The CEO of De Bethune earned his watchmaking spurs in 2000: he was working in publishing at the time and decided to create the watchmaking magazine GMT with yours truly. For almost a decade, Pierre Jacques served as a publisher, devoting most of his time to business development – initially in Switzerland and then in new markets, with versions of the magazine for Belgium and Luxembourg, Russia and Ukraine, the US, as well as France where his network continued to grow. Circulation and influence increased as the title evolved, with innovative formats, including the flagship XXL version, as well as partnerships with leading watchmaking institutions, such as the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG). When Edipresse acquired GMT in 2009, Pierre Jacques was given the reins of the GPHG for two years, orchestrating its 10th anniversary among other notable developments.
In 2010, Les Ambassadeurs, Geneva’s famed retailer of exquisite watches and jewellery, placed him at the helm of their flagship boutique in Geneva. A year later, the two founders of De Bethune saw in him the right CEO for their brand. The groundbreaking DB28 won the GPHG “Aiguille d’Or” in 2011 and within three years sales had quadrupled, propelling De Bethune into the firmament of brands prized by fine watch collectors. Right from the start, Pierre Jacques has always been totally committed, whether in the background or on the front line helping the brand weather various storms and crises. In 2017, this definitely “De Bethune blue-blooded” individual once again took control of the Manufacture as CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors, working in close cooperation with the brand co-founder, master-watchmaker Denis Flageollet. Together, they burnished the brand to a bright lustre and generated a new dynamic which bore fruit within a year: in 2018, the GPHG Chronometry Prize was awarded to the DB25 Starry Varius Chronomètre Tourbillon.
*On the occasion of GMT Magazine and WorldTempus' 20th anniversary, we have embarked on the ambitious project of summarising the last 20 years in watchmaking in The Millennium Watch Book, a big, beautifully laid out coffee table book. This article is an extract. The Millennium Watch Book is available on www.the-watch-book.com, in French and English, with a 10% discount if you use the following code: WT2021.
