Industry 65 6 Buying watches has become a veritable paradise for social climbers. Sales are increasingly being made outside the boutique, while knowing your jeweller up close and personal has become a dinner party topic all of its own. Meanwhile, as luxury brands intent on securing lasting relationships with customers, fall over themselves to offer the most luxurious experiences that money simply can t buy, spectacular guest-list-only events are becoming increasingly common. Claire Adler
66 Industry Zenith s Ball of Time, Palazzo Pisani Monetta, Venice, 2007. Chopard s White Tie Tiara party, 2006. Elizabeth Hurley, Sir Elton John and Elle Mc Pherson at a Chopard s White Tie Tiara party, 2006. Network with the best and brightest - or sometimes just the best looking Lets go outside The hottest deals in fine watches are hardly happening on Bond Street and Fifth Avenue. Whether it s 2am in the morning at De Grisogono s Sardinia boutique, Cartier s spectacular red carpet dinner at the Natural History Museum, sailing in high seas of over 20 feet and force 8 gales with Corum, in a recreated Patek Philippe photography studio in Paris, having your photo taken to resemble a decade old advertising poster, or over an intimate dinner with legendary IWC watchmaker Kurt Klaus, this is a horological shopping spree - just not as we know it. Opportunities for social climbing while shopping has never looked this good. Buyers in the market for the most expensive pieces of jewellery around are being swept up into a luxury style social life. Partying with celebrities is all par for the course. Whether celebrities are paid to be there or are already clients (everyone likes to claim their guests are existing customers), jewellery lovers are learning the benefits of socialising with and befriending their jeweller. A key advantage is getting a first look-in on new models or a one of a kind piece. Anchors aweigh Committed to the world of sailing for over four decades, Corum sponsors the Gipsy Moth 1V, the boat sailed round the globe by Sir Francis Chichester in the 1960s. Last summer Corum invited VIP customers to sail from the boat s home in Cowes to Guernsey. The skipper of over 25 years said the journey turned out to be more like mountaineering than sailing. Corum also hosts
champagne soirees for VIP clients, flying in very special watches from Switzerland. worked so well, now two generations attend my friends and their children. Every year at the Oscars, Tiret New York, the flamboyant watch brand, co-owned by music mogul Damon Dash, host cocktail parties and private showings. The brand also dedicates show spaces throughout the year at events in St Moritz, Couchevel, Monaco and St Tropez, where the celebrity dominated guest lists are often drawn up by Dash. Each summer, the season brings with it a slew of gilt edged VIP invites to polo related events, sponsored by the likes of Jaeger-LeCoultre and Longines. But if any brand has mastered the art of the luxury social life, it is Cartier. The French connection The Cartier dinner celebrating the start of the Chelsea Flower Show is largely regarded as the official launch of the social season every English summer. This is followed by the Queen s Cup - a polo match at Windsor, and the Cartier Style et Luxe a prestigious car design competition held at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. For 22 years now, the season has been brought to a close by the Cartier International Polo tournament. The Cartier Polo has become a British institution, says Cartier s UK managing director, Arnaud Bamberger, who spiced up the event several years ago by inviting Prince William and Prince Harry to attend. It was Prince William s first public outing and he was 18 at the time. We wanted to rejuvenate the event. Our appeal to a younger audience Bamberger s list of friends comfortably includes the Queen herself, if the silver-framed photographs in his plush Bond Street drawing room-cum-office are anything to go by. Last year he invited 750 people for a seated lunch at the Polo, catered by restaurateur Andre Mosimann, with the marquee and tables adorned by interior decorator, Nicky Haslam. A spectacular Cartier dinner last autumn at the Natural History Museum, celebrating the opening of Cartier s temple on Bond Street, saw the outside of the museum swathed in red light and its entrance bedecked in a red carpet, which literally sparkled and brimmed with lighted candles (this, just two hours after the museum s closing time). Guests ranged from Princess Michael of Kent, to Rod Stuart, Joely Richardson, Selina Scott, Christian Louboutin, Marie Helvin and Amanda Wakeley. The social animal Spectacles such as these encourage lovers of the truly rare and luxurious to clamour over exclusive pieces and compete against each other to get their hands on them. All this invests the precious pieces on offer with even more cachet. Getting in on the act can mean the opportunity to network with the best and brightest - or sometimes just the best looking. For the SIHH in Geneva this April, Monblanc hosted an event that was out of this world, an unbelievable mix or personalities from all walks of life, quite a Gypsy Moth IV was first sailed around the globe in 1966. The yacht has now been restored, with help from Corum, who brought out the Admiral s Cup 44 Automatic Gypsy Moth IV, by way of celebration.
