Dialogue With Christopher Christoph Grainger-Herr: Follow The Zeal Of Haier

Twenty-first Century: you have worked in the IWC universal watch for many years, involving many departments. What are the characteristics of the brand and your personal connection?

Christoph: enthusiasm, enthusiasm behind everyone. A brand can have so many people working behind it enthusiastically, it is my favorite place.

Twenty-first Century: you are the background of art design education. What is the first opportunity to enter such a timepiece brand work?

Christoph: actually, I like this industry for a long time. As an architect, I like shopping, especially for some shopping malls and shops. I also like to think about how to improve customer experience. During my study in England, I served a royal jewelry family. The shop they designed was like a museum. The lighting and scenery were very artistic. I enjoyed the creation of such things very much. So there was an opportunity at that time to ask if I would like to design for the IWC universal watch Museum. I am very willing, and because I like it, I have been working until now.

Challenge and confidence

Twenty-first Century: what is the most difficult thing to remember in the multi sector work of IWC, including now CEO?

Christoph: the hardest part is how to maintain a balance between globalization and regionalization. Consumers come from all over the world, China, Europe and the United States, each region has partners in every region, and the urban management planners in every region are very different. But communicating with people of different cultural backgrounds and entering different markets to make different people like IWC universal watch is also a great achievement for me.

Twenty-first Century: as CEO, what is your vision? What are the challenges to deal with?

Christoph: first of all, vision: long-term brand building of globalisation. From product design to R & D, including our brand name, we can see that it is International Watch Company. I hope that standing in the long-term consideration of brand building, we can freely face so many different markets in the world. We do not do short-term, only long-term. Second, the biggest challenge is how to balance these markets. How to balance our strategy in every market can make IWC universal watch have a unified brand image in the world, and have good communication with local market to adapt to local changes. How to balance is the most important challenge for me.

Twenty-first Century: where does confidence come from facing challenges?

Christoph: confidence comes from your enthusiasm for this brand. For watchmakers and designers, he has to overcome technical difficulties. For other staff, passion is mutual infection and mutual promotion, which is also the source of my confidence. The enthusiasm behind every employee is the reason why IWC has been moving forward.

Long term construction and sustainable development

Twenty-first Century: can you give us one or two details about the environmental considerations of the new watchmaking center itself?

Christoph: first of all, the hydroelectric power system. The power system used by the new watchmaking center is the same as that adopted by Mr. Jones at the beginning of the brand, which is directly converted from the water energy resources of the the Rhine waterfall. The drop of more than 200 meters brings abundant and sustainable energy. There is also a display of the hydroelectric power system in the brand Museum. The old city headquarters in Schaffhausen also uses only zero emission of carbon dioxide.

It can be said that from the beginning of brand creation, we attach great importance to environmental protection and energy conservation. Today, attention is also paid to sustainable development. For example, solar panels were installed on the roof of the new factory, and water was collected from two underground water collection devices for refrigeration and heating. The recycling of water and the recycling system of oil are also very interesting. This place often rains. How do we collect the rainwater? Tabulating centers need to use oil machines. How do they recycle? We have been working to minimize environmental impact. We are a Swiss company based in Schaffhausen. The supply chain is very short. We will carefully control and manage suppliers and manufacturing links.