February 17, 2021
17:26
The Belgian watch brand was on the lookout for a brand new lease of life after the dying of Philip Cracco. Since then, 10,000 items have been offered in 9 months. A return to biking is formalized.
Following the dying of Flemish entrepreneur Philip Cracco, the distributor Patrick Gelder took over Rodania final July alongside the industrial watchmaker Christian Frommherz and the gross sales director of the Belgian firm for almost forty years, Jan Ausloos.
Goal? In back to fundamentals of the Belgian watch brand. What needed to undergo the launch of a brand new assortment and a return to sponsorship sporty in explicit.
It is now executed. Indeed, on the one hand, after restoration of some 150 jeweler shoppers, almost 10,000 items have been offered simply earlier than the second confinement, bringing the turnover to 1 million euros for 9 months of exercise. .
Cycling
On the different hand, Rodania pronounces to have signed with Volvo on the aspect of biking races. Two of the producer’s autos will subsequently open the highway once more, dressed in the colours of the Belgian watch brand, after stopping observe in 2018.
But that is not all. Compared to the preliminary initiatives, different developments are additionally to be famous. The firm come certainly to finish a textile line supposed for 2 wheels, for instance, which needs to be formally launched “in the month of April, that is to say at the time of the true beginning of the cycling season”, evokes Patrick Gelder.
Moreover, many efforts have been made in phrases of deployment overseas. But, covid requires, with out actual industrial influence at this stage. However, it needs to be famous that two distribution constructions have already been arrange in France and Holland, when offers have been signed with distributors for Russia, the Balkans, the Sultanate of Oman, and Turkey.
In Belgium, the brand can even depend on Patrick Gelder’s firm, GTime, which already distributes manufacturers resembling Meistersinger or Victorinox. Based in Overijse, GTime employs 17 folks.
“We would like to triple our turnover by next year.”
Next steps? “We would like to triple our turnover by next year,” stated one in all the three companions, “which should be made possible by the various reopening of international stores, as well as an increase to 200 of our jeweler clients in Belgium “.
To obtain this, DNA might be preserved, specifically that of “a popular brand, which must appeal to as many people as possible, ranging from the 65-year-old granny who needs a watch with big numbers because she can’t see well, to young people looking for something more bling- bling. And this, At a good price (around 80 to 100 euros, Editor’s note) “.
Belgian-Swiss journey
Rodania was born in 1930 in the canton of Bern, in Swiss. In the Fifties, a global distribution heart was created in Brussels. The administration is entrusted to a younger entrepreneur, named Manfred Aebi. A Swiss nationwide, the man lived in Belgium along with his household and subsequently is aware of the flat nation effectively.
In the 90s, Aebi purchased the then struggling firm. He moved Rodania’s HQ to Brussels to undertake all logistics actions there. And make the brand develop. Up to a peak: “in the great era, we were sold by 600 jewelers and watchmakers in the country, “says Patrick Gelder.”You could find a Rodania on almost every street corner“.
