A classicist turned consumer-goods executive is not the successor one might expect at the helm of a family-owned watchmaker. Yet, Ilaria Resta, a lateral thinker with an artisan’s imagination, is the kind of leader Audemars Piguet needs to carry its vision well beyond the next 150 years.
Serendipity is a word that businesses prefer to leave to poets. Happy accidents imply that the marketplace occasionally drops golden tickets into unsuspecting laps, as if success obeyed the logic of coincidence rather than mathematical certainty. But every once in a while, a bolt from the blue becomes valuable when someone perceives its potential.
In a homecoming of sorts, given her grandfather’s Swiss roots, British neo-soul singer-songwriter Raye (born Rachel Keen) had just brought the crowd to its feet at the 2024 Montreux Jazz Festival on the shore of Lake Geneva, riding the momentum of an artist who had reclaimed, loudly and proudly, ownership of her work after a bruising split with her label. Beguiled by the lyrical candour and authority with which she commanded the stage, Audemars Piguet CEO Ilaria Resta invited the Brit Award winner to compose a song for the maison’s 150th anniversary last year through its APxMusic programme, an initiative that fosters dialogue between the arts and horology. Raye’s collaborator for the project would be producer Mark Ronson, the high priest of retro-cool pop and a brand ambassador since 2022.
When the needle dropped on the vinyl, the duo’s big, jazzy summer anthem — buoyed by a supple bass line and soft electronics — arrived as Suzanne, a title chosen, one imagines, for the rhythm and romance that captures the rush of a first crush. Only later did someone point out that it also shared the name of a founding figure in the Piguet family.
No mere muse, Suzanne Audemars — known as “la Zanne”, née Piguet — was forged in the unforgiving winters of the Vallée de Joux. Within weeks, she lost her husband and three children to an epidemic, the cause unknown in a region without a doctor, and found herself snowbound with three surviving offspring aged five to 12. A lapidary by trade and, according to local lore, a herbalist, healer as well as occasional smuggler who slept with a rifle by her bed, she possessed what histories politely call exceptional character. With the help of neighbours and family, she taught her sons watchmaking, inadvertently kindling a dynasty. Her nine-year-old son, Louis-Benjamin, would be the first to carry the Audemars lineage into the annals of Swiss timekeeping.
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Resta has described the convergence of past and present as a form of destiny — especially the unlikely reappearance of Suzanne, whom she speaks of admiringly as an early embodiment of female resolve in a world that offered little room for it. She acknowledges that her own path, too, has been shaped by fortuitous turns.
“I wanted to become a professor, but look where chance brought me,” she enthuses. Raised in Naples, Italy, Resta studied ancient Greek and Latin with the intention of teaching, but pivoted towards business, completing a bachelor’s degree in marketing and economics and a master’s in financial mathematics from the University of Naples Federico II. Winning a university-level marketing contest redefined her trajectory, earning her a coveted internship at Procter & Gamble. What ensued was a 23-year career with the consumer goods giant, where she led major beauty and haircare portfolios in the US, held seven roles across three countries, and eventually rose to senior vice president at its Cincinnati headquarters.
By 2020, she felt she had taken that chapter as far as it could go. Eager to widen her lens, she moved to Firmenich as global president of perfumery, joining what was then the world’s largest privately owned fragrance and taste company. Then came the call she had not anticipated. In January 2024, Resta took the reins at Audemars Piguet, something she recounts as “entirely unplanned”. The maison made the first move, and though she concedes she knew little about the intricacies of haute horlogerie at the time, the proposition delighted her.
See also: Honouring the hour
“It feels as though I’ve been here only a week and a lifetime,” says Resta. “Two years have gone by very swiftly. I’m thankful to have been entrusted with the responsibility of guiding one of the very few traditional watchmaking companies into the future and continued success.”
The Italian became the brand’s first female CEO and one of the few women to have led a global watch stalwart — a distinction others are often quicker to notice than she is. There remains, she observes, a reflex to frame such moments as anomalies. “Very often, people think your background or circumstances determine what you can or cannot do. I’ve seen others assume roles outside their industry and nobody says anything. By contrast, those in my position are expected to explain their legitimacy and why they belong.”
Resta admits, with an easy smile, that she was relieved our conversation did not begin by painting leaders like her as symbolic victories or perpetual respondents to disparity. CEOs are, after all, simply CEOs. The fact that women — cast either as trailblazers or beneficiaries of progress — are still routinely asked to narrate their ascent as “barrier-breaking” suggests their presence at the top has yet to be fully normalised.
