Julien Tornare graduated from the University of Geneva in 1996 as a Bachelor in Economics and headed straight to London to complete a Masters course in International Business at London Metropolitan University. His first position was area sales manager at Raymond Weil, responsible for European markets including the former USSR states, where he started in 1997 after his postgraduate studies.
Having joined Vacheron Constantin in 2000, Julien Tornare followed a typical career path within the Richemont Group’s senior management, progressing from Director of the Swiss Market to International Sales Director via a stint at Vacheron Constantin North America. For the past six years before joining Zenith, he was responsible for Vacheron Constantin Asia Pacific, where he grew the number of own-name boutiques from 3 to 13. During this period he also completed the Foundation for Business Leadership (Finance, Strategy, Marketing, Supply Chain) course at the world-renowned IMD Business School in Lausanne, Switzerland.
As CEO of Zenith Watches, Julien Tornare reports directly to Jean-Claude Biver, head of the LVMH group’s watchmaking division, who unusually looked outside the group to recruit a new CEO to turn around Zenith’s fortunes. “Julien’s strong international and commercial experience in watches will be crucial to the development of Zenith,” he said.
