Luxury Watch Brands Celebrate The Holidays In Shanghai

Vacheron Constantin Puts On Elaborate Exhibition, While Roger Dubuis Opens Its First Store In Mainland China This holiday season, luxury watchmakers are celebrating in style in Shanghai. As Shanghai Daily writes today, two Swiss brands -- Vacheron Constantin and Roger Dubuis (recently acquired by Richemont) -- have burst onto the Shanghai social scene this week, Vacheron with an elaborate exhibition and Roger Dubuis by opening its first store in the Chinese mainland: Swiss high-end watch maker Vacheron Constantin, best known for its complicated men's watches, wants to show that it's equally strong at creating exquisite jewelry watches for women. An exhibition featuring diamond-studded high jewelry timepieces by the world's oldest watchmaker is underway in the city. Most of the exhibits are on display in Asia for the first time, and most are women's watches. In 1979, Vacheron Constantin produced a legend watch called "Kallista," which means "the most beautiful" in Greek. It was carved from a gold ingot, featuring 118 diamonds weighing 130 carats. Celebrating the 30th anniversary of "Kallista" this year, the watch house has created a collection of diamond watches, including "Kallania," a fully set diamond timepiece featuring 186 emerald-cut diamonds weighing a record 170 carats. The collectors' piece also houses the thinnest mechanical movement in the world, the 1003 calibre. It is valued at 5 million euros (US$7.26 million). Both "Kallania" and a replica of "Kallista" are on display, together with another 13 glittering diamond watches as well as 12 antique timepieces dating back to 1900 from the brand's museum in Geneva. Roger Dubuis, founded in 1995 and acquired by Richemont in 2008, has opened its first mainland store on Huaihai Road M. As an article on the store's star-studded opening noted, Roger Dubuis has made a grand entrance into the Shanghai luxury scene: To celebrate the boutique's grand opening, the global CEO of ROGER DUBUIS, Mr. Matthias Schuler, together with the Asia-Pacific Managing Director, Mr. Jean-Sébastien Berland, were in Shanghai to host the ribbon-cutting ceremony along with the famous movie stars Jackie Chan and Liu Yifei. As honoured guests raised their champagne flutes, the doors of the boutique opened for the first time, signifying the brand's new beginnings in China – a milestone for Roger Dubuis. As the Shanghai Daily article pointed out, Roger Dubuis is the only brand with all its watch movements certified with the Poincon de Geneve, or Geneva Seal. The company's new Shanghai boutique showcases the brand's four most significant collections - Excalibur, Kingsquare, Easydiver and Goldensquare. Its highly complicated watches in precious metals are restricted to no more than 28 pieces. Most recently, a Roger Dubuis complicated watch, Excalibur white gold minute repeater, was auctioned for 3.68 million yuan (US$538,800) at a charity gala. At the boutique's opening ceremony, Matthias Schuler, global CEO of Roger Dubuis, gave the check of all the proceeds to Jackie Chan on behalf of the actor's foundation, which builds schools in rural China.

Luxury Watch Brands Celebrate The Holidays In Shanghai

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Published December 18, 2009

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Luxury Watch Brands Celebrate The Holidays In Shanghai