Venerable Swiss watch brand assumes younger look
THE LUCERNE group, exclusive distributor of Breitling watches in the Philippines, recently unveiled the new look of the Swiss brand’s store at Greenbelt 5 in Makati.
The move is in keeping with Breitling’s global thrust of appealing to a younger market without abandoning its heritage, which is strongly tied to aviation.
Alexander Melchers, GM of Singapore-based Melchers, Breitling’s exclusive distributor in Southeast Asia, graced the Manila launch.
“Breitling has always incorporated the color yellow in its interiors. What’s new is the use of beautiful, light-colored wood, which brightens up everything,” said Melchers of Breitling’s new store look.
While the look of its old stores wasn’t bad, it was darker and more conservative. Apart from having brighter interiors, Breitling’s newly renovated Greenbelt 5 store has attractive splashes of color, thanks to huge pop art paintings by American artist Kevin T. Kelly.
Breitling, which has remained a family-owned company since its inception in 1892, tapped the services of Kelly not only to brighten each store and give it a more youthful vibe, but also to pay homage to its aeronautical heritage and “tradition of perfection.”
“Breitling first became famous for making clocks for airplanes,” said Melchers. “Ever since, there has been an exacting demand on production to make each hand-crafted timepiece perfect. Even after the company slowly moved into handheld devices and later on wristwatches, this tradition of perfection remains.”
Breitling, Melchers added, is also in the same league as Rolex, IWC, Panerai and Tudor. While Rolex is still on top and Tudor is at the bottom of this “peer group,” Breitling is safely positioned in the middle.
“It’s not necessarily the first luxury watch you buy,” he said. “But it’s a watch every collector wants and needs to have.”
Technology-wise, every single watch Breitling produces and sells the world over is reportedly certified by the Geneva Chronometry board. As far as Melchers is concerned, it’s the only watch brand which could make such a claim.
“From a production and quality-control point of view, that requires huge effort and no room for mistakes,” he said. “While others could claim that their watches are also certified, they take the ones that didn’t get certification, refinish them and sell them somewhere else as uncertified watches. We don’t do that at Breitling because we don’t stop until we get it right.”