Executive Chairman — The Coca-Cola Company
James Quincey's Apple Watch Ultra: The Man Who Ran the World's Most Recognised Brand Wears the Most Demanding Watch Apple Makes
Electrical engineering graduate. Bain & Company consultant. Joined Coca-Cola in 1996 as a director of learning strategy in Latin America. Worked through Mexico, South America, Northwest Europe, the Nordics, and the Americas. Became CEO in 2017. Added 10 billion-dollar brands including BodyArmor, Fairlife, and Topo Chico. James Quincey spent nine years at the helm of one of the most recognised companies on earth. On his wrist in a CNBC interview in January 2026: an Apple Watch Ultra.
| James Quincey — Apple Watch Ultra on wrist. Source: CNBC interview, January 20, 2026 |
James Quincey — Executive Chairman, The Coca-Cola Company; CEO 2017–2026 |
James Robert B. Quincey was born January 8, 1965, in London, and spent his early childhood in Hanover, New Hampshire, where his father lectured in biochemistry at Dartmouth College. By age five, the family had returned to Birmingham, England, where he attended King Edward's School before studying electronic engineering at the University of Liverpool, graduating in 1986. He joined Bain & Company, helped establish Bain's Hong Kong office in 1988, then moved to the newly formed Kalchas Group — a Bain and McKinsey spinoff — where he led the firm's expansion into the United States, first in Chicago and then in New York.
He joined The Coca-Cola Company in 1996 as director of learning strategy for the Latin America Group — not a conventional starting point for a future CEO. He has described joining without a fixed plan for the top job, instead gravitating toward roles that challenged him. He worked through Latin America, led the acquisition of Jugos del Valle in Mexico, served as president of the South Latin business unit, became president of the Northwest Europe and Nordics business unit (2008–2012, including the acquisition of innocent juice in 2009), then president of the Europe Group (2013–2015). He became President and Chief Operating Officer in 2015 and CEO in May 2017, succeeding Muhtar Kent. He was elected Chairman of the Board in 2019. He is fluent in Spanish. He stepped down as CEO on March 31, 2026, transitioning to Executive Chairman and handing the CEO role to Henrique Braun.
His nine years as CEO were defined by what Coca-Cola described as the evolution into a "total beverage company" — a deliberate pivot away from dependence on carbonated soft drinks toward a diversified portfolio of waters, sports drinks, dairy, coffee, and energy beverages. Under Quincey, the company added more than 10 billion-dollar brands, including BodyArmor, Fairlife, and Topo Chico, while shedding underperforming assets and reshaping the operating model around digital transformation and closer consumer connection. As he has put it: "No one gets there by being the wallpaper."
"No one gets there by being the wallpaper." — James Quincey, on climbing to the top of the C-suite
Timepiece
Apple Watch Ultra
The Apple Watch Ultra — introduced in 2022 and updated as the Ultra 3 in 2025 with 5G and an even larger display — is Apple's most capable and demanding watch, designed for conditions that exceed the tolerances of the standard lineup. Its 49mm aerospace-grade titanium case is built to absorb impact and resist the elements. The flat sapphire crystal display is the largest and brightest Apple has made. Battery life runs to 36–42 hours in standard use, extending significantly further in Low Power Mode. Water resistance is rated to 100 metres with a built-in dive computer. A dedicated Action Button allows immediate access to programmable functions. Dual-frequency precision GPS — L1 and L5 — delivers exceptional accuracy in complex environments. All standard Apple Watch health monitoring runs alongside: heart rate, ECG, blood oxygen, sleep tracking, fall and crash detection.
The Ultra is the watch Apple built for people who push beyond what standard equipment handles. Among the previous Apple Watch spots in this series, only Jim Farley — the Ford CEO who races a GT40 at Le Mans Classic — also wears the Ultra. Farley's choice is explained by his weekend schedule on racing circuits. Quincey's is less immediately obvious. An electrical engineer by training, a management consultant by early career, a global beverage executive for thirty years — not the profile the Ultra's marketing targets. And yet the choice is consistent with a man who, by his own account, has always reached toward roles that were harder than the ones available to him, and has worn the most capable device on offer accordingly.
| Case | 49mm aerospace-grade titanium — largest and most durable Apple Watch |
| Display | Flat sapphire crystal — largest and brightest in the Apple Watch lineup |
| Battery | 36–42 hours standard / extended in Low Power Mode |
| Water resistance | 100m rated — dive computer built in |
| GPS | Precision dual-frequency L1 + L5 — highest accuracy in the lineup |
| Action Button | Dedicated physical control — customisable for immediate function access |
| Connectivity | 5G cellular (Ultra 3), calls, messages, notifications, Apple Pay |
| Health | Heart rate, ECG, blood oxygen, sleep tracking, fall & crash detection, emergency siren |
| Price | From ~$799 |
The Engineer's Watch
James Quincey studied electronic engineering. Before he joined Coca-Cola, he helped establish Bain's Hong Kong office and built Kalchas Group's US presence from nothing. He joined one of the world's largest consumer companies at mid-level and worked through a dozen global roles over two decades before arriving at the top. His stated philosophy is persistence over positioning: he did not chart a course to the CEO role so much as take on the hardest challenge available at each stage and trust that the trajectory would compound.
The Apple Watch Ultra is the product of the same engineering logic applied to a consumer device: take the standard specifications and push them further than anyone has before. Larger case. Brighter display. Sapphire rather than glass. Titanium rather than aluminium. 100-metre water resistance rather than 50. Extended battery rather than 18 hours. The Ultra is not a different category of watch — it is the same watch, made to handle more. For someone whose career has consistently been defined by taking on more than the role formally required, the Ultra is the natural choice.
Total Beverage, Total Watch
Quincey's defining strategic contribution at Coca-Cola was the pivot from a single-category beverage company to a total beverage company — adding water, sports drinks, dairy, coffee, energy, and juice to a portfolio that had been dominated by carbonated soft drinks for over a century. The argument was that consumers were changing faster than the company, and the company needed to change with them rather than wait. He shed what wasn't working, acquired what was (BodyArmor, Fairlife, Topo Chico), and reshaped the operating model around consumer data and digital infrastructure. The Apple Watch Ultra on his wrist at CNBC on January 20, 2026 — ten weeks before he stepped down as CEO — is the watch of someone who does not choose the adequate version of anything when the better one exists.
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