Sara Rossi '08

Movement is something which Sara Rossi is very familiar.

Each week she moves from city to city and travels annually to Switzerland, speaking to the 1,200 movements that constitute Jaeger-LeCoultre’s watches and clocks.

While attending University of Richmond, Sara was a student of both the Robins School of Business and the Jepson School of Leadership Studies. Outside of the classroom, she was involved in foreign language and Greek life.  As her 2008 graduation approached, Sara had established a network she was able to reach out to for professional opportunities. Knowing she wanted to live in New York City, Sara spent her summer after graduation traveling back and forth from her home in Maryland to the Big Apple.

“I would take the earliest train into the city and schedule back-to-back interviews,” she recalls.  However she wouldn’t keep this schedule for long, as a relationship Sara made in the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority at Richmond introduced her to Jaeger-LeCoultre, the company where she has spent the last four years.

Having no prior knowledge of watchmaking or manufacturing, Sara has since become an expert on the high-end luxury watch and clock industry since joining Jaeger-LeCoultre. Based out of Switzerland, the company was the first and largest to be established in the Joux Valley, a home to some of the world’s greatest watchmaking companies.

“In Switzerland, watchmaking skill is handed down through family generation,” Sara says. “It is a revered profession and an ancient craft.” The average price of a Jaeger-LeCoultre watch ranges anywhere from approximately $7,000 to $4 million dollars. “Owners pay these sums out of respect and technical appreciation for the hand detail placed into the construction of these pieces,” she explains.

Sara represents Jaeger-LeCoultre as National Sales Trainer, and her territory includes the U.S. and Canada.  She travels to Jaeger-LeCoultre boutiques and retail stores, teaching sales associates the history behind the product and the technical expertise involved in each sale. Jaeger-LeCoultre is the most integrated Manufacture in Switzerland with the largest consecutive history, and has produced the highest number of watch movements since its founding in 1833 than any other company.  “I am inspired by the brand, and love the mobility right now,” she says. “To enjoy your first job is not always a given, and I feel very lucky.”

For all she has seen and done while working for Jaeger-LeCoultre, Sara still points to an opportunity at Richmond as one of the best experiences of her life. During her junior year, she studied abroad at the University of Hong Kong.  “I speak to this experience daily,” she says of her time in China. Through her time in Hong Kong, she gained a deeper understanding of the Asian consumer, which has helped her work with the growing Asian clientele of Jaeger-LeCoultre. “It’s been four years and I still feel very close to Richmond,” she says.

Next on her travel schedule was Boston, Miami, Canada, Las Vegas and Los Angeles, among other cities.  While this amount of travel wasn’t in her original job description, she has never looked back.

“Watchmaking is an art. Instead of oil on canvas, watchmakers work with movements on watchmaker benches,” she describes. “Every watch represents someone’s vision, and hours upon hours of work. The purpose runs deeper than the telling of time. We have our cell phones these days for that!” she laughs.

“I’ve found a new passion in working for this company,” she admits. “I personally consider Jaeger-LeCoultre the best watch in the world.”