Mille, the founder of Richard Mille, himself does not know how to make or repair watches at all. His biggest connection with watches is that he worked in Seiko and a jewelry and watch store in France before he was 50 years old, and worked in luxury marketing and management.
At the age of 50, that is, after he was over half a century old, he came to create his own watch brand.
Years of experience in luxury marketing and management have taught Richard Mille that many customers with huge purchasing power are no longer satisfied with buying traditional precious metal watches such as Patek Philippe and Vacheron Constantin. They need "different" products.
At that time, the only ones that could be seen on the market were Audemars Piguet's Royal Oak, Royal Oak Offshore, and Franck Muller.
But they are not "different" enough, not "out of the ordinary" enough!
Therefore, "different" has become the foundation of the Richard Miller brand.
Having a highly recognizable appearance design is not enough. Richard Miller watches also need a strong enough "core".
At the beginning, Richard Miller's watches used the movement produced by Audemars Piguet Renaud & Papi (APRP).
APRP was co-founded by former Audemars Piguet employees Dominique Renaud and Giulio Papi in 1986. Its main focus is on designing, developing, and producing high-end complex movements, and does not make finished watches.
The behind-the-scenes technology of many big brands comes from APRP, including Audemars Piguet, A. Lange & Söhne, IWC, Chanel, and Cartier.
APRP was originally called "RP", but in 1992, due to funding problems, Dominique Renaud and Giulio Papi sold most of their shares to Audemars Piguet, which was fully controlled by Audemars Piguet and renamed "APRP".
In 2001, after two years of preparation, research and development, design, and production, Richard Miller released the first watch in the brand's history, the RM001.
At that time, the tourbillon was not as "common" as it was later, and with the unique barrel-shaped case, sapphire dial and other design elements, Richard Miller's watches became a hit as soon as they were launched.
The technical force behind their early watches came from APRP. In fact, for a long time, Richard Miller was able to independently produce only the appearance parts such as the case, and the core movement still needed to be purchased from outside.
In other words, Richard Miller has finally become a company that can produce watch cases after more than ten years of hard work since its establishment.
But Audemars Piguet holds nearly 80% of APRP's shares. According to the contract between them, half of the high-end movements produced by APRP must be supplied to Audemars Piguet, and the other half can be sold out. As the son of Audemars Piguet, APRP must give priority to meeting Audemars Piguet's needs.
This is embarrassing for Richard Miller, who has no R&D capabilities at this time. After all, they are also in a competitive relationship with Audemars Piguet. Once Richard Miller's brand develops well, maybe one day he will not be able to get the movement from APRP. Or APRP will be a little clever and sell Richard Miller defective products and delay the delivery time...
This will definitely cause Richard Miller to get into big trouble, so he still needs to plan ahead.
In the original time and space, just this year, in order to cooperate with APRP for a long time, Richard Miller almost sold and gave away 10% of their shares to Audemars Piguet in a half-sale and half-gift manner, becoming Audemars Piguet's "godson"...
Even further, some of Richard Miller's stores were also handed over to Audemars Piguet to operate.
But now, they have another choice, that is, the VMF movement that is about to be acquired by the Gucci-Hermès Group.
In fact, in the original time and space, Richard Miller later used the VMF movement. After all, even if they sold 10% of their shares, they knew that eggs should not be put in one basket.
At that time, the three major buyers of the VMF movement were Parmigiani, Hermès and Richard Miller.
Now, before Richard Miller took the initiative to sell his shares to Audemars Piguet, Hadera Payne, senior vice president of the watchmaking business of the Gucci-Hermès Group, found Richard Mille and said that after acquiring VMF, they could provide Richard Miller with a stable supply. Of course, the prerequisite is that the other party needs to "reasonably" sell a part of the shares to them.
This can be said to be a perfect match between the two parties. After all, VMF produces the top-level movement, which fully meets Richard Miller's positioning, and the sales channels and customer groups of the Gucci-Hermès Group in the luxury industry are completely "tailor-made" for Richard Miller.
It can be said that compared with Audemars Piguet, the Gucci-Hermès Group is a more ideal "godfather" candidate for Richard Miller.
And who is the boss of Gucci-Hermès?
He is one of the richest and most noble people in the world-His Royal Highness the Duke of Devonshire, who has a top aristocratic history of hundreds of years in England!
If this serious "proud son of heaven" can wear Richard Miller's watch in daily life, this style will be firmly supported immediately. Is there any better advertisement than this?
Therefore, Richard Mille did not hesitate too much and immediately agreed. They will sell 25% of their shares to the Gucci-Hermès Group at a low price, and the watches launched later will start to use VMF's movement.
But there is only one condition, that is, His Royal Highness the Duke of Devonshire needs to wear Richard Miller's watch in some public occasions.
In fact, a considerable part of Richard Miller's success later was due to its successful marketing. They sponsored many activities and invited the biggest stars to endorse Richard Miller's watches to establish its status.
Now, it can be said that it is a dream come true for Richard Miller to have such a top aristocratic "endorsement".