This year, Revolution turns 20. Two decades of chronicling watches, people and ideas have given us a front-row seat to a remarkable story: how an age-old craft has both preserved its soul and reinvented itself for the 21st century. To celebrate, we’ve chosen over 100 names and milestones that, for us, define the era so far. From leaders to watches, you can see the whole list here.

Georges Kern is a man that needs no introduction. His management style is known for being fiery, but his ability as a leader is irrefutable. In the first phase of his career, Kern continued in the footsteps of Günter Blümlein when, at 36, he became the youngest CEO in Richemont Group as the new leader of IWC.

What he brought to the brand was the creation of widespread cultural relevance. Today, every movie star, athlete or musician is a watch fan, and red carpet moments have become instances of conspicuous gawking at horological finery blasting through every form of social media. You can thank Georges Kern for that, as he laid the groundwork of connecting watches with celebrity culture throughout his tenure at IWC and especially from 2005 to 2015. Each year at the former SIHH, plane loads of celebrities would descend en masse to Kern’s IWC parties, which had become legendary. Kern was also a pioneer in movie product placement for his watches, and when asked why, he explained, “There are millions of people that I cannot reach through ads or traditional mediums. But they will all go to the movies or stream them at home, and when they see my watch, that is a point of connection that is key for the future.”

In year 2016, Georges Kern attends the IWC “For the love of Cinema” Gala Dinner at the Beijing International Film Festival (Image: IWC)

In 2017, Georges Kern set his sights on the future of Breitling, which today is part of the House of Brands.

The results spoke for themselves — Kern drove IWC to close to 1 billion Swiss francs in turnover by 2016.The next year, he was appointed by Johann Rupert as the effective head of the watch division, excluding Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels, which were then considered more as jewelry brands. But not content to remain an employee, Kern quit Richemont Group to strike out on his own. In 2017, it was announced that CVC Capital Partners had acquired an 80 percent stake in Breitling for around 870 million U.S. dollars. Shortly after, Kern joined the brand as both CEO and a minority shareholder. He applied the same rules that he had used to popularize IWC, and soon, Breitling’s turnover began to climb significantly. In 2021, Kern orchestrated a sale of 25 percent of the company to the Partners Group, this time with a valuation of 3 billion U.S. dollars. A year later, the Partners Group took controlling interest of Breitling, this time at a valuation of 4.5 billion U.S. dollars. The increase in value of Breitling was over 400 percent in just five years, and it has made Kern a legend in the finance world as well as, personally, a very rich man.

Georges Kern and Wei Koh