fter ten years at Tudor and six years at Montblanc, followed by a brief tenure at HYT, Davide Cerrato joined Bremont in May 2023. The British brand has made significant investments these past few years, much of this from the United States, and has opened a new manufacturing centre in the south of England.

Will he raise awareness of a brand that aims to represent the return of British watchmaking on the international stage? “I know this price segment really well,” he says, “which is a definite advantage in this new adventure.”

Europa Star: Tell us about your first decisions as chief executive of Bremont.

The first thing to be taken in hand was communication: there were too many different narratives. Britain has a history of adventure and exploration, and these are the themes I chose for our main message. Bremont also maintains strong ties with the military. Its watches equip combat personnel worldwide, which is still the best way to test our tool watches’ durability in real-life conditions.

My aim is to make Bremont the champion of tool watches. We’re pushing further with our testing programmes, which now include ejection seat testing. Our partners in the marine world are personalities such as Laird Hamilton and Ocean Ramsey. And we’re committed to making the brand more sustainable.

As a British brand, how do you intend to turn the tables in a Swiss-dominated segment?

Our Britishness singles us out and this original positioning is also an asset. The country’s great explorers are still very much present in the collective imagination. Bremont needed to be more strongly anchored in the watchmaking ecosystem and was also lacking a clear design identity. Design is all about detail. We’ve tweaked the design of the Supermarine and already people are liking it more. Also, we’ll be at Watches and Wonders with a new line of field watches.

Now we have much clearer segmentation with strong offerings in the three territories of sea, land and air. We have the benefit of the Swiss suppliers already in my network. Our new field watch was developed almost entirely in Switzerland. We want the best of both worlds.

What about price positioning?

We’ve lowered our entry price point for models under £3,000. Our comfort zone is now between £2,500 and £4,500. Through this strategy, we aim to grow the brand globally, in particular in the United States which is a key market for the tool watch segment.