Rox seals deal with Audemars Piguet

INDEPENDENT jeweller Rox has struck a deal to be the sole Scottish retailer for a luxury Swiss watch brand favoured by the likes of Barcelona footballer Lionel Messi, tennis player Serena Williams and golfers Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood.

It said that from April the company’s main Glasgow outlet in Argyll Arcade will be stocking the upmarket Audemars Piguet timepieces, which typically cost between £10,000 and £50,000.

Kyron Keogh, Rox managing director, said: “We’ve been discussing this exciting partnership with Audemars Piquet for several years so to be the exclusive retailer of the brand at our flagship Argyll Arcade boutique is one of Rox’s biggest moments.”

Rox said it had seen luxury watch sales more than double during the second half of 2014 and believes the deal will add to sales. The company, run by childhood friends Mr Keogh and Grant Mitchell, already has exclusive Scottish watch retail rights for the likes of Breguet, Hublot, Parmigiani and Ulysse Nardin.

Along with those it also stocks watches designed by luxury brands including Gucci, Baume & Mercier, TW Steel, Hugo Boss, Raymond Weil and Bremont.

Rox has five locations in Scotland – one each in Aberdeen and Edinburgh with its three Glasgow sites in Argyll Arcade, Silverburn and Braehead – along with outlets in Newcastle and Leeds.

Audemars Piguet was formed in 1875 by watchmakers Jules Louis Audemars and Edward Auguste Piguet.

It is said to be the oldest fine watchmaker which has never passed outside the hands of its founding families.

It is still based in the village of Le Brassus in Switzerland but now employs more than 1,300 people around the world and produces around 32,000 timepieces annually.