Juan-Carlos Torres first joined the company in 1981, having been with the company throughout the most important stages marking its evolution in addition to having been very closely associated with the evolution of the company right up until becoming its natural “primus inter pares”.
Juan-Carlos Torres was born on 3 July 1956 in Barcelona, Spain, into the family of a Cuban mother and a Catalonian father, a cabinetmaker, who transmitted to him from a very early age, the taste for beautiful objects and fundamental values such as respect for the work of the artisan, authenticity, loyalty and tolerance.
In 1960, his parents moved to Geneva, Switzerland. Even with a new country and a new language, Juan-Carlos Torres was successful at school, and soon became aware of his natural affinity for numbers. This 6th sense “as he likes to call it” has never left him. After commercial school, and at just 19 years of age, he entered the professional world – joining Camy Watch as an accountant and discovering for himself the world of horology, traditional watchmakers, and production. At the same time he followed accounting courses leading to the Diploma in Certified Accounting.
1981 marked the entrance of Juan-Carlos Torres into Vacheron Constantin. It was the beginning of a formidable story, an adventure in which meant that, from that moment, Juan-Carlos Torres was to be closely associated with all the most important developments of the company.
His previous director at Camy Watch had joined Vacheron Constantin and had called for accounting assistance from Juan-Carlos Torres. Very soon, he was working very closely with Jacques Ketterer, at that time proprietor and Administrator Delegate of Vacheron Constantin. Year on year, he progressed gaining more and more important responsibilities, until he achieved the position of Director of Finance in 1988.
Juan-Carlos Torres was directly involved in the management of the sale of Vacheron Constantin to Sheik Yamani. He notably managed the painful rehousing of the watchmakers to Acacias. Here he began to “protect his men”, a value which he is still today very attached and which he considers “essential” for the serenity and durability of an “artisanal” company.
On 1 November 1988, Claude-Daniel Proellochs was made Director General. Juan-Carlos Torres, who was well versed in the business and understood the men of the company well, was confirmed as Director of Finance and Authorized Representative with responsibility for the organization and the smooth internal running of the company. The challenge was important. It was necessary, as he says, “to launch the work of reconstructing Vacheron Constantin”.
From 1989, his responsibilities extended beyond finance to informatics, human resources, after sales service and general administration. The health of the company flourished. It quickly doubled in both size and production.
In 1996, Juan-Carlos Torres piloted the integration of Vacheron Constantin into the heart of the Richemont Group, new proprietor of the brand that had brought with them a formidable platform of support and development. Two years later, he was once again closely involved in the successful acquisition and development of HDG (The Sentier/Vallée of Joux) incorporating it into the structure of Vacheron Constantin.
In 2000, manufacturing and watchmaking were amalgamated and he was made Chief Operating Officer. Development and production: these new responsibilities led him to be placed directly in charge of products, an aspect he holds close to his heart. He found there, once again, the world of taste for beautiful objects learned from his father, reliable, elegant and harmonious objects.
These functions naturally harmonized, driving him to take control of the redeployment of Vacheron Constantin, the key being the successful management of the construction of the new manufactory at Plan-les-Ouates, inaugurated in 2004, and the complete renovation of the historic seat of Vacheron Constantin at L'Ile in Geneva.
This same year, he was made responsible for the distribution, marketing and communication of the brand, which became fields of supplementary activities with which he familiarized himself exceptionally quickly.
In 2005, Vacheron Constantin celebrated its 250th anniversary. After 25 years of faultless loyalty and an exemplary career, which has significantly contributed to the position of the brand at the pinnacle of the pyramid of horology and to the development of its international position, Juan-Carlos Torres has been named Chief Executive Officer of the company by the Richemont Group. The brand is now present in around 80 countries and employs more than 550 people around the world.
Juan-Carlos Torres possesses dual nationality Spanish and Swiss. He is married and father of two children. His interests lean towards classical music with a particular preference for Mozart, who by way of anecdote was born just one year after Jean-Marc Vacheron founded his Manufacture. He thoroughly appreciates movies in all their diversity. Sporty, he regularly goes skiing, but it is the mountains, the natural elements that attract him. He is also an enthusiast motor sports, he drives classic cars in rallies, notably he has participated several times in the Porsche Cups.
