After the thunderclap in the watchmaking firmament following the nomination of Jean-Frédéric Dufour as the new general manager of Rolex (see our article of 15 April), there was widespread speculation, rumour and suspense about who would succeed him at Zenith. The suspense ended as of this weekend. Among the chosen few in the court of Jean-Claude Biver, the head of the LVMH watchmaking branch, which Zenith belongs to, Aldo Magada confirmed to us on Friday 2 May that he had agreed to leave the Breitling squadron to join the Zenith star. His assets? Management, marketing, organisation, product, strategy and sales, plus knowledge of the strategically important markets of China and the United States.
Described by his relatives and close friends as a pleasant, pragmatic and dynamic man "who does not change", Aldo Magada has nevertheless changed levels and geographical region on numerous occasions, enriching his experience all the more for it. A graduate of the HEC in Lausanne and the University of California, San Diego, he has been successful as an entrepreneur as well as a manager.
Having been trained by the Richemont group as a Watch & Jewellery Products Manager at Piaget International in the early 1990s, he later became Vice-President Marketing at Omega, where he worked with Jean-Claude Biver, before taking over responsibility for marketing and sales at Ebel.
At the beginning of the third millennium he became CEO of Gucci. He then set up as a consultant to luxury brands such as Technomarine, before being hired to manage Reuge, then Badollet. He set up his consultancy Troubleshooting Management in 2009, which Breitling hired to develop sales in China, before appointing him International Director of Sales & Business Development.
