Last week, Moser & Cie’s Edouard Meylan completed the Jungfrau Marathon 2021 with his brother, Bertrand (also the CEO of quirky watch brand, Hautlence). ‘‘That’s 42 km with 2000m ascent’’ Edouard posted on Instagram. The Swiss CEO, 44, has been working towards this feat for months, cheered on by the Moser community that follows him on social media.
The marathon was part of a fundraiser with RoomtoRead, a non-profit that is focussed on girls' education and children's literacy in Asia and Africa.
Meylan, who believes that “everything starts with education” told The Hindu Weekend in an interview earlier this month, “As the father of four kids, three of them girls, I know how important it is to bring young girls to school. But to be honest, this initiative [resonated] across the Moser organisation.”
Credit: @edmeylan on Instagram
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Responding to a question about his young team, he said that the average age of his watchmakers is 27 and agreed that this generation is more concerned about causes and the future of our planet. “My children tell me, ‘Dad you need to have an electric car!’ Interestingly, a lot of ideas come from my colleagues here. For instance, instead of giving gifts to our guests at Moser, we now contribute 10 books in their name to RoomtoRead. That’s thousands of books offered to schools every year.’’
The aim was to raise close to 100,000 francs with the marathon. “That’s already five schools you can open,” he pointed out. “Of course, you can do other big things, but education is the way to start.”
Edouard Meylan
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Green behind the scenes
As for the question of sustainability that is often raised when it comes to luxury brands, Edouard said, “We are RJC-certified (Responsible Jewellery Council). It took years to get it and we are one of the few small [watch] brands with it. “We try to compensate our carbon footprint. We don’t have the resources to build a manufacture like IWC, which cost a fortune to be self-sustainable. But that’s the future.”
And since this watch CEO is refreshingly blunt, there was more. “We are not a brand that does the ‘recycled strap’ type of watch. It’s a good way to raise awareness, and has been done many times, but we try to do things in the background.”
