On the wings of passion

Pascal Blanchard is a Veveyan by adoption. He moved to the lakeside town in 2008, when he joined Riviera Finance, a company specializing in wealth management, which he took over as CEO in 2015.

A watch enthusiast, he immediately noticed the Lionel Meylan boutique, then located on Place du Marché, where he found what he loves in his profession: a small, highly motivated team and personalized service, as well as aviation enthusiasts like himself – Lionel, Yannick and Julien are all pilots. Not to mention the watches he particularly appreciates… Breitling.

Watchmaking heritage
“I received my first watch at the age of 6. I was very proud of it, but the first ‘real’ watch I owned was a Breitling Aerospace I received at the end of 1980,” he explains. Today, he owns three models of his favorite brand: an Aerospace, an Avenger 2 and an Aviator 8. What’s next? Probably an IWC. He also gave his son a Breitling Evo for his 20th birthday. Pascal Blanchard loves pilot’s watches. An obvious choice for this aviation enthusiast.

The roots of his passion
His father, himself an avid airplane enthusiast, gave him his first model aircraft when he was 8, and his godfather gave him his first flight, in a Caravelle departing from Geneva Cointrin, when he was 11. He also had an uncle who was a private pilot for the Red Cross, notably in South America, and who took him on pleasure flights over the country when he was in Switzerland. He began attending airshows at the age of 10-12 and continues to do so regularly, in Sion, Payerne and England, while waiting for the opportunity to travel to the USA.He did his military service as an armorer, responsible for ammunition maintenance, for Hunter and Mirage fighter planes. “I met people there who became real friends,” he says, adding: “Today, it’s my son who’s doing his military service in the Swiss Air Force, in the same place as me 30 years later.”

Flying hours
Pascal Blanchard didn’t become a pilot, however. I wasn’t very mathematically inclined and I wore glasses,” he explains. I have no regrets, as I was attracted to the world of finance, in particular asset management and its human values, which suit me perfectly.” Nevertheless, for around 3 years, heaccompanied a friend, who had become an airline pilot with the national airline Swiss, and needed to accumulate flight hours. “We would prepare flights together and take passengers on a regular basis.

Enlightened amateur
Pascal Blanchard’s passion for aviation is fully satisfied through the history of air navigation, aircraft and events. “When I hear a plane, I can’t help but look up. If I’m indoors, I try to guess which aircraft it is by the sound of its engine, then get out to check if I’m right.” The enthusiastic history buff is particularly interested in an unexplained accident that occurred duringthe Second World War. On July 12, 1943, an English Lancaster, on its way to bomb Turin in Italy, crashed over Le Bouveret. What it was doing in Switzerland was not understood. Had it strayed because of bad weather, or had the pilots taken the wrong landmark, confusing Lake Geneva with Lake Annecy? Curious to find out more, Pascal Blanchard undertook research with a friend: “We gathered as much information as we could and drew up a fifty-page report, which we will shortly submit to the relevant authorities. It appears that it was indeed an accidental crash. We’ve also tracked down the families of the victims and made new friends in England and Australia.”
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