Structuring, Defending, and Promoting French Watchmaking
France Horlogerie is the professional organization representing the entire French watchmaking industry. Founded in 1947, it brings together brands, component manufacturers, subcontractors, industrial players, and creators around a common objective: to strengthen industry cohesion and expand its influence in France and internationally.
Through its initiatives, France Horlogerie plays a central role in promoting expertise, supporting companies in addressing economic and regulatory challenges, and strengthening the industry's competitiveness in an increasingly demanding global environment. The organization also serves as a key interlocutor with public institutions and economic partners, particularly on issues related to reindustrialization, innovation, and the attractiveness of watchmaking professions.
Structured around several colleges representing the different components of the sector—watches, components, and industrial watchmaking—France Horlogerie fosters a transversal and collaborative approach that is essential to the sustainable development of the industry.
A Privileged Exchange with Pierre Burgun, President of France Horlogerie
A respected entrepreneur and committed figure in French watchmaking, he embodies both a pragmatic and ambitious vision for the future of the sector.
His career, deeply rooted in the watchmaking industry, gives him a sharp understanding of on-the-ground realities: industrial development, transmission of expertise, international positioning of French brands, and adaptation to evolving market expectations. At the head of France Horlogerie, Pierre Burgun carries a clear ambition: to strengthen industry cohesion and enhance the global visibility of French watchmaking.
An Industry in Motion, Looking Toward the Future
In your view, what is the absolute priority to strengthen the competitiveness of French watchmaking over the next five years?
The priority, very clearly, is to embrace industrial ambition.
Over the past ten years, French watchmaking has reawakened. Growth has been strong: +50% between 2020 and 2025 despite a turbulent international context.
This is no coincidence. There is a desire for French watches, an entrepreneurial energy combining historic brands, and a new generation of passionate young watch entrepreneurs.
But now, we must scale up.
We have a complete value chain: around one hundred companies, €423 million in production revenue, and 3,000 direct jobs.
We must remain realistic: the Swiss industry represents €22 billion in revenue. There is still a long road ahead, but the potential is real because the foundation is solid.
The challenge is to consolidate our industrial sovereignty, notably by continuing the relocation of strategic components such as movements.
Competitiveness will not come solely from design or marketing. It will come from our ability to produce in France, innovate in France, and cooperate more effectively among stakeholders. This is the collective mission we lead within France Horlogerie.
French watchmaking must once again become a natural reflex in the minds of consumers and professionals.
How can France Horlogerie better support small and medium-sized brands facing internationalization challenges?
Exporting is not optional for us. French watchmaking is already deeply international: on average, 80% of revenue is generated abroad. However, most of these exports come from component manufacturers rather than watch brands.
Export is clearly the key to the development of our industry.
But for our SMEs, international markets remain a daily challenge: market access, visibility, distribution networks… Our role is to be an accelerator and facilitator.
With the support of Francéclat, we assist companies with prospecting, market studies, and discovery missions. We organize France Pavilions at key trade fairs such as Hong Kong and Munich. We support their presence at major international events and actively work to better promote our ecosystem to specialized media and the general public abroad.
Agility is the strength of our companies. It is up to us to provide them with collective power.
What concrete role can reindustrialization and programs like France 2030 play for the watchmaking sector?
Reindustrialization is not a slogan. For us, it is a very concrete roadmap — a clearly defined strategic direction with ambitious objectives.
First pillar: innovation. Through the collaborative innovation space we plan to establish in the Doubs region, in Besançon and Morteau. We aim to create a true tool serving companies: prototyping, design offices, training, partner research… A place where projects accelerate, skills are pooled, and time is gained. Our application to the France 2030 program is fully aligned with this dynamic.
Second pillar: cooperation. The business clusters launched in 2024 bring together brands, component manufacturers, and subcontractors to jointly develop watch products and services designed and manufactured in France.
Our conviction is simple: the future of French watchmaking will be collective.
How can we attract and retain talent, particularly younger generations, in watchmaking professions today?
I am always struck by the growing interest of young people in watchmaking. France benefits from an exceptional talent pool, nurtured by a rich watchmaking history and around ten recognized training institutions.
Watchmaking professions are not trades of the past. They are professions of excellence, precision, and creativity. They combine rigor, design, technology, service… and a great deal of passion.
We regularly meet with students and organize competitions—such as at Time Fest with the Lycée de Mérignac—to showcase their projects. We also participate in the evolution of diplomas to ensure alignment between training programs and business needs.
Attracting talent is not just about communication. It is about offering a perspective: participating in the renaissance of an ambitious French industry.
What image would you like French watchmaking to project internationally at the end of your presidency of France Horlogerie?
First of all, it is not my mandate alone that is decisive. It continues the work of those who preceded me and, I hope, those who will follow.
What matters is not the action of one individual, but sustained collective work. It is through consistent commitment over time that French watchmaking becomes self-evident.
A watchmaking industry that embraces its history, its craftsmanship, its design, its creativity — that famous “French touch” combining elegance and boldness; but also a modern, innovative, industrial watchmaking sector, strong in its historical European markets and reinforced in strategic markets such as the United States, China, and India.
In short: a confident French watchmaking industry that fully embraces its ambition.
Conclusion
France Horlogerie stands as an essential pillar of the French watchmaking ecosystem, at the crossroads of industrial, economic, and cultural challenges. The discussion with Pierre Burgun highlights a structured and forward-looking vision, where cooperation and collective enhancement are the keys to the sustainable global influence of French watchmaking.
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