#iwccareers

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Success Story - Sandra and Paolo

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Success Story - Elisabeth

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Success Story - Rachel

“IWC led me to this incredible journey, moving across countries in various positions, gaining valuable experience and skills along the way. Over the years, I have always felt appreciated by my supervisors and work colleagues as I work with people who are passionate, supportive, and respectful to each other.”

My name is Rachel, I was born in Philadelphia to Taiwanese parents. I have studied and worked in the US, Taiwan, UK, Singapore, Hong Kong and recently moved to Switzerland. As a student, I always had a strong interest in fashion and luxury goods but was unable to enroll in the design school of my choice and instead studied Japanese culture and literature, which also fascinates me. Out of passion, I went on to complete a master’s in International Fashion Business at Nottingham Trent University. After graduating, I applied to work in the Women´s Fashion department at Harrods London but was pleasantly surprised to be offered a position in the A. Lange & Söhne Boutique as a Sales Consultant. Through this experience I gained a good knowledge of watchmaking and fell in love with mechanical watches ever since then. Nine months later, I joined Watches of Switzerland on Oxford Street as Chinese Business Manager, driving the Chinese business by promoting the store and products to the local Chinese community and recruiting/retaining Chinese customers and tour guides.

In December 2013, I joined IWC as a Boutique Manager of Marina Bay Sands Singapore. In this position, I learned so much about running a business that it helped me build a solid foundation for other future positions. In 2016, I took on a new challenge by moving to Hong Kong as Area Boutique Manager, managing the boutiques on Hong Kong Island and in Kowloon, as well as supporting some retail office duties. The experience of managing 6 boutiques in different countries, including the Hong Kong Flagship 1881 Heritage, is very valuable as each boutique has a different environment and customer profile. In 2019, I was further promoted to Retail Operations Manager and then Retail Manager of Hong Kong and Macau. The most difficult times in retail came during these years, with the social unrest in Hong Kong, followed by COVID. I was involved in various projects such as opening, closing and relocating boutiques, launching new pop-up concepts and retail tools, and many exciting activations and events.

In my current position as Retail Operations Manager APAC, I monitor closely performance, commercial development of retail tools and develop actions plans with markets to achieve Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Furthermore, I act as the main Point of Contact (POC) at the Headquarters for retail topics, operation guidelines and retail HR related topics in my responsible region.      

Throughout the years, I have always felt valued by my managers and work colleagues who showed me that my opinions mattered. Moreover, I received many trainings and felt excited and proud at each new launch and event. All in all, I feel very lucky to be able to work in a company like IWC.

Rachel Lo | Retail Operations Manager APAC

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Success Story - Christoph

“Overall, IWC is a very stable company with long term strategies & values. The work environment is pleasant and well developed, it is a safe employer which takes care of its employees and also offers a fair compensation package – and of course there are great products and cool stories behind them.”

I was born and raised near the black forest close to Rottweil, Germany. As it was historically a watchmaking area, I started my professional career in watchmaking with 16 as an apprentice because I liked the calm and neat atmosphere. During that time, I had the chance to visit IWC – at that point, it became a dream of mine to work for this company one day.

After finishing my apprenticeship and after a few months of working, a watchmaker job advertisement at IWC caught my eye. I did not lose any time and applied right away. Fortunately I got the chance for an interview with Ronnie Jäger. Born of a dream, I started with IWC in January 1998 as a watchmaker in the movement assembly line. After my military service in the fighter bomber squadron 34 «Edelweiss» in 1999, I joined the complications department in the year 2000. In the beginning I was producing the legendary DaVinci Perpetual Calendar of Kurt Klaus and then, in 2002, I reached watchmaking heaven working on the IWC Grand Complication with its sophisticated and technically challenging minute repeater mechanism.

Yet, with my young way of thinking (I was striving for of a position in the office), I decided to leave IWC in order to work for the laboratory appliance industry in procurement and production planning.  «Cobbler stick to your last», wanting to work abroad for a bit, I got back to IWC to re- build the service workshop as a supervisor in Dallas. Being with the cowboys for some time and a promotion to technical manager for the Richemont «specialist watchmaker» brands, Andreas Voll gave me the opportunity to come back to Schaffhausen and to start a new department within customer service to support and manage the international service platforms.

And here I am. Going through some changes I am now responsible for Customer Service and moreover, also adding the watchmaking apprenticeship into my care, as Associate Director Customer Service & Technical Education.

I received plenty of opportunities to grow with IWC, I had great and open minded mentors to learn from, participated in two educational programs which were co- financed. All this in combination with the possibility to work abroad.

CHRISTOPH BIPPUS -  Associate Director Customer Service & Tec. Education

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Success Story - Thomas

“For children growing up in Schaffhausen, "IWC" is already a household name, even though they have no idea about watches. And it was the same with me. This, combined with a preference for creating something delicate with my hands, led me to my choice of profession today.”

