MILAN — Jean-Marc Pontroué, chief executive officer of Italian watchmaker Panerai, is stepping down.
The executive, who was appointed to the role in 2018, revealed his departure from the Compagnie Financière Richemont-owned company with an Instagram post thanking his team and partners.
“Dear Colleague & Partner, Confucius was used to say that ‘If you have a job that you love, you would not have to work one single day of your life.’ I have been a blessed and privileged person as I sincerely enjoyed every single day of my journey at Panerai. However, after 25 years in Richemont, my life in the group comes to an end,” he wrote.
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“It’s a bittersweet moment as I say goodbye to 841 committed Panerai members, supportive trade partners, collaborative suppliers, loyal customers, inspiring Paneristis, enthusiast media communities from Switzerland, Italy and all the countries where we operate,” he added.
Panerai representatives did not immeditely respond to a request for comment.
Emmanuel Perrin, who has been head of specialist watchmakers at group level since 2017, is tipped to be Pontroué’s successor at Panerai, according to industry sources.
Perrin was previously executive vice president of sales, international commercial director at Cartier and the president of the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie, the organizing body of the Watches and Wonders fair.
Pontroué joined Panerai in 2018 from Roger Dubuis, a Swiss high watchmaking company also owned by Richemont. He took the reins from Angelo Bonati, then the longest-serving CEO in the luxury watch industry, who slipped into retirement after 20 years at the helm of Panerai.
During his tenure, Pontroué has challenged conventions in the high watching industry especially geared at advancing the company’s sustainability credentials.
Not only did he spearhead the use of recycled materials, but published lists of Panerai’s suppliers in the hope that its competitors would use similar metals and substances.
Panerai was founded by Giovanni Panerai in Florence in 1860 as a watch shop, a workshop and a watchmaking school. It supplied precision instruments, and later technical watches, to the Italian Navy, and later to the Egyptian Navy.
For most of its history it’s been associated with the military and underwater performance, one reason why Panerai has worked with UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission.
Since the early ’90s Panerai has begun making watches for civilians. It was acquired by Richemont (then known as the Vendôme Group) in 1997 and has developed a cult following, initially for its oversize styles that are favorites of celebrities like Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger.