Meet Cyrille Vigneron, the CEO of luxury jeweler Cartier who personally approves all of its designs

After graduating, he worked in manufacturing at Compagnie Générale d’Électricité and Pechiney. He told students at ESCP in 2019 that his career took him in unexpected directions.

“I was denied positions I had asked for, and was offered positions I had not asked for,” he said.

Vigneron later became the managing director of Cartier Japan and Cartier Europe. After a brief stint as president of rival LVMH Japan beginning in 2014, he was named president and CEO of Cartier in 2016, the Financial Times reported.

When Vigneron first took over as president and CEO, he directed Cartier to buy inventory back from retailers to increase demand for the brand’s luxury watches and jewelry, the Australian Financial Review reported.

In 2017, Cartier offered free repairs to Panthère watches from the 1980s. The strategic move helped bring the vintage watches back in style — Cartier sold 15,000 of them that year.

In 2020, Forbes ranked Cartier 56th on its list of the world’s 100 most valuable brands with an estimated value of $12.2 billion.

A ranking of the top Swiss watch companies published in April 2023 by Morgan Stanley named Cartier the second-largest watchmaker behind Rolex, overtaking Omega for the No. 2 spot with 2.75 billion francs, or $3.1 billion dollars, in sales, Professional Watches reported.

“From a maison which was not born in watchmaking, it’s been remarkable to come to that level,” Vigneron told the watch website Hodinkee of the ranking.

With 60 new pieces released in 2023, Cartier’s watch business continues to boom, occupying an estimated 7% of the retail market share, according to the Morgan Stanley report.

Vigneron increased the total prize money for the Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards from $100,000 to $1 million to fund women-led startups, the Australian Financial Review reported. In addition, he helped launch MAWOMA, the first international competition for female orchestra conductors, in 2019.

“Really, the best thing you can do in business is empower women,” he told the outlet. “It changes everything.”

During his tenure as president and CEO, Cartier has launched 11 philanthropic projects around the world in partnership with Doctors Without Borders, according to Cartier’s official website.

“We have a creation committee where everything is approved,” Vigneron told Hodinkee. “I sign all the drawings. I approve them all, one by one.”

On LinkedIn, Vigneron posts philosophical musings about topics such as management, luxury, and identity.

“Part of my role is to think, to encourage others, and to be a source of inspiration,” he told SJX Watches in 2023 of his online presence. “In fact, I think the CEO should be a chief inspiration officer, not an autocrat or merely an executive.”

Vigneron told SJX Watches that he wears two Cartier Love bracelets, one marking his 10th wedding anniversary and one for his 20th.

The bracelets start at $1,910, with more luxurious, diamond-encrusted models retailing for $62,000, according to Cartier’s website.

In 2023, he posted on LinkedIn that his youngest daughter, Aya, graduated from the International School of Geneva, which he called “a very touching and personal event.”

He has also been married once before, Fashion Network reported.