Vivian Stauffer could have leapt straight out of an action movie to make the appointment. The Lausanne native seems wiry, superbly fit, lightly tanned – and tense. Having to talk about himself is not among his favourite activities, and neither is sitting still. By rights he belongs in the air, or on a ski slope, a surf wave – anything that moves and that he can pit himself against.
On the other hand, Stauffer likes to come across as (still) grounded and serious: he is only in his third year as CEO of Swatch’s rather small Hamilton division (around 125,000 watches a year; Swatch itself over three million) and wants to raise the brand’s profile. Many new models are meant to win over the market – and all of them have something to do with action.
Like Father, Like Son
Action runs through his life like a red thread. He skied a great deal in his youth – his name crops up now and then on the start lists of crazy ski events, such as the O’Neill Rookie Quest in 2003. But his real dream was flying: at 17 he took to the air for the first time. His father, Teddy Stauffer, a former military pilot, flew for Swissair – a role model.
After grammar school, he began military pilot training in 1992, broke it off and studied chemistry at the EPFL in Lausanne. He earned his private pilot’s licence on the side. His favourite aircraft: a 1936 Bücker, in which he flew daring aerobatics. He passed the selection as a Swissair line pilot – but two months before the end of training came the grounding of the national airline, in November 2001. End of that story.
As Long as It’s in the Air
Stauffer kept flying, earned his glacier-flying licence, towed gliders – anything to be in the air. «Just for fun», he says; but you can tell he would gladly have seen himself in the cockpit of a fast jet. Already as a student he organised sports events for his fellow students. He enjoyed that more than chemistry, so he fired off countless speculative applications to companies linked to sport. Only Swatch replied; in 2002 he started there as a marketing intern.
A Rapid Rise
Swatch was then the official timekeeper for the ski and snowboard World Cup; his job also took him to the 2004 Athens Olympics and the beach-volleyball series. He rose to head of marketing and looked after events such as the Verbier Xtreme and the Montreux Jazz Festival. In 2007 he took over the sales department for Hamilton, worked his way up to global head of sales – and has been the brand’s CEO since 2020.
Time Is Freedom
That hasn’t turned him into a desk jockey. «I still ski a lot», says the father of two, enthusing about tours in the Portes du Soleil. He used to be found on a wakeboard or hanging from a paraglider too. «I love the rushes of adrenaline», he admits frankly. How does he combine all that with family and the demanding life of a CEO? The 48-year-old has a simple explanation: «I do as much as I can with the time I have.» And what is time to him? «Time is freedom» – the freedom to do not what he wants, but what he thinks is right in any given moment.
Staying Grounded
He has no sweet tooth for fast cars, by the way: «We have a Mini and, for the family, a Mazda CX-5.» The Stauffers live by Lake Geneva – three hours there and back to the office in Biel. Vivian rides his motorbike to the station, takes the train to Biel and there hops on his bike to the Hamilton headquarters. «It’s good for the head – and I save time instead of sitting in traffic.»
The Hamilton team is small: seven people on the management board, where all decisions are made, from product to marketing to sales. «But everyone can contribute, we live teamwork.» Stauffer gathers input from all over the world – Swatch runs 62 subsidiaries and 260 service centres worldwide. «Designing a new watch takes 18 months», he explains; for an entirely new technical development, reckon on three years. His latest creation is the Jazzmaster Face 2 Face III, with a reversible case.
«Can’t Be Done» Doesn’t Exist
The watch industry, too, is being slowed by the wider situation: where pure production took four to five months before the pandemic, it now takes eight to nine; raw materials and skilled workers are scarce everywhere. «A challenge», Stauffer admits – one he takes on. Is there anything he hasn’t done yet and would like to try? «Speed flying!», he beams. The dream of flying – over water, too – he will surely pass on to his daughters. Happy landing!
Who Is Hamilton?
The Hamilton Watch Company was founded in 1892 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Its background is the railroad: Hamilton watches synchronised train operations, were used by the US Army and made the odd Hollywood appearance. Hamilton claims the first electric watch (1957) and the first LED watch – which lends the brand the aura of a pioneer. In 1971 it was bought by the SSIH (Omega & Tissot) holding, which later passed, under Nicolas Hayek Sr., into the Swatch Group. In 1972, Hamilton produced the world’s first electronic digital watch, the Pulsar.
This article appeared in MEN issue 1/23 (June 2023).
