PARIS — Longtime Bulgari chief executive officer Jean-Christophe Babin is adding another feather to his cap.
The Roman jeweler’s parent group LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton on Friday named him chief executive officer of LVMH Watches, which comprises the Hublot, Zenith and Tag Heuer brands.
Babin, who has been CEO of Bulgari since 2013, will keep his current role at the jeweler. In the watch division, he succeeds Frédéric Arnault, who was named CEO of Loro Piana as part of a raft of executive changes announced earlier in the month.
In his new role, the Bulgari executive will continue to report to LVMH group managing director Stéphane Bianchi. Hublot’s Julien Tornare, Tag Heuer’s Antoine Pin and Benoit de Clerck, CEO of Zenith, will report to Babin.
“Under the leadership of Frédéric Arnault, the watches division has undertaken a significant transformation, including the implementation of operational synergies between the group’s watchmaking maisons, and substantial work on the positioning and challenges of each of them,” Bianchi said in a statement shared first with WWD.
“I thank Frédéric and am pleased to see this dynamic continue with the appointment of Jean-Christophe Babin, who will leverage his entrepreneurial spirit, energy, and exceptional leadership qualities to serve the sustainable and ambitious growth of the division,” he continued.
The French group’s watch division was created in January 2024. Babin’s roadmap is to continue “building and orchestrating the development and elevation strategies” of the three brands now under his purview, the group said.
Watchmaking is a field that is familiar to Babin, who joined LVMH in 2000 as CEO of Tag Heuer, a position he held for 12 years, before moving to his current role at Bulgari in early 2013.
During his tenure, the Italian brand continued to burnish its heritage as a jeweler while also growing into a serious watchmaker that regularly breaks world records for the thinnest watches with various complications.