Her French predecessor, François-Henry Bennahmias, who spent three decades at the Le Brassus headquarters and expanded revenues from CHF630 million in 2012 to CHF2.35 billion in 2023, continues to be an active reference point — a benchmark to be addressed, if not surpassed. The comparison persists, and despite an estimated 52,000 watches sold last year, Resta does not appear to resent it.
“I’m often asked what I want to change from the previous leadership, but I don’t feel the need,” she says. “The past was hugely successful and I learned a great deal during my transition. Our styles may differ, but we are alike in how deeply we care about people. The first thing I do when I arrive at work, around 8:15am, is drink my macchiato and open my doors — ideas come and go; we sometimes talk about tennis, which I’m obsessed with, since I’m a massive fan of Aryna Sabalenka and Jannik Sinner. There’s also a playful streak to the team, a genuine sense of humour. [At the recent AP Social Club in Andermatt,] Sébastian Vivas, our heritage and museum director, spoke about the relativity of time wearing an Einstein wig and moustache. That’s how candid we are; it’s not something we pretend to be.”
Culture is not a slogan hung on the wall. Resta understood, crucially, that the machine is only as good as the heartbeat behind it — which makes the question of control more than a matter of stewardship. Audemars Piguet stays firmly in family hands — a fact the CEO has stressed repeatedly in her recent speeches, almost pre-emptively, to quell any speculation about suitors. But in an independently led enterprise, where relationships and inheritance influence everything from governance to growth, do such priorities become a competitive edge or a brake on change? How much freedom does private ownership truly afford, and at what cost?
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“One of our biggest advantages is having options that don’t always hinge on return on investment, like creating schools to cultivate new watchmakers. I dream of a day when watchmaking is taught in the curriculum the way art is. The same philosophy applies to crafting timepieces. An idea can take 10 or 15 years to progress from the drawing board to completion, and even then the outcome isn’t guaranteed because innovation is, above all, an exercise in patience. We have also established the École de Savoir-Faire to train artisans in additional areas such as engraving and sertissage [gem-setting]. Additionally, there’s an internal mobility policy, which encourages highly specialised watchmakers to rotate across workshops or departments — sometimes beyond their core expertise — in search of fresh perspectives, creativity and new solutions.”
But autonomy, Resta observes, cuts both ways. “The downside — or, rather, the challenge — is working within the funds available because naturally, external capital gives you more wriggle room. That said, in a publicly traded organisation driven by annual results, you often can’t make choices that will only make sense three or four years from now. Artisans, for example, need 10 years before they can assemble a tourbillon. There are many decisions you wouldn’t make under that kind of pressure. So, frankly, I only see benefits.”
Perpetual commander
The human psyche is rarely built on a vacant lot. Resta’s grit — along with a limited tolerance for falling short and the exacting standards she still upholds today — can be traced to a conscientious childhood. A kindergarten teacher once told her mother that she became visibly distressed whenever her colouring strayed beyond the lines. The instinct later manifested as a habit of deflecting attention.
Personal milestones rarely take centre stage — “I never celebrate the big wins because the focus is already on the next” — and pride instead stems from watching others flourish. Triumph, in this telling, is collective. Heeding the best advice she received at the outset of her career, Resta listens carefully, and seems more energised by the dynamism or dissent of those around the table. “When somebody agrees with me, or with what we’re doing, straight away, I wonder whether we’ve pushed the boundaries of creativity far enough. Immediate consensus often means we’re repeating something that already exists.”
That sentiment feels particularly relevant to the reception of the maison’s early-year releases, which drew admiration and scrutiny from collectors and observers. While critics recognised the audacity behind introducing an entirely new pillar since 2020 through the Neo Frame Jumping Hour, as well as the technical mastery of a monumental anniversary pocket watch with a universal calendar (the first was acquired by a female collector), the gravitational pull of the Royal Oak remains inescapable, with roughly 60% of the production still tied to the signature model, leaving the broader catalogue effectively subordinate to a single design.
The dilemma, then, is whether a brand so tethered to one icon can still claim the mantle of creative disruption.