During my apprenticeship as a watchmaker, I quickly learned to curb my impatience and my urge to move, and was able to immerse myself wonderfully in the traditional and innovative world of watchmaking. Since I value Schaffhausen very much as my home town and the fact that IWC is an attractive employer, it was clear to me, that I wanted to stay with the company after my professional education.

Fortunately, I was offered a job in the movement assembly of caliber 51. With this movement, which was used in the Big Pilot and the Portugieser automatic among others, I was able to apply my learned knowledge which I gained during my apprenticeship for two years. In 2017, the caliber 51 was then replaced with the newly constructed caliber 52. But this development happened without me. My next step for the following year led me to the team of the 8-day manual winding. The so called caliber 59. At that time, the move to the newly constructed Manufaktruzentrum was especially exciting. During my three years in the movement assembly, I occasionally also worked for the marketing department. I was allowed to represent watchmaking at various events. For me as a watchmaker, that was a wonderful experience to experience the fascination of our clients at first hand.

In order to keep my appearance in front of the international clients professional, IWC gave me the opportunity to attend English courses. This has also proven to be very helpful to me in the long term, as communication in English became more and more important for my current job. In search of new challenges, I have decided to move from the production to service watchmaking. I was offered the position of International Service Watchmaker. The new position was linked to a one-year development plan, as the job requires experience in watch repairing, which I did not have at that time. The main task of this position is to assist the Richemont Service Platforms worldwide in case of bottlenecks and to pass on my knowledge of IWC watches during up to four weeks on site. Since a crucial part of the business is done in the Far East, I often do business travels to China.

Besides travelling about half of my working time, I perform other tasks when I am at the headquarters in Switzerland. One major task is the STREAM+ project, where the goal is to standardize the repair process worldwide. Since beginning of 2019, I have been training watchmakers how to repair watches according to IWC standards. As a result of travel bans caused by the current pandemic, we have now started to provide digital training. This enables us to stay in contact with the platforms. Without the trust of my superiors and the support of IWC, a career move to the Customer Service team would not have been possible.

THOMAS ZIMMERMANN - International Service Watchmaker

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Success Story - Gaëlle

“When you share a common passion the sky isn’t even the limit, and IWC allows each and every one of us to become our own Florentine Ariosto Jones, tapping into his entrepreneurial legacy.”

My name is Gaëlle Devins and I am from the French part of Switzerland. Having completed a successful internship at Harry Winston in Geneva, I moved to San Francisco to pursue a Master’s Degree in Marketing and Communication at Golden Gate University. I decided to remain in the US and my first post Degree role was with an Advertising Agency on Madison Avenue New York. After a couple of years, an opportunity came up to join Japan Tobacco International in Geneva. Moving back to my home country as an expat was hard to resist, working for such a controversial product wasn’t. Yet the role offered a wonderful development opportunity. Deep down, despite the fantastic people and professional opportunities at JTI, my heart was aching to go back to Luxury.

For many years I tried to break back into Luxury, but the role in tobacco was closing all doors before they would even open. In the end, with the right mindset, patience and a very good headhunter my dream came true and I was back in Luxury at Ralph Lauren in London, heading up their retail marketing for Northern Europe. The world of fashion, meeting Ralph Lauren and his son, were unique moments in time. The glamour of the Ralph Lauren boutiques, the pure creative genius of Ralph, carried us in his vision to create a very unique lifestyle. One day, out of the blue, I received a headhunt call for a job in Hong Kong. Being happy in London and at Ralph Lauren, I didn’t give it any further thought, until a few weeks later the same person called again prompting me to reconsider. The reason was the employer name IWC Schaffhausen, and I agreed to a phone interview with the Managing Director of North East Asia. IWC Schaffhausen was the only other brand that I felt could tell stories, design boutique environments that were immersive enough to showcase their unique lifestyle components, highlighting furthermore its stunning manufactured timepieces. The phone interview went well and that same week I was on plane to Hong Kong. I had never been to Asia and every aspect of it was fascinating. Walking around Lan Kwai Fong, trying to find my way to the office, all I could think of was: «Am I crazy enough to do this?»

A few months later in November 2012, having trusted the process, I had accepted a role with IWC as Marketing and Communication Director Hong Kong. I packed up my life and landed in Hong Kong officially embarking on the best and most rewarding professional journey one can dream of. One of the many projects I worked on was the Launch of Watches & Wonders first Edition, working closely with our HQ teams, managed by Chris Grainger-Herr the lead behind our first Asian fair. Other areas of focus were on the topics of retail marketing/CRM and digital activation. Following this, an opportunity came up to transfer to New York to launch our first E-commerce Platform. Together with Dominic Weir and his team we did just this. Less than a year into the job, the Retail Director for IWC North America left and I was offered the role. Retail is all about numbers, but numbers are nothing without a fantastic team, made up of talented individuals that together create a powerful and skillful network. Traveling North America, dealing with the different time zones, the vastness of the country, the many boutiques, the crazy hours, and the lack of sleep was intense yet so rewarding. Adrenaline kept us going and together we developed the framework for what Customer Experience (CX) is at IWC Schaffhausen.

