Like all shopping centres as we approach the holiday season, that of Rosny 2 in Seine-Saint-Denis, on the outskirts of Paris, has its own Santa Claus. Wearing a red cape and hat trimmed with faux fur, with a fluffy white beard, he promises gifts to the children who are delighted to pose for a quick picture with him. The young Muslims are especially lucky. In one month, they enjoy not only the celebrations of Eid but also the Nativity. This festive syncretism delights merchants, even if the parents are not so thrilled.
Rosny 2 is twelve minutes from Paris by the RER, the express regional train that serves the suburbs around the capital. Upon descending from the train, the visitor sees, next to the rail lines, the neighbourhood of Bois-Perrier, with its medium-sized buildings on one side and the spacious, well-lit, and attractive shopping mall on the other. Making this centre even more attractive is the cinema multiplex, UGC Ciné Cité Rosny, with fifteen theatres, a preferred destination for adolescents. The latest Harry Potter film is currently a big draw.
Let’s take a look around at some of the stores. One of the shoppers, Karima, is at the mall this day, to find something for her daughter—who will soon celebrate her fourth birthday—for Eid and Christmas. The young mother is looking in the watch and jewellery boutique, ‘L’Or du Temps’, on the ground floor next to the large H&M store. “It is nearly a year now that my daughter talks about getting her first watch,” she tells me. “I am looking for a Flik Flak.” At this store, there are Guess, Armani, Dolce & Gabbana, Calvin klein, Festina and Lotus, as well as other timepieces, but no Flik Flaks. The store does not carry children’s watches.

Saturday shoppers
Karima wears a Guess. “It is my first Guess, and my third watch in all. It does not last more than a year and a half. My next one will also be a Guess, but I am waiting for the square model to come out. My brother has a Festina.” Karima leaves the boutique without a gift for Elyes, but she still has a few days to find a Flik Flak.
It is Saturday, and the many shoppers, alone or in small groups, stroll through the corridors of the mall. A young woman wearing a foulard over her hair stops in front of one of the windows of L’Or du Temps. “I have a watch in mind, a square one, silver and gold, like my wedding ring,” she explains. “This will be my first watch. I don’t plan on something that is more than 120 euros, but it is not me who will buy it,” she adds, happy at the idea of getting her first timepiece.
A young man arrives, her husband, the future buyer of the watch. Her name is Touria, his is Youssef. When asked about the price of the watch, he answers that he has a budget of 160 euros maximum. His wife smiles as she reveals the amount that she was planning. He is wearing a Festina, the same for the last four years, in shiny steel. “It still works and I don’t have any plans to change it in the immediate future,” he says. Youssef and Touria just moved to Pierrefitte-sur-Seine, in the department of Seine-Saint-Denis, the phantasmagorical 93. Earlier, they lived in Alsace. He works at the atomic energy commission and she is training at the hospital.
Yvonnick, 25 years old, a salesperson at L’Or du Temps, seems quite self-confident in her business suit as she gives an overview of the store’s customers. “Young girls purchase for their boyfriend. In the high-end range, it is the man who comes in to choose his watch,” she explains. “Here, we sell primarily brands, rather modern watches, not intended for the long term. The clients come back often to change them. Our clients are mostly young and those above 40 years, whose choices generally centre on the brands Certus and Go. The retired clients like Go. What is really popular with the boys is the ado-sport styles such as Festina and Lotus. Some people pick out a watch as a function of their clothing or musical tastes. Guess, for example, with its bling-bling and hip-hop sides, fairly loaded, fairly thick, is appreciated by girls as well as boys.”

Upstairs to upmarket
To see more upmarket watches, we take the escalator up to the Didier Guérin shop, which is affiliated with L’Or du Temps, but is decorated in soft pastel tan shades and has seemingly thicker display cases. The most expensive watch—if we understood correctly—is a Dior, selling for 7,600 euros, much higher than the prices at its counterpart downstairs. Myriam and Caroline, mother and daughter from Neuilly-sur-Marne, a town in Seine-Saint-Denis, have come to Rosny 2 to look for a present for Caroline’s boyfriend, Luis. Of Spanish origin, Luis will be 23 in a few days. Together the two women will chose the gift, obviously a watch. Luis, however, does not know about it, so it will be a surprise. “He likes brands,” says Myriam, who seems to have a good opinion of the young man. “I am looking for something classy, simple, not bling-bling,” adds Caroline in a neutral tone. “He likes to dress well. He has a Diesel, which I bought him for 139 euros.” Luis offered his girlfriend a diamond pendant. “She likes jewellery. She likes everything,” remarks her mother. Both women decide on an Armani, which is rectangular, reasonably thick, and has a light grey dial with Roman numerals. It costs 179 euros. “I am the one who is paying,” smiles Caroline.
With the next customer, Olivier, the search turns more technical. A 32-year old commercial engineer, he came to the Didier Guérin boutique with his wife. A native of department 93, he works for Solidworks, a subsidiary of Dassault Systèmes. “We have developed software that measures the resistance of materials in 3D constructions,” explains this aficionado of higher-end watches. He is wearing a Baume & Mercier that he says cost him 1,900 euros. “Among our clients,” explains Olivier cheerfully, “is the Swiss watch brand, Frederique Constant, as well as Zenith, which was doing badly but should do better after its acquisition by LVMH. Zenith even brought out a 30th Anniversary model for 7,900 euros…” He goes on to say, reassuringly, “Watches are moving again.”

Moving north
We leave the warm cocoon of Rosny 2 for the dry cold of the Porte de Clignancourt, at the northern edge of Paris. The divide between the capital and the suburbs is as clear as the guardrail that separates the road from the shoulder. On one side are the Haussmann style buildings, however faded, while on the other side is urban claptrap, where the ring road looms over cheap buildings, small hotels and surviving homes of the working-class inner suburbs. Welcome to Clignancourt, realm of the flea market and the counterfeit everything. Here, the prices of watches fall sharply, adapting to a more modest clientele. Small shops run by Indians and Pakistanis offer a little of everything—gloves, scarves, handbags, jewellery, and of course watches. Real, fake? Very few people even ask the question. The brands have names that have never graced the pages of a glossy magazine— Firmax, Ernest, FLR, Celsior… Most are sold for less than 20 euros, some even as low as 5. Only some strange Citizen models break the 50-euro barrier, displaying the single price of 69.90 euros in a small shop the size of a food stall, located in the lower level at the entrance to the metro.
It would be a mistake to think that outside the ring road lives a lumpenproletariat that buys only ugly watches. First of all, everything is not lumpen in the suburbs. A middle class lives there quite comfortably. And, as our little visit to the Rosny 2 shopping centre shows, the choices of watches are varied, with something for all prices and all tastes.
All tastes? Well maybe not all. Mehdi, 18 years old, living in Saint-Ouen, in Seine-Saint-Denis, in his first year of university in Paris, would probably not have found the Lego watch designed by Jean-Charles de Castelbajac that he is wearing. “I bought it for 100 euros in Paris in a Castelbajac boutique,” he says. It is colourful—yellow, green, and red, with a black dial. “I don’t use it for telling time,” he adds. “I have my mobile phone for that, but I like its colours. I find it attractive.” And, yes, in the suburbs, we also find boys who like pop art.

Source: Europa Star December - January 2011 Magazine Issue