Horological Meandering

A Visit to the Swatch Group'sTourbillon Boutique in New York City

- A Photo Essay

by Jon Z. (Z3)

A few weeks ago I was invited by SwatchGroup to visit their newly opened, directly managed Tourbillon Boutique on WallStreet. The Tourbillon boutique concept is the group's effort to showcase its"prestige brands" under one roof, with an unified theme and customerservice.

Priorto the arrival of the New York City boutique, the Tourbillon network comprisedof seventeen boutiques, first one in the United States in the South Coast Plaza,five within Swiss national borders (Crans-Montana, Montreux, St. Moritz,Lausanne, Lugano), eight in Europe (Amsterdam, Baden-Baden, Kitzbuhl, Mykonos,Nice, Porto Cervo, Portofino, Puerto Banus), two in Beijing, China and one inSingapore.

One salient feature about the boutiqueis the expansive and airy show room, which is quite a refreshing change from thetypical New York watch store's cluttered watch display cases. Each piece isexquisitely showcased, along with various art pieces on display, giving theboutique a museum-like feel. 

 

 

 

 

A selection of watches

During this visit, I photographed somepieces that I thought are interesting.

First are the Jaquet Droz pieces. Theboutique has a very comprehensive collection of Jaquet Droz.

 

 

 

In particular, I photographed, indetail, some relatively rare and special piece with exotic dials that we do notget to see everyday.

Jaquet Droz Les Deux Fuseaux with Aventurine Dial:Only a few glassworks still possess the formula for aventurine. Opaque or translucent, containing crystals that were engendered by fire in molten glass, aventurine scintillates, subtly flecked with all possible shades of red, yellow and grey. Forged by human hands, often compared to the philosopher's stone, aventurine contains the secrets of the master jeweler's alchemy.

Jaquet Droz Grande Seconde with Cocobolo Wood Dial:Cocobolo is a tropical hardwood from Central America. Cocobolo is oily in look and feel, and stands up well to repeated handling and exposure to water: a common use is in gun grips and knife handles. It is very hard, fine textured and dense, but is easily machined, although due to the abundance of natural oils, the wood tends to clog abrasives and fine-toothed saw blades. Like other very hard, very dense tropical woods, Cocobolo can be brittle. Due to its density and hardness, even a large block of the cut wood will produce a clear musical tone if struck. Cocobolo can be polished to a lustrous, glassy finish. 

Cobolo wood side by side withAventurine.

 

Those are beautiful creations. However,I am not a big fan of their leather straps, as they are thick and very stiff,making it difficult to put through the strap keeper, and in my opinion takesaway a bit of the elegance of the watch. A softer and more supple type of strapwould be much appreciated. Maybe it takes some getting used to...

 

 

Jaquet Droz Grande Seconde Medium with Meteorite Dial / Diamonds

 

Glashutte Original Tourbillon Regulator

Elaborately finished with taste.

 

Glashutte Original Spring Blossom - Iphotographed this ladies piece because I think it embodies the elements ofbeautiful watch making and jewelry making. The dial is painted and the diamondplacements are unique and refreshing. Overall, a very visually pleasant piecewith many details

 

Breguet Marine Lady Chronograph- offers elaborate guilloche patterns on mother of pearl dial, which is quitedifficult to do

 

 

Glashutte Original Sport Evo Impact- Personally not a great fan, as it's size feels a bit overboard, and notvery natural on the wrist. The small movement encased in the larger case (seenfrom the back) feels awkward... I prefer the original Sport Evo models muchmore.

 

 

Breguet Classique 7137 - the newand enlarged  power-reserve moon phase. Elegantly porportioned.

 

Omega Tourbillon - I first sawthe watch when I was just finishing up high school. The centrally placedtourbillon and the rotating "Omega sign" have continually fascinatedme for more than a decade...

 

Blancpain All Black Fifty Fathoms Automatique 

 

Swatch Diaphane One Turn 2 Her, andOne Turn 2 Him - A Swatch Horological creation, a manual wind where thecentral disk rotates 360 degrees every hour (it's not a tourbillon norcarousel). The bezels are made of gold, and the cases are made of aluminum andplastic. At well over $10,000 a piece, these are probably the most expensiveSwatch currently on the market. They are definitely interesting. The plasticfeel, the finishing level, and the overall workmanship still retain the SwatchDNA. However, at that price range, Swatch does have a lot of strong competitors.

