WatchTime - August 2012

Babin sought out former Heuer CEO Jack Heuer to become
the brand’s honorary chairman and roving ambassador.
Babin’s job was to serve as de Gaulle’s
personal secretary, to organize his trips, to
arrange meetings or phone calls, including
those with the French president and defense
minister; to be what Babin calls “a
kind of right arm” to de Gaulle.
It was a heady job. During his 15month
stint, Babin rubbed elbows with a
slew of political and military bigwigs. He
spoke with Ronald Reagan, during the
1981 celebration in Virginia of the bicentennial
of the Battle of Yorktown, and flew
on a private jet to that event with French
president François Mitterand. He talked to
de Gaulle’s boss, the defense minister,
many times.
The experience changed him forever,
he says. “Quite early I was exposed to very
high-ranking people, and came to realize
that they were very normal. So it probably
made me much more relaxed, much more
daring,” he says. “At 21 I could talk daily
to the top-ranking admiral of the French
Navy, equally with the defense minister
and occasionally with the French president,
and it probably meant 15 years of
maturity. Subsequently, I’ve never been
afraid of anyone. I’ve never been afraid to
ask for anything.”
Another benefit of the job: Babin got to
travel with de Gaulle to the country’s various
territories in the Pacific and
Caribbean. And he got to hear first-hand
about recent French history from someone
who had witnessed much of it. De Gaulle
had gone with his father to Britain after the
Germans occupied France and was by his
side for much of what ensued. (Babin still
keeps in touch with de Gaulle, now 90.
The two exchange New Year’s cards and
Babin sometimes has a coffee with him
when he visits Paris, where de Gaulle lives.)
De Gaulle asked Babin to stay on for
another year, but Babin had other plans.
His travels had ignited what would be-
come a lifelong wanderlust. He and his
girlfriend of the time spent a year backpacking
in Asia. He supported himself
with money he had earned while moonlighting
as a magazine-advertising salesman
during his stint with de Gaulle.
When he returned home he took a job
with Procter & Gamble, considered to be
the consumer-goods training ground non
pareil for up-and-comers like him. He held
both marketing and sales posts in several
product categories, including detergents,
cosmetics, soaps, shampoo and diapers.
Babin stayed at the company for five
years, interrupted by a one-year honeymoon
spent backpacking in Asia once
again.
He then went to work for the Boston
“QUITE EARLY I WAS EXPOSED TO VERY
HIGH-RANKING PEOPLE, AND CAME TO
REALIZE THEY WERE VERY NORMAL.”
JEAN-CHRISTOPHE BABIN
August 2012 WatchTime 77