They are the bric-a-brac of luxury, the Tati for the rich and the soon-to-be rich. They have an Anglo-Saxon name—Concept Store—that rolls off the tongue like a Dry Martini. In Paris, the most famous of these businesses is Colette. Located at 213 rue Saint-HonorÉ, it is the boutique of boutiques, a place that is way ahead of everyone and everything. It is where you go to shop between lunch and high tea.
Over a drink in the evening at the hotel bar, men will compare their day’s purchases. One of them may very likely hold out his wrist to show off a new watch. “See this? It’s not out anywhere yet, but I have it.” Remarks like these are the very reason that high-end watches proudly hold their place in the new Concept Stores.
In the boutique, the watch corner is managed by Adil, a neo-punk salesperson who is passionate about new technologies. What he knows about watches—and he seems to know a lot—he taught himself with the help of the suppliers who instilled, in him, their technical and fantastical vocabulary with such words as ‘fob’ and ‘tourbillon’. “To launch their new products, brands first try to be in Colette,” he explains. “Hublot watches, for example, really took off after being sold here.”
Bell & Ross and Colette started working together about seven years ago. At the current time, the brand’s BR02 model (among other models and manufacturers) enjoys an exclusive display. The choice of watches proposed to the client is naturally quite selective, with the offer tending towards rarity, not quantity. “We have a French and international clientele who are interested in technically advanced objects,” says Christel Kadian, who is in charge of press relations at Bell & Ross. “Well-to-do Russians are the best clients for our watches sold at Colette. As rising capitalists, Russian men see the latest model of an expensive watch as a sign of power and wealth,” she continues.





At Colette, the prices of these ornaments for the wrist range between 2,200 and 44,000 Euros (for a tourbillon made by Ikepod). The Swiss brands reign supreme in this domain, with limited series the rule. One example is the 24-piece series of the Franck Muller automatic chronograph number 9, with a case in titanium and a black dial, whose price was not even shown. “On a good sales day, we sell about 80,000 Euros worth of watches, but there are also days without sales,” affirms Adil, who enjoys wearing timepieces made available to him by certain brands, such as Chronographe Suisse. The day of our visit, he was wearing a ‘Royal Oak’ by Audemars Piguet.
The window displays are redecorated every week, or nearly every week. This is one of the rules of a concept store—never let things become routine. On the contrary, the store must make the client want to return again and again. The loyal customer, the collector, must feel like he is missing something if he fails to come regularly. So, why does Colette carry watches? “The watch gives our point of view of what could be termed as lifestyle,” answers Guillaume Salmon, Manager of Communication for the boutique.
When asked the same question, Christel Kadian, of Bell & Ross, responds, “Our products fit in with the image of the store—the image of fashion and high tech that corresponds to us. There is also undoubtedly a certain snobbery among the buyers because, what they find at Colette, they won’t find anywhere else. But above all, these are impassioned and busy people who, when the launch of a new watch is announced, want to get it immediately.”
When I visited the store, it was the ‘black’ week with Rodolph, U-Boat, Voltime, Mehdi Custos, Richard Mille, Porsche Design, Ventura, Rado, etc. “There is always a consistent theme in the presentation of the watches,” affirms Adil. There is no place for the random at Colette, such a sweet girl’s name for a world of mechanics. Everything evokes the avant-garde of desire—the food served at the Water Bar (tuna salad, Da Rosa sardines); the fashion collections from global brands as well as up and coming young designers; the rap-chic jewellery that is reminiscent of the chrome radiator grills of American cars (14,175 Euros for a gentleman’s chain!); the DVDs ranging from Antonioni to high-brow American porn.
Mr. Schaller, a watchmaker in the Jura mountains, probably leads a less hectic life. The grower who rises at 5 o’clock in the morning to tend to his Champagne vineyards is not expected to know what the happy few do with his bubbles.


Source: Europa Star December-Januar 2008 Magazine Issue