The Watch Boutique Experience

Last week was the first week for a very long time that I was able to get back to doing one of the things I enjoy most about this hobby – visiting watch boutiques. I can remember when I first started getting into watches, I didn’t really have a circle of people I could share this new-found passion with, so I turned to visiting watch boutiques as my entry point into the wider watch community.

I always felt welcomed; these visits allowed me to talk with like-minded individuals and learn about different brands and watches from people who really know their stuff, and of course I was able to try a whole bunch of different watches on for size and get a feel for my likes and dislikes. It served to teach me an incredibly important lesson early on, and that was just how important it is to see a watch in person and try it on your wrist, regardless of any preconceptions.

Sure, you can get a feel for whether you will or won’t like a particular watch from promotional material online, but you cannot really know for sure until you see it in person – I have changed my own opinions on many watches when I’ve seen them in person or been able to try them on.

Indeed, this even happened to me for two specific watches in the past week – I’ll take a look at one example of this later!

Anyway, having reflected a bit more on last week’s visits and scrolled through the multitude of new photos on my camera roll, I wanted to talk about some of my experiences and why I think the watch boutique experience is such an integral part of the hobby, and how it can be a great entrance into the watch community.

The Watch Boutique Experience

It was about 5 years ago that I really started getting interested in watches seriously. In that time, I have visited a huge number of boutiques and retailers – for the most part, this has been in London and elsewhere in the UK, but I have also been lucky to visit Geneva (you can read more about my visit to Geneva here) and a couple of stores in Sydney, Australia, when visiting on holiday.

Of all these visits, I can only recall two single instances where I was made to feel uncomfortable, or like I was not welcome in the store. I don’t want to name the brands as I have visited other boutiques elsewhere and had a great experience, and I firmly believe that these were chance experiences.

The key point is that in what must equate to over 99% of visits, my watch boutique experience has been great with interesting conversation, and either getting to see something really cool or learning something new – or both!

On my first few visits, I found that a lot of watch stores can appear intimidating from the outside – I think this is especially true for people new to watches and aren’t sure what to expect. After all, there is almost always a security guard standing just inside the door watching you approach, and the boutiques themselves are often quiet to the point that all eyes are on you as soon as you walk through the door. You normally quickly encounter an attendant asking you whether they can help and what you are looking for.

Accumulate all this together, and it is easy to see how people can feel this way.

However, one of my learnings was that this is a matter of perspective, and it helps to remember many attendants in boutiques are watch enthusiasts themselves; an attendant once said to me when I expressed that I didn’t want to take too much of their time, that if I wasn’t there, they would have nothing to do! As such, they were more than happy to spend time with me looking at different watches and talking about them.

I have had countless great conversations with attendants in stores where I have learned a huge amount and been encouraged to get hands on with watches that I could never dream of owning without a lottery win, which served to affirm my appreciation of them.

The first time I heard a minute repeater is something I will never forget. It was in the Blancpain boutique in London, and I had visited with a friend who wanted to look at a Fifty Fathoms, when out of the corner of my eye I noticed this magnificent minute repeater in the display case. The attendant had been so wonderful with us that I felt as though I could ask to have a look, and he couldn’t have been happier to get it out to show us. “In for a penny, in for a pound!” he said.

Hearing the watch chime out the time was a moment I will never forget, and to this day the minute repeater remains my favourite complication.

Why should I visit a watch boutique or retailer?

In the past 18 months, the world has changed significantly, and industries have had to adapt – the watch industry is no different, with the pandemic serving as a catalyst for many brands to step up their e-commerce offerings, making watches available to purchase online either directly or through their retail networks. This obviously has its place and purpose, but I would attest is no substitute for the watch boutique experience.

There is a subtle difference between boutiques and retailers: boutiques are owned and operated by the brand, whereas a retailer is an authorised vendor of watches on behalf of a brand.

Boutiques focus more on the best possible representation of their brand, whereas a retailer will usually stock multiple different watch brands and so whilst the overall experience is still very much an enjoyable one, it is less focused on delivering a specific brand, per se.

In terms of availability, brand boutiques tend to stock a wider range of their pieces than would be found in a retailer, which tend to stock a smaller selection of pieces but across multiple brands all together.

So, what makes the watch boutique experience so worthwhile?

1. The people

Firstly, watch boutiques are a great way to engage in actual face-to-face conversation with like-minded watch enthusiasts. Boutiques and attendants are incredible resources to learn about the respective brand, and attendants in both have often visited manufactures and can talk in detail about the processes and craft that goes into making watches, able to speak from their own experience. I have always found these types of conversations to be both fascinating and fruitful in terms of learning about brands and how they operate, but also about watchmaking as a whole.

Given attendants themselves are likely watch enthusiasts too, conversation often turns to watches in general. This past week, my friend and I spent what must have been between 30 and 45 minutes talking with an attendant about her amazing collection of Omega Speedmasters (and no, this was not an Omega boutique!). She spoke about her collection with an infectious joy and passion – whilst I am the first to admit I don’t really know a great deal about the intricacies of various Speedmaster editions, I certainly came away from this conversation knowing a lot more!

Over the years I have spoken to many attendants and have now got great relationships with several – whenever I am visiting boutiques to check out the latest releases I will always pop by for a chat (assuming of course that I wouldn’t be getting in the way of other customers!) and they are always happy to catch up and talk watches.

