SJX Watches
Interview: Cyrille Vigneron, Philosopher King of Cartier
After a quarter century at Cartier, Cyrille Vigneron was tapped for the top job in 2016, becoming President and Chief Executive Officer of perhaps the grandest name in jewellery. Under his stewardship Cartier’s lustre has only grown. Not only is the jeweller the second-largest watchmaker by sales, it is such a coveted marque that LVMH chief Bernard Arnault recently commented in the Wall Street Journal, “Cartier is a fantastic brand [but] it’s not for sale.” During Watches & Wonders, I met Mr Vigneron for an interview that ran longer than expected, but we barely touched on watches or jewellery. Dressed in a grey turtleneck, Mr Vigneron possessed the air of an intellectual, very much atypical for an industry where leaders are often big personalities and dressed to match. Yet Mr Vigneron is actually something of a social media influencer, albeit a professional one with over 82,000 followers on LinkedIn. His latest post on the professional social media platform posed the question, “What is true beauty?”, accompanied by a photo of a fallen autumn leaf. It received over a thousand likes and almost 100 comments. His posts on the network usually discuss abstract concepts while offering sharp insight, which is why I decided to leave out the watches (which we have already amply covered) and instead seek his perspective on bigger topics. The interview was edited for clarity and length. SJX: I follow your LinkedIn posts and find there’s always a philosophical, reflective...
