It was earlier in January of this year that former CEO, Aldo Magada’s departure was announced leaving Mr. Jean-Claude Biver, head of LVMH’s watchmaking division to take on stewardship of Zenith in the interim. But, of course, as is the case with Hublot and TAG Heuer, which are led by Ricardo Guadalupe and Guy Semon, respectively, from the inside, it wouldn’t be long before we heard of an appoint likewise for Zenith. Especially now that Baselworld is done and dusted, and rubber must meet the road before the year progresses any further.

In an announcement published by letemps.ch, just hours ago, Mr. Biver has confirmed that as of 1st May 2017, the role of CEO at Zenith will be taken on by Julien Tornare, who, until recently, had been with Vacheron Constantin for a good 17 years.

Toranre’s last appointment at Vacheron Constantin was as the Managing Director of Asia Pacific. Prior to that he had held other large regional roles such as head of the Swiss market and then the head of the American market. Now he faces the rather challenging task of steering Zenith upward in — what can be quite unabashedly described as — a difficult season.

But credentials and track record at Vacheron Contantin, though, suggest that Julien is more than capable of taking on the challenges that lay ahead. In letemps.ch‘s announcement article, Julien is quoted to have descried the task ahead as, “titanic,” but nonetheless a task he is eager to challenge himself with in partnership with, Jean-Claude Biver.

Julien’s departure from Vacheron Constantin comes in the wake of changes in leadership at Richemont and, of course, the maison itself.

To understand the task that lays ahead for Julien at Zenith, have a listen to Wei Koh’s interviews with Zenith Watch’s, Romain Marietta, TAG Heuer’s Guy Semon and, of course, Mr. Biver, on three separate occasions, while at Baselworld 2017.