A salute to a great man

Nicolas G. Hayek
Nicolas G. Hayek

We already broke the sad news: last Monday, Nicolas G. Hayek, the Swatch Group founder, passed away at the age of 82 due to cardiac arrest. Born in Lebanon in 1928 to a Lebanese father and an American mother, Nicolas Hayek served until the end as Chairman and CEO of the Swatch Group. "Nicolas G. Hayek's extraordinary vision enabled him to create and ensure the life of a vigorous watch company with a strong Swiss added value" - this is how the Swatch Group itself remembers him and pays tribute to him.

Jean-Christophe Babin, CEO of TAG Heuer commented on the sad news: "I am shocked and deeply saddened by the death of Nicolas G. Hayek. Beyond his 82 years of age, there was something eternal about him, thanks to his exceptional and indomitable energy and his constant activity to defend our industry. Charismatic, visionary, energetic, creative, fast, kind and uncompromising: these are the words that come to mind when I think of him. I am proud to have had the privilege of meeting and knowing him. My thoughts are with him and my heartfelt condolences are with the loved ones he leaves behind. I will miss his presence, and our industry will also miss him greatly".

We would like to remember him with his words given to us in our last interview published in L'Orologio 163, in an article dedicated to the Breguet La Tradition Grande Complication Tourbillon à Fusée. The Breguet brand, in fact, was considered to be his 'creation', relaunched when it was taken over by the Swatch Group in 1999: 'Personally, I have always loved the Maestro (Breguet, ed.): it represents the shape of the watch, the way of making it... It's a bit like asking a great Beethoven or Rossini fan why he is so in love with it. That's how I feel about Breguet. For example, the Tourbillon in the La Tradition collection, I was the one who wanted it, who insisted that it be made in exactly this way. Almost all my collaborators told me: 'No, leave it alone, it's like recreating a car with an antique body, it looks nice but... I didn't give in, because I knew that every Breguet is always an important work of art.

When we asked him to reveal any dreams in his drawer, his reply was: 'Try to come back in ten years'. Unfortunately, there will be no time to ask him... To the Chairman of the Swatch Group, but above all to the great man he was, goes our emotional farewell.

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