Seiko Corp. of America, one of the country’s leading watch vendors, has had a sudden major change in top management, effective June 7.

Les Perry, formerly with the Movado Group, has replaced Richard “Rick” Vogler as executive vice president of sales and marketing for SCA.

Vogler, who has been with SCA for three years, led the revision, consolidation, and streamlining of SCA’s business structure. He made it more customer-centered, eliminated overlap and duplication in operations, improved product supply and delivery systems, and shifted SCA to a more market-oriented strategy.

An SCA statement said his unexpected departure from the organization was due to “personal reasons.”

Perry has 20 years experience in wholesale and retail, 14 of them in the watch industry. He began his career as a sales manager with R.H. Macy’s, rising to become a buyer of fine watches and ultimately vice president, store manager of Macy’s in Huntington, N.Y. He joined Movado nine years ago as vice president of national accounts. For the past four years, he has been general manager of Movado’s ESQ brand.

Perry officially joins SCA on June 17.

Toyoji Tadaka, SCA president and chief executive officer, told JCK that, “Over the past three years, SCA has realigned its operations to better position the corporation for growth, while strengthening its relationships and ties with our retail partners. Les Perry brings the leadership, experience, and relationships to help us achieve our vision.”

Seiko is one of the world’s best-selling watch brands and a popular seller in U.S. jewelry and department stores. In recent years, it has expanded into women’s and more fashion-oriented watches.

SCA, based in Mahwah, N.J., is a wholly owned subsidiary of Seiko Watch Corp., headquartered in Tokyo, marketing watches and clocks under the Seiko and Pulsar brands. Watches in Seiko’s Kinetic series are powered by wrist movement rather than batteries, using Seiko’s kinetic energy technology.

JCK