Internet sales have finally reached the world of luxury timepieces. Tom Otley reports.
If you’re into luxury timepieces, Jura Watches in London’s Mayfair could be right up your street. The store opened in November 2007 at 3 Burlington Gardens, but there’s certainly no lack of competition, with individual boutiques such as Patek Philippe (15 New Bond Street), Watches of Switzerland, Marcus (170 New Bond Street), Wempe (43-44 New Bond Street) and several antique and pre-owned watch outlets in both the Royal Arcade just off Bond Street, and the Omega Vintage store (35-36 Burlington Arcade) all in the vicinity.
So how do you stand out from a crowd like this? Well, in Jura’s case, in a couple of ways. Firstly, the store has exclusivity on selected models of certain brands, most notably Porsche and Perrelet watches. Secondly, it has persuaded the brands it stocks that it should be allowed to sell through the internet.
Alistair Laidlaw, sales and marketing director for Jura, says: “There’s clearly no shortage of luxury watch shops, but our whole raison d’être was to offer the new luxury consumer something completely different. The traditional way of Bond Street retailing hasn’t changed in decades so we’ve decided to be truly experimental to surprise and delight our customers.”
A fine example of this is the giant touch- sensitive plasma screen hanging on the wall of the store, which allows both staff and customers to view the entire range of watches, including not only those in the store (around 330 models), but the full
range of about 2,500.
Laidlaw says: “We’ve created what is clearly a concept-driven store, with the sculpted mounted wall on one side [representing an iceberg] and the world’s largest plasma screen with digital panels on another, in order to bring the brands alive and to merge the lines between the traditional way of selling and the internet.”
The Jura website has high-resolution imagery of the watches and detailed product information, and through an alliance with watch magazine QP, has access to the its editorial.
Jura currently offers 15 watch brands, although Baume and Mercier is being added in the near future and Laidlaw expects they will increase to around 20. The most popular brands are currently Ball Watch Company, Bell and Ross, and Bremont.
Laidlaw says: “Ball’s price-point starts at around £750, and averages at £1,000 – you get a fabulous watch for the money, it’s not over-distributed in the UK, and we are selling one of them a day. Bell and Ross couldn’t be a greater fit between what they are doing and what we are doing. It is a contemporary, stylish, quality proposition.
To put a brand like that in a mundane retail environment next to a more established, less exciting brand would be to do it a disservice.
“Bremont are quintessentially British people. They are young and trying to do something different in the Swiss watch industry. They totally embraced the fact that we are trying to shake up something that is shrouded in tradition and were one of the first companies to support us.”
In addition, Jura has UK exclusivity of two brands, Jean Richard and Eberhard and Co, London exclusivity of Perrelet and exclusivity of certain models, such as the Porsche World Timer.
It’s a clever idea, not least since luxury watch brands are very wary of using the internet for anything other than providing information, but Jura has persuaded them, and as a result it can sell individual pieces worth many thousands of pounds to collectors searching for a reliable retailer.
Currently, sales are split around fifty-fifty between the internet and from the store.Laidlaw says: “Customers are reassured by the fact that we have a Mayfair boutique.
We are accountable, people can go back if there’s a problem, and we have a total ‘no quibble’ money-back guarantee – if they buy the watch and they don’t like it, they can send it back. We even provide the packaging and the postage for this 30-day returns policy. In fact, you can track the progress of the watch via GPS.
“We also have added value, so every customer receives membership of Ten Lifestyle Management, Europe’s largest and most respected concierge service, which is worth £1,800 – and that’s even if the customer buys a £500 watch. In addition, we provide free watch insurance, zero per cent finance (35 per cent of customers take up this offer) and same-day delivery within the M25 up to nine at night.”
For more information visit jurawatches.co.uk.
JACOB & CO
If you’re looking for an understated watch, those of Jacob and Co are not for you. However, if you want something which it is highly unlikely any of your colleagues will have, they may be of interest. Jacob Arabo, a successful jeweller before moving into watches in 2002, launched with his Five Time Zone collection, which combined primary colours with multiple time-zone technology. With a client list including Sir Elton John, David Beckham, Justin Timberlake, Bono, Karl Lagerfeld and Sean Combs, these frequently large watches are designed to attract as much attention as possible. They are also very individual – the Five Time Zone styles have diversified through the addition of pastel colours and diamond accents. The World is Yours timepiece has a diamond-encrusted dial in the shape of a world map with different-coloured diamonds forming the continents.
Visit jacobandco.com.
