By: Roger Ruegger
When it comes to watch industry CEOs and how they use social media to communicate with their clients and fans, with Instagram being the one of the most important channels since a couple of years, there are basically three groups: The CEOs of most of the Swatch Group brands or Rolex, for example, don’t use it professionally, or strictly as their personal account. Others, like Georges Kern or Julien Tornare, very actively use their publicly available profiles to provide another access point to the brand(s) they’re representing, some clearly managed professionally, others still operated by the profile’s owner.
Speaking of brands: In 2018, Patek Philippe became one of the last watchmakers to launch an official Instagram account, going from 30,000 followers in the first hours to 2.6 million followers in May 2026. Unsurprisingly, Rolex, with 17.7 million followers, takes the crown when it comes to the number of followers. However, that doesn’t mean you’ll find a publicly available Instagram account from Jean-Frédéric Dufour or Thierry Stern.
Looking at the executives behind the brands, the landscape looks a bit different:
Georges Kern, House of Brands
The former Richemont executive has led Breitling since 2017 and has expanded the portfolio with two additional brands since then, Universal Genève and Gallet. In May, Jean-Marc Pontroué joined the group as the new CEO of Breitling, with Kern becoming the group’s Chief Executive Officer. Kern has 100,000 followers on Instagram and mostly uses his channel to talk about watches and his job. Breitling’s main Instagram channel has 1.7 million followers. Link
Julien Tornare, Hublot
With 31,300 followers, Tornare’s account is a live-feed of everything related to Hublot. The brand’s main account has an impressive 6.2 million followers. Link
Christoph Grainger-Herr, IWC Schaffhausen
IWC Schaffhausen’s main Instagram account currently has 2 million followers, its CEO has 56,200. Grainger-Herr exclusively posts IWC-related content. Link
Ilaria Resta, Audemars Piguet
The Napoli-born executive took over from François-Henri Bennahmias on January 1, 2024. Like Omega CEO Raynald Aeschlimann, Resta keeps her Instagram account private and has 1’069 followers. In comparison, Audemars Piguet’s official account has 3.7 million followers.
Jean-Christophe Babin, Bulgari
In addition to his role as the CEO of Bulgari (since 2013), Babin was appointed CEO of LVMH Watches in 2025. He succeeded Frédéric Arnault and has 218,000 followers on Instagram. Babin posts about his travels, airline experiences, ambassadors and new Bulgari initiatives. Link
Maximilian Busser, MB&F
The unofficial king of independent watchmaking has 56,700 followers on Instagram, MB&F 346,000. Busser mostly posts about creativity and upcoming releases. Link
Edouard Meylan, H. Moser & Cie.
The owner and CEO of one of the fastest evolving independent watchmakers has 23,100 followers, H. Moser & Cie. 268,000. Like most of his colleagues, Meylan uses the platform to talk about the brand he’s representing. Link
Wilhelm Schmid, A. Lange & Söhne
The seasoned CEO has a passion for complicated watches and vintage cars. He shares both with his 3,548 followers. A. Lange & Söhne, on the other hand, already has 650,000 followers on Instagram. Link
Laurent Perves, Vacheron Constantin
If you are into wristshots of Vacheron Constantin pieces, this is your account. Laurent Perves has been appointed as Vacheron’s CEO, effective 1st January 2025, succeeding Louis Ferla with whom he worked closely for years. He currently has 4,895 followers, Vacheron 1.3 million. Link
Jean Arnault, Fabrique du Temps
Bernard Arnault’s youngest son has rebuilt the French fashion house’s watchmaking from the ground up. He is often seen collaborating with other social media influencers and has currently 147,000 followers (almost twice as much as Louis Vuitton’s Timepiece Manufacture in Geneva, Switzerland, La Fabrique du Temps). Link
While perhaps not being managed as actively as in the past, Jean-Claude Biver‘s Instagram account is still worth checking out: The industry legend has 314,000 followers and primarily posts about his latest venture Biver watches these days (which has 29,200 followers).
During Watches and Wonders, the "most resilient large emerging market" made quite an impression in Geneva. We look at what...
Read MoreThe Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG) has published the list of this year's participating watches. Here's what stands out.
Read More