Rodolphe Makes Management Changes, Wins Watch of the Year

By William George Shuster -- JCK Online, 2/1/2007 2:00:00 AM

Swiss luxury brand Rodolphe Watches & Jewellery has made some top management changes, and its Instinct Chrono 180° was named Watch of the Year 2006 by a leading watch magazine.

Didier Decker, chief operating officer of the group, has also become director of Rodolphe Watches & Jewellery. He'll focus primarily on communication, marketing, and brand development. Jacky Epitaux, who was director of sales and marketing, left in October. Longtime employee Julien Mottaz is the new sales manager.

Co-founders Rodolphe Cattin and Gabriele Guidi continue to provide “creative and operational management [in] close collaboration” with Vartan Sirmakes, co-founder and chief executive officer of the Franck Muller Group, said a company statement.

The Watch of the Year 2006 honor was announced Nov. 1. Rodolphe's Instinct Chrono 180° was unanimously picked from dozens of competitors by a jury of watch experts for the Swiss watch magazine Montres Passion. About its sideways tonneau design, Rodolphe Cattin said the intent was to “see the world from a different standpoint. Reality is an individual perception.”

The Instinct Chrono 180° has both an automatic chronograph movement with date and a quartz movement showing hours and minutes. The chrono movement, developed exclusively for the Instinct model, was rotated 180° from a traditional chronograph, putting the crown on the left side.