“There are certain parts of the Royal Oak that are religiously untouchable — the bezel, screws, polished edges that catch the light — which is why we have a family of products that allows us to play with different movements or variations. Of course, we’re attuned to what others are saying — including the frustration of not being able to buy the pieces — but our manufacture simply cannot accommodate those numbers. The limitation ultimately comes down to quality.
“You cannot follow market demand blindly, because that’s how you end up trapped, replicating what has been done instead of choosing what is right in the long term. Feedback on taste is always valuable — it informs improvements like intuitive ergonomics or ease of use — but one must understand that we’re not in a fashion industry that changes every quarter or season. We’re here to remain forever relevant and forever interesting.”
To do so, its RD Series — a decades-long research and development series that began with the RD#1 Royal Oak Concept Supersonnerie and culminated in the RD#5 Royal Oak Extra-Thin Selfwinding Flying Tourbillon chronograph, whose smoother pushers were inspired by the tactile feel of smartphone buttons — has now evolved into the AP Fabrication Laboratories, or, as they are neatly abbreviated, the “Fab Labs”. Conceived as a hub for research, prototyping, experimentation and cross-disciplinary collaboration, the facilities are designed to drive the next generation of breakthroughs.
“Last year, we recorded 10% year-on-year growth, with Gen Z accounting for 11% of buyers, while women became our fastest growing segment. The landscape is changing, and we’re observing how our clients live with their watches every day. They don’t want to leave them in a drawer and visit a boutique just to adjust their perpetual calendar. Instead, they want the same convenience and thrill they experience when using their modern devices. It’s fascinating that a generation raised on smartphones and digital tools is choosing analogue, mechanical watches to set the tempo of their lives. How exciting is that?”
The next movement
If Audemars Piguet is one of the oldest bastions of its craft, then people are the mortar holding the fort together. Its vitality is sustained with traditions woven over centuries — among them, the choir that many of its watchmakers once sang in. The practice cultivated an ear for music, later echoed in the crafting of the house’s most lyrical complications, the chiming marvels that, quite literally, sing the hour.
Nurtured within its walls, that same musical affinity led to a number of crossovers with artists who understand that the best work sits at the intersection of precision and feeling. Its 2005 collaboration with Jay-Z, commemorating his 10th year in music, laid the groundwork for everything that followed: the Millenary Quincy Jones, rendered in blackened steel with a piano motif; and Travis Scott’s Cactus Jack edition, which brought the house its first Royal Oak in brown ceramic; and the moon phase replaced by the label’s signature sewn-shut smiley face. There is also the partnership with the aforementioned Montreux Jazz Festival, which supported the digitisation and preservation of the festival’s vast sound archives — equivalent to more than 5,000 hours of recordings — now recognised by Unesco as part of its Memory of the World.
All these nudge at the “radical openness” concept that Resta has been keen to articulate. Audemars Piguet is in the business of culture — of preserving, commissioning and occasionally making it. This also explains why it has decided to return to Watches & Wonders in April, after its last appearance at the Geneva trade fair in 2019, when it was still known as the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie.
“There is so much one can draw from the maison without necessarily buying a watch,” says Resta. “It is about entertainment and discovery, like standing in front of a painting at a museum. You do not need to own something to be moved by it. Fairs like Watches & Wonders have a real power to pull enthusiasts in, be it the scale of the booths, installations or sense of occasion. Visitors want to hold the pocket watch [unveiled for the 150th anniversary] in their hands or understand how you can merge all the possible calendars in the universe. More broadly, it brings us closer as an industry during crisis and uncertainty, especially when it is more important than ever for all players to unite for a brighter future. We’re also rethinking our retail experiences, which means playing with formats we have not tried before.
“Everyone is clamouring for exclusivity. But, honestly, it’s a word I really don’t like because it can end up shutting people out of watchmaking, and that’s not the intent. It’s about developing passion for a pursuit that is as meaningful as art, music and history. We have a responsibility to protect the patrimony of the company and it all starts with maximising the muscles you have today,” asserts Resta, who has already mapped out a vision through to 2040. It includes elevating the quality of manufacture and future-proofing the atelier against worst-case scenarios, from recruiting young talent from a competitive pool to ensuring the ship still sails even without revenue for 12 months.
In a trade that runs high on emotion and measures feats in fractions of a second, perhaps the rarest complication of all is when to trust the plan and when to let chance rewrite it. Fate and faith, it turns out, have always had a place in the Vallée de Joux. And for those attentive enough to discern them, the rewards can last generations.
