The encyclopedia · People & Management · People decision · 2024–2026
TAG Heuer burned through three CEOs in two years — the fourth chair is empty
Arnault was promoted, Tornare lasted months, Pin left in January 2026 — TAG Heuer's CEO chair keeps emptying while LVMH's watch division grows 1%.
TAG Heuer · 2026-01-19
What happened
In January 2024 LVMH promoted Frédéric Arnault out of TAG Heuer — where he had been CEO since 2020 — into a newly created role running LVMH Watches across Hublot, TAG Heuer and Zenith. Julien Tornare, until then CEO of Zenith, moved into the TAG Heuer chair. By September 2024 the chair had changed hands again: Antoine Pin was in it.
On 19 January 2026, Pin was gone — stepping down after roughly sixteen months in the job, with LVMH saying only that a successor would be named 'in the coming days'. The brand sits in a division that grew just 1% organically in the first nine months of 2025, with sales of €7.409 billion, while the wider LVMH group's sales fell 4% to €58.09 billion over the same period.
The churn is not confined to one brand. Hublot's long-time CEO Ricardo Guadalupe has retired, and LVMH has taken a minority stake in Swiss movement maker La Joux-Perret to shore up its industrial base amid US tariffs and soft demand. The watchmaking pillar is being rebuilt from the top while the brands underneath keep changing hands.
Three chief executives in two years, each departure framed as renewal or promotion — and the fourth chair left empty. When a brand's problem stays the same through every change of leadership, the churn itself becomes the diagnosis.
Why it happened
- Each CEO change was announced as strategy — a promotion, a swap, a fresh start — but the underlying problem, a stalled brand in a soft watch market, was never solved between them
- LVMH consolidated its watch brands under one CEO in January 2024; two years later the same structure is being shaken up again
- The division grew 1% while the group fell 4% — not bad enough for surgery, not good enough to leave alone, which is exactly the zone where leadership churns
- With no successor named, the brand runs on interim at the moment its rivals are cutting costs and buying suppliers
The lesson
Rotating the chief executive is not a strategy. Each new CEO inherits the same stalled brand — and after three departures in two years, the churn itself becomes the story.
Aftermath
LVMH promised a successor 'in the coming days' and has given no further signal since. The division reorganisation continues under the LVMH Watches umbrella, with tariffs and weak demand as the backdrop. For TAG Heuer — the group's volume watch brand — the test is whether the next appointment lasts longer than the last two.
Sources
- Modaes — TAG Heuer loses its CEO in the midst of LVMH watchmaking crisis (19 Jan 2026)
- Hodinkee — Breaking News: Frédéric Arnault Named CEO Of LVMH Watches (Jan 2024)
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