 

 

I applaud Swatch Group's effort. Justlike many well-run, brand-managed boutiques, I feel there is a stronger emphasison customer education, a more comprehensive collection and holistic view foreach brand, and a more satisfying buying experience.

Thanks to Swatch's Amy, and theTourbillon boutique's manager Michael, for making this visit a great experience.

 

Truly yours,

Jon (Z3)

 

 

This message has been edited by Z3 on 2009-08-22 11:33:40 This message has been edited by MTF on 2009-08-25 02:13:53

The JD pieces are very interesting in deed.  THANK you!

I have walked thru the one in South Coast Plaza but they didn't have the selection that you have seen in NY. 

nt

Very impressive store.

- SJX

I just returned from Tokyo, where I visited the same group of Swatch Boutiques on the Ginza.  They did not have the JD Tourbillion . . . I would love to have seen that pice.  They did, however, have a couple of steller Breguet Minute Repeaters.

Craig

Thanks for sharing photos from the Tourbillon boutique.  There are some really intriguing pieces in your photoessay.  In particular, it was nice to see the cocobolo JD.  I'm familiar with cocobolo from its use in higher-end acoustic guitars.  A good piece of cocobolo shows good tonal quality and figure.  It's a beautiful wood.  The other piece I would totally love to wear -- with one small tweak -- would be the GO tourbillon regulator.  I like the look quite a bit, but wish the tourbillon wasn't impeding the minute display.  The engraving on the movement is very pretty, however. 

Thanks for the report! 

Cheers,
Daos

NT

Especially the GO Tourbillon Regulator, whichwe rarely see and is stunning both back and front sides.

Thanks for posting this. 

respo

Thanks very much for the excellent photos of so many splendid time pieces.  I look forward to when I can spend some time there and see all of these watches in the flesh.   Again, great post and photos.

Cheers

Steve

Thank you, Jon.
Was about to go in that shop while ago, but I was in such a dirty sweaty T-shirts and not wearing one of my good ones, so I didn't
Next time I go there, I will go in and stroll around.

Again, thank you very much!

Ken

I love it

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. . . in the same photo session - Omega central and Glashütte regulator tourbillons . . . thanks, Z3! Cordially, Art

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Z3,

 

Thanks fo the photo tour.

I was surprised that you mentioned there is a Tourbillon boutique in Singapore.

Must have sneaked onto the island............ 

Regards,

MTF

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Airports are "offshore"....

MTF

I must admit that, silly me, I didn't realise all the brands on display there were Swatch brands, and that the Tourbillon boutique itself is a Swatch-owned outfit.

Well worth a look for anyone transiting through Changi. A bit of a hike if you are at a different terminal, but they are all interconnected by walkways, and there's also a train thingy for the exercise-averse.

Cheers
Tony P

God knows how I love these 2 pieces!

Omega for the original location of the Tourbi, and these original hands, too which are a great complement to a beautifully made watch.

G.O for its mesmerizing beauty.

Yes, it is always nice to see them, and it is even nicer when the pics are great!

Thanks, Jon.

Best,

Nicolas

 

Didn't get a chance to visit the Tourbillon boutique the last time I was in New York City. As its location on Wall Street is too far from 5th Avenue and Madison Avenue where there is a large concentration of shopping boutiques.

But apparently, I missed viewing a beautiful store. Will definitely try to make it out there the next time I'm in Gotham.

From your pictures of the NY Tourbillon Boutique, this Boutique has a much more "old-school" feel to it with the inclusion of the art pieces as well as the Tourbillon branded wallpaper.  I don't recall the South Coast Plaza Boutique to have any of this Tourbillon wallpaper.  If South Coast Plaza has this same wallpaper, it is definitely very discreet and not noticeable at all.

Love your pics of the Glashutte Tourbillon Regulator.  The engraving on the movement looks absolutely beautiful!

Cheers,
Anthony

 

Some very interesting pieces.

 

Thanks for sharing.  Love that power reserve Jaquet and the Glashutte Tourbillon.  That central tourbillon Omega looks awesome.

 

 

Vte

Thanks for the nice update and review. I rarely see pics of omega tourbillon. It really a good detail pics you posted. Well, for anyone who drop by Singapore Changi Airport terminal 3, there is a tourbillon boutique there as well. It has almost the same setup/deco as the New York Boutique posted here but without the omega tourbillon as i last saw two years back. Cheers.