4 December 2025

10:55 AM – 11:40 AM

Amphi Petit Kursaal

Patrice Besnard

Patrice Besnard is a graduate of the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris and the University of Paris Panthéon-Sorbonne in Business Law. Patrice Besnard joined France Horlogerie in 1984 and has been its general delegate since 1993. He chairs the French Watchmaking Standardization Commission and the French delegation to the International Organization for Standardization Technical Committee TC/114. Patrice is an expert with the Customs Conciliation and Expertise Commission. He also serves as General Delegate of the European Federation of the Watch and Related Industries (EuroTempus). He is secretary of the EU delegation to the Permanent Committee for European Watchmaking and a member of the Baselworld Global Exhibitors Committee.

Have public policies limited the development of watchmaking in France?

From the revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685) to the free trade agreements of the 20th century, public policies have periodically limited the development of French watchmaking at certain times. The mother of many industries, watchmaking experienced its first relocation with the migration of Protestant watchmakers in the 16th and 17th centuries to establish or strengthen a competing watchmaking industry in their host countries.
In the 20th century, free trade agreements (Kennedy Round-1967, EEC/Switzerland agreements-1972, Marrakesh agreements-1994), combined with the quartz revolution, contributed to a new wave of relocation, notably with the disappearance of certain strategic players (movement). But beyond an increasingly competitive international environment, changes in the French regulatory framework (taxation, labor law, environmental standards, etc.) have also had an impact on the competitiveness of watchmaking companies. However, France has also equipped itself with tools to support the consolidation or development of French watchmaking: the opening in 1667 of the first astronomical observatory (Paris) in Europe, the opening of a technical center after World War II, and the creation of a professional economic development committee (1978), preceded by other structures as early as the 1960s. In addition, with French legal time, the State has positioned our country at the forefront of time frequency and sovereignty in terms of time control, which is one of the challenges of the 21st century for many strategic applications.