It is these relationships that I find are such an important facet to enjoying this hobby, and for those starting out getting into watches I could not recommend this more as an entry point into the wonderful watch community, and you simply cannot get this from buying online.

2. The products

Secondly, there is a great range of watches and other artefacts on offer – especially in brand-owned boutiques. I already mentioned the tendency to find an extended range of watches on offer in boutiques compared with retailers, but what I found especially this past week is that if you take the time to explore, there can be other attractions, too.

On occasion, this can even include prototype models of those unobtainable watches – visiting the Patek Philippe boutiques in London and Geneva I have previously been able to try both the Nautilus 5711 in London and the Aquanaut 5167A in Geneva as prototypes, which I otherwise would likely never see. Likewise, in the Audemars Piguet boutique in Geneva, I was able to try both the Royal Oak 15500 in both blue and black dials.

I think this is something that brands should do more of, as I think being able to handle the watch, even if it is a prototype, should be more accessible to do in boutiques.

Further to this, in both the Breitling and Jaeger-LeCoultre boutiques in London, there were some really great vintage pieces on offer, including Breitling SuperOcean watches from the 1950s, and even an original 1931 Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso! These are not they type of thing you get to see every day, and you are more likely to find them in a boutique as opposed to a retailer (such pieces tend to be part of the brand’s own archives, although on occasion these archive pieces may be lent to retailers as a pop-up or temporary show).

When we visited the Breitling boutique, they had a great range of stock on offer, and we were able to try out the recently released Premier B09 with Pistachio dial. I can remember not being a massive fan of this when it was released, and I honestly didn’t expect to like it. The green colour just seemed a bit off to me from the promotional shots. However this was a prime example of why it is so important to visit watch boutiques and try watches on – having this on my wrist totally changed my mind on the colour, in person it is surprising! This isn’t to say that I would necessarily buy the watch, however I have a different appreciation of it now having tried it that I would not otherwise have had.

In the Vacheron Constantin boutique, they are starting to introduce vintage pieces for sale that have been acquired by the brand and thoroughly checked out, offering those who aren’t overly familiar with vintage watches a ‘safer’ entry point into vintage collecting.

I was fortunate enough to be able to see and handle this super rare reference 4072, of which there are only an estimated 20 examples in the world!

Finally, the range available from the contemporary collections can also throw up some surprises, too, from discontinued pieces that we found available in Blancpain through chance conversation about the retired Leman collection, to a special edition TAG Heuer Carrera in a retailer, and a perfectly timed visit to Bulgari who had an event taking place the following week, so the array of watches available to take a look at was frankly mind-boggling, including a Diva’s Dream ladies watch with a dial made from 500 peacock feathers!

The opportunity to see pieces like this, and to even be able to handle some of them, is again just not possible if you exclusively look to buy online, and are most certainly my favourite aspect of the holistic watch boutique experience.

Should I still visit a watch boutique if I’m not buying a watch?

Absolutely! As I have mentioned before, the boutiques tend to be relatively quiet, and given attendants tend to be watch enthusiasts as well, genuine conversation over a shared interest is almost always going to be a welcome part of anyone’s day.

Of course, there are limits, and I would suggest that a certain etiquette is adhered to though – for example, if the boutique is particularly busy, or if you can see that other customers are waiting, consider ending the conversation to allow the attendant to help the next customers so they don’t miss a potential sales opportunity.

If you are more looking to try pieces on for size, perhaps stick to a maximum of three pieces or so, just to avoid being overly demanding on the attendant’s time.

I once visited the Richard Mille boutique in London and asked if they would mind showing me around and seeing some watches as I had never seen any in person, although they were way out of my price range. As the boutique was quiet, the attendant proceeded to give me a full tour of the boutique, including the cigar and whiskey cellar downstairs (!) and even let me try a couple of watches on. Another great experience that I won’t forget in a hurry.

I think there is an underlying recognition that not every customer is going to buy a watch that they look at. Finding and making the decision to buy a watch can take different lengths of time depending on individuals, for myself it has previously taken up to 18 months to choose a watch I like and make sure, before ultimately making the purchase. I tried the watches multiple times over this period before the time was right for me to buy, and not once did I ever feel pressured, or like I was wasting the attendants’ time.

In Summary

There really is a lot to be said for the round watch boutique experience as a watch enthusiast; the two pillars at its core are the people and the product.

What I’ve found over the past 18 months is that engaging with the watch community is a huge part of this hobby, with the attendants in the boutiques playing a hugely important role within it. Of course, there are other avenues for this such as your local RedBar chapter, but I think speaking with the teams in the boutiques has just as important a role to play.

Finally, there is simply no substitute for being able to get hands on with watches in the company of likeminded enthusiasts – absolutely nothing can replace being able to hold, see, and even hear them in person and sharing that feeling with others.

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You might also be interested in:

• A Watch Aficionado’s Guide to Geneva – Part 1 and Part 2
• Find boutiques and retailers with Watch Affinity Interactive Maps
• “It’s complicated” Part 3: an introduction to the Minute Repeater
• Watch Stationery and Gift Ideas
• Watch Books, Watch Boxes and more at the Watch Affinity Shop on Amazon (commissions earned)

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