Whilst I had truly enjoyed my 15 years abroad as an expat, time had come for me to go back home. So when in August 2018 an Associate Director opportunity came up to establish the Global CX function at our HQ, reporting to Chris Grainger-Herr, I gladly embarked on a new chapter. Transitioning from a market dynamic to an HQ perspective requires agility and understanding of what is at stake. It was a privilege to be trusted with a completely blank canvas and the story was just waiting to be told. Establishing a clear vision of what CX should mean for IWC was priority number one. Once ready, the first milestone was to bring as many colleagues as possible on the CX journey and to create CX ambassadors around the world.

Time has flown by since I joined IWC Schaffhausen in November 2012. The beauty of the role is that it keeps on reinventing itself and it never feels like work. Each and every one of my missions has been challenging and rewarding, but I truly believe that what makes IWC Schaffhausen such a special and unique place is its people. More than colleagues, it feels like a community or an extended family.

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Success Story- Markus

I started my career at IWC 17 years ago with my apprenticeship as a watchmaker. I graduated with a grade of 5.9 out of 6 and even won the first place in the «IFHH, Institut de Formation à la Haute Horlogerie» watchmaking competition the same year. After completing my apprenticeship, I worked for four years as a watchmaker for prototyping in the R&D Department. After that experience, I worked in the field of industrialization for six years - first as Project Manager and from 2010 on as Department Manager. In 2014, I was promoted to my current position as Head of Movement Assembly. In this position, I am responsible for a team of 70 employees.

At IWC, I particularly appreciate the opportunity to continuously develop myself. In addition to various trainings on management skills, IWC also supported my extra-occupational training. After my apprenticeship, I completed my studies in mechanical engineering and in 2014 my Executive MBA. Thanks to IWC, I can deal with diverse and demanding projects, which keeps me curious and eager to learn.

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Success Story - Daniel

«Being involved in the realization of projects with such large scale, high complexity and global impact made me realize the importance of teamwork, commitment and perseverance in achieving the best possible result - I believe that all of those values are deeply rooted within the DNA of IWC.»

My name is Daniel and I was born and raised in Lucerne. Growing up in a city where tourism, hospitality and watchmaking are omnipresent brought a strong awareness of these three industries, which developed into a deeper fascination over the years. For this reason, I decided to pursue a higher degree in International Hospitality Management at the Ecole Hotelière de Lausanne (EHL).

Due to my interest in the watch industry and IWC specifically as a brand, I applied for an internship in trade marketing and joined the company in October 2015. My duties included assisting with the organization of the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie de Genève (SIHH - now Watches & Wonders) 2016, which allowed me to combine my interest and experience in hospitality with the world of watchmaking. After the successful launch of the Pilot's Collection 2016, I was given the opportunity to take on the role of Project Manager Fairs and Exhibitions, which involved managing the development and organization of the SIHH booth (now called Watches&Wonders) and coordinating IWC's global exhibition program. During almost 3 years I pursued this position and was able to contribute to the campaign launches of Da Vinci 2017, 150 Years 2018, and Silver Spitfire 2019.

After the launch of the Silver Spitfire campaign and the Pilot's Collection 2019, it was time to take on a new challenge. I moved from Trade Marketing to Corporate Communications, initially starting as Team Lead Guest Relations and later becoming the Global Events Team Lead over the course of the year. During my time in Corporate Communications, I was involved in coordinating and continuously developing manufacture tours and organized physical, digital and hybrid events, including the movie production and launch event of the Top Gun SFTI, which was one of my personal highlights. These projects brought me a lot closer to IWC’s clients, the industry’s press and various IWC stakeholder, which contribute to IWC’s brand awareness. Thus, I became aware of the importance of quality and authenticity in brand communication, while gaining my first experience in a leadership position. As a result of my achieved knowledge in building client experiences, I was able to change once again in August 2021 and take on my current role as Senior Project Manager for Flagship Boutique Experience.

With our team, we are working towards the ambitious goal of creating unique retail experiences that exceed customer expectations and define new industry standards. As a recent result, we successfully opened our new flagship boutique in Dubai Mall on 25th of March 2022, a project I am personally very proud of. Over the past six years, I have repeatedly realized and appreciated how IWC continuously drives the development and empowerment of its young generation with much responsibility, trust and vision.

Daniel Borer | Senior Project Manager Flagship BTQ Experience