It’s been eighteen months since the takeover of Cabestan, by new CEO, Lionel Betoux. His secret to success is the step-by-step installation of core values to establish a brand Day & Night found out what exciting changes have happened since we last spoke to Betoux in the summer of 2014.
What inspired Cabestan timepieces?
In English, Cabestan means capstan, which is a mechanical device found on sailing boats used for winding rope. From a vertical perspective, this device displays the chain and the fuse, which is the concept behind our designs. This is what makes up the DNA of Cabestan; every single watch we produce has the chain and fuse concept.
What are the changes that are happening currently?
I took over the company in March 2013, since then the biggest step we have taken was to re-establish the values of the brand and to make sure that every action in the development of Cabestan was linked to those values. It’s important to show our clients that they are a part of the Cabestan family; we can do that as we sell between 30 – 50 watches per year, so each client gets personal attention from Cabestan which wasn’t done before. What makes our watches unique is that the client can personalise it; changing colours, engraving, and we can also change the numbers to Arabic, like we recently did with an existing client. Another thing that we didn’t do in the past was to work with the media in order to better inform people about the brand and our watches.
How do you allocate distribution in terms of where your watches are sold?
At the moment it’s primarily in Asia. We have invested a lot of energy around the Jakarta and Singapore area. We have only just started to distribute in Dubai, where we are enjoying working with Ahmed Seddiqi & Sons, and I would like to thank them for carrying our brand. We also have a retailer in Doha; Al Bidaa, who are new in the watch industry. We are also looking to expand into Kuwait and Saudi Arabia in the future.
What steps are you taking to educate people about the brand?
There are two ways to do this; either you remain exclusive by sticking to a small quantity of production and do minimal marketing, or you can increase your exposure and reach a wider audience. At Cabestan, we are moving with the times and utilising social networking sites and other digital platforms, in addition to working with magazines which feature our brand.
What are your goals for 2015?
The goal for 2015 is to launch our new model, as it will mark the rebirth of Cabestan. We also want to gain more exposure regarding marketing, to increase our contacts database and to be able to give more freedom to our Master Watchmaker to develop new models.