WatchTime India: What was the idea when the brand was established, and how has it changed today?

Elie Bernheim: It's important to remember that the brand was founded by my grandfather [Raymond Weil, along with Simone Bédat, who left the brand in 1996 to form Bedat & Co.] in 1976 in the middle of the Quartz Crisis. He was a visionary and an entrepreneur, and knew that there was demand for certain categories of products, and that's what pushed him to go his own way. Then my father joined him in 1982, and I joined him in 2006. I took the reins of the company in 2014. My grandfather launched a brand where the value for money was very important, and almost 50 years later, it is still what I'm saying to our different partners and consumers. It's the value for money that we believe is the most important thing.

WTI: How would you say the brand's growth has been in the last five years?

EB: The growth has been very sustainable. As a family company, it's important to manage the DNA and to finish with a profitable year. So, no matter what the year is-strong or weak-we always manage to have a growth that we can manage.

WTI: When you took on the role of CEO, what was the idea that you came with and have you been able to execute that?

EB: It's always a challenge. When it's a family company, taking the reign is a huge responsibility. Since I'd been with my father, nothing really changed, not necessarily at the moment I became the head of the company—it's just a natural evolution, not only because we are a family business, but because we're also working with other family businesses. And human relationships are very important for us. We are very loyal to our partners. It's the way we behave, the way we build the brand, and having the right product at the right price.

Even more, with the launch of our latest collection, Millesime, I think that we meet the aim of having refined, elegant timepieces at an accessible price.

WTI: What would you count as the brand's recent milestones?

EB: One of the major milestones will come soon because we will be celebrating our 50th anniversary. We are not a startup anymore.

It's a mature age, because you've learned a lot, and you can prove yourself in many aspects. So, celebrating this milestone in less than 18 months will be great for the company. And we hope that this market [India] will support our growth for the next few years, because we feel we have a high potential in different markets.

WTI: Which collection is best performing for Raymond Weil and why do you think that is?

EB: The Freelancer collection has been our flagship for many years. But it was very important for the company to balance Freelancer with something else, and that's the reason we developed the Millesime collection. We launched it so that we don't have all our eggs in the same basket, but ensure that it is split it over different collections, and more than that, to attract other consumer profiles.

WTI: What is your biggest challenge as an independent watchmaker today?

EB: Most of the time, it's fighting for space.

At the end of the day, we are sometimes the little one; the independent family company, against big groups. That's why it's so important to work with partners who believe in our values, our brand, who support us, and make sure that we have a space specifically allocated to us in the stores.

WTI: Your plans for the Indian market?

EB: We have high expectations, obviously.

But I have to say that the one person who believed the most in this market for many years, for decades, was my father. He's passionate about the Indian market. He gave me that passion, and we will be coming more and more to India because it's a fantastic culture. I love the people, I love the food, I love everything here.

WTI: Which collections will be your focus for 2025?

EB: We need to focus on both the Freelancer and Millesime collections, because, at the end of the day, they are targeting two different types of consumers. In terms of the price point, they are more or less the same. So, we will be pushing more and more of those collections.