68 Industry De Grisogono Otturatore launch party, January 2008. De Grisogono Otturatort Intimate De Grisogono viewing. thing. Many people end up attending the same social events, so they are sometimes effectively competing for the same pieces. Marcus, Bond Street smattering of celebrities, at an evening of magic and whimsy and a feast for the eyes, according to a spokesperson. Fawaz in the morning De Grisogono president, Fawaz Gruosi, routinely hosts star studded parties in London, New York and Tokyo. He is also known for his birthday parties, which he holds in August every year at one of the most exclusive night clubs in the world, the Billionaire Club in Porto Chervo, Sardinia, owned by his pal, Formula One boss Flavio Briatore. My friends become my clients and my clients become my friends, says Gruosi. By three or four in the morning people feel totally relaxed. I love laughing, joking and having a good time and it takes time to build up those relationships. Buying expensive one-off pieces has become a bit like the triumph of appropriating an It handbag and soaring to the top of the waiting list, although of course precious timepieces are infinitely more expensive than bags, says a De Grisogono spokesperson. Customers ask what others have bought and don t want to buy the same Patek Philippe regularly sponsor the annual Boodles Challenge a pre-wimbledon tennis tournament in the lush grounds of Stoke Park, where each of the 1000 seats are no more than 10 metres from the court. Chauffeurs whisking guests to and from the venue drive Bentleys only. Last year Patek Philippe staged a retrospective
Industry 69 exhibition of the stunning black and white photography spanning a decade of the brand s advertising campaigns at the Parisian home of a prolific Patek Philippe collector. Two hundred Patek Philippe customers brought their families. Many had their pictures taken in a recreated bistrot scene recalling an original advertising shot. Bonding on Bond Street Covetable guest lists are one thing, but there are plenty of other forms of special treatment on offer. Watch addicts and watch retailers alike are coming to realise the benefits of forging special relationships, both inside and outside the confines of the boutique. VIP clients routinely receive invitations to private previews at Bond Street boutiques, like jewellers Van Cleef & Arpels and exclusive watch store, Marcus. Brands like IWC and Patek Philippe offer tours of their factories to show aficionados who appreciate seeing the birthplace of the watches, according to IWC s UK brand director, Simon Chambers. Visitors to the Patek Philippe factory are rumoured to include musician Eric Clapton. Visitors to Ebel s calming and beautiful Turkish Villa, the Villa Turque, completed by 20 th century architect, Le Corbusier, in 1917, have included queen of pop and former brand ambassador, Madonna. Over to you Meanwhile, in an effort to lure the super rich, retail directors the length of Bond Street are increasingly going out of their way to serve and meet customers at their treadmills, desks, favourite restaurants and hotels. Shop managers can also be found travelling the globe hand-delivering rare pieces to customers without the time to leave work and some who prefer not to be seen in public. Cartier took over the Natural History Museum in autumn 2007, to celebrate the opening of the Temple on Bond Street. Arnaud Bamberger with Joely Richardson & Bernard Fornas with Princess Michael of Kent This year I ve travelled to Los Angeles, Moscow, the USA, Istanbul and Eastern Europe to deliver to clients, says Chris Cameron- Gudge, general manager of Bond Street s Marcus watch store. Customers are happy to return the favour. When Cameron-Gudge delivered a watch to a Moscow client, he thought he might be late catching his return flight to London. The client made a quick call and arranged armed guards, a police convoy and a fast track through the airport. British Airways treated me like royalty, even though I was on economy, says Cameron-Gudge, who has also been an avid Arsenal fan for 35 years and was recently thanked with Arsenal tickets by a Middle Eastern client. Of course, acquiring a watch at a private preview and doing business directly with a company owner, director or creative designer adds privacy, anonymity and copious amounts of kudos to the thrill of owning the new timepiece. Its also likely to make the act indulging piles more fun. 8 Further Information: www.marcuswatches.co.uk Panerai evening 2007, organised with QP