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A Visit to Swatch Group's Tourbillon Boutique in New York City - a Photo Essay

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)

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