patrick_y
[PuristSPro Moderator]
28238
Sounds good. When are you coming back to Los Angeles?
The Library with a Horological Focus is actually under construction. There will also be a mini-bar in our library. In the meanwhile, we have the Vacheron Constantin library.
Interview: Mr. David Lee, Philanthropist, Ferraristi, & CEO of Hing Wa Lee Jewelry & Watch
In this interview, PuristSPro meets with Mr. David Lee, the CEO and Chairman of the Hing Wa Lee Jewelry & Watch Company of Southern California. We gain some insight to the watch retail industry, reaffirm that many watch lovers have similar passions, a...
Impressive
It's always interesting to read about how these shops are created and what is the man behind them. The last point helps making it more "personnal" compared to the huge size of the building. I'm impressed by the building and how we have little flagship cor...
Thank You Mark!
When an independent jeweler does a store like this, it's always impressive because the owners always leave their identity all over the place. Compared with corporate jewelers that hire design teams to design all of their stores with the same brand identit...
A great interview and interesting way to see things from the retailers angle
It really is a complicated machine to run but as Me. Lee mentioned it is all amount the customer experience and more and more customers are knowledgeable and so the staff must be trained. I think rich (all) people that may have bought just because now fin...
Staff training is perhaps the biggest problem in retail...
When I visit any store; whether to buy a television, a camera, a watch, or an automobile, the majority of the time I find that I have done more thorough research than the sales person has ever done in his career. The gap of knowledge is not only mind bogg...
Very Cool Retail Space..
I like the concept and it could be one of the best I've seen yet, thanks for sharing it with us. S
Thank you for reading!
The concept is amazing and I personally haven't seen any store that does this "shop-in-shop" concept at this kind of a scale. I've seen shop-in-shop stores, but never quite to such an extent. The feeling of the store is more like a comfortable airport lou...
Both Establishments have their virtues...
It would be a pleasure to browse in any one of them but for sheer scale and variety of the horological kind Hing Wa Lee seems to have it made there, a very cool place. S
Definitely!
As far as I know, and I don't dare to say too much, considering I've actually never visited Malmaison. The Malmaison concept was the first store that really pushed the boundary of what is a watch store; I state that from my observations of the photographs...
We could Take it over and call it the Purists Clubhouse :-)
Nice Cigar room and Library with a Horological Focus and we are all set :-) LoooL S
Sounds good. When are you coming back to Los Angeles?
The most amazing part here is, I really don't think Mister David Lee would mind. He'd be happy to see the various lounge space being utilized by people who breath and talk watches. He's really that kind of individual. A generous, big-picture kind of guy. ...
Thats Great!
Mr. Lee sounds like an amazing person, would love to meet him, the library would be great but what about all the gleaming and glittering horological machines we get to play with in our Purists Club? :-) that is the most amazing thing, Purists Club at Hing...
I don't have the sense of humor...
I don't have the sense of humor for hip hop music. I'll take my Puccini opera any day. I will listen to electronic house music though. In rental cars with satellite radio, I normally listen to "Chill" station #53. That's probably considered house or loung...
Very Cool
Dark, Moody and Atmospheric, I like it, I listen to anything and everything that sounds good to me, Hip Hop has its merits as well, its a vast ocean with many styles and rhythms but whats stays are the stories that the MCs are trying to share with their a...
I'll watch it.
Hip hop definitely has its merits. And in just another couple decades, it will quite likely be as highly revered and as sophisticated as jazz is today. If we look at music history in the United States, jazz music and swing music also stemmed from the unde...
That was impressive.
Nice place to buy a watch, many brands and models to choose, quite perfect. Not easy to walk out the door without a watch on your wrist. I like it. Thanks for sharing Vte
Not easy at all...
Perhaps one of the most amazing thing about this place was I wanted to actually live in it. The space is just so welcoming with so much seating area, it feels like a giant living room. So, it was difficult to leave without buying a new watch. But it was a...
I could probably live in it!
You're definitely right. One could indeed spend countless hours here. And if you don't mind sleeping on couches (remember your college years?) you could even live there! Three Michelin Stars!
Great report! Thank you Patrick and David!
As a designer myself, I am thrilled to hear the approach of "designing" a watch store from the ground up. I have been in a few other stores over the years that are impressive, but none that would rival Hing Wa Lee's shop. I can't wait to visit it. What a ...
This store really allows everything to stay in perfect condition...
I agree, it's not a small feat to allow for the watches to stay put, the fact that the watches and jewelry are handled as little as possible makes a lot of sense. I can only imagine the staff pulling all the jewelry at night. All in a rush to do it as qui...
Definitely smart to leave them wrapped...
At least with the high end pieces. I don't currently have any West coast trips planned, but I owe you boys a visit one of these days. Hopefully later in the year...
Very interesting insights into ...
... the watch retail world and David really seems to have done this right. So often we watch enthusiasts have an uncomfortable relationship with the dealers - we feel they want to move product, separate us from our money and make a profit. But in this cas...
An insightful review of a review...
You summed it up perfectly. In this case, it's a win, win, win for everyone. Still a lot of dealers who are looking for the easy route. And they've been able to get it with the huge insurgence of wealth in a few key developing countries (with gigantic pop...
I was impressed with the new store
Thanks Patrick for the interview. It was nice to read the background story. In fact, I have visited Hing Wa Lee the past two weekends spying a particular AP ROO. The store is very spacious and best of all the staff is very knowledgeable and friendly. Rega...
Good to know!
It really is a beautiful space. It's really amazing when you're able to connect with the staff and interact with the staff. Just purely amazing. Imagine if everyone on the staff was a watch collector like the individuals on PuristSPro, then I'd never leav...
Hing Wa Lee flagship store is an advancement for USA
Thank you Patrick and Mr Lee for the interview. I've done most of my watch buying in London, Singapore and Tokyo so its good to see the standards in another country. I tell a lie; I bought a Bulgari PuristS 10th edition XPro in Las Vegas in 2011, so I hav...
Well said.
I agree, this store is an advancement for the industry, especially in the United States. I think this store will become a model of how other stores should be like in the future. Las Vegas is indeed a very unique representation of the United States. And de...
Purists visit the boutique live
Audemars Piguet. Vintage Rolex at the Rolex boutique inside the store. Old meet new. Bill ...
Look at those watches!
AP Grand Sonnerie and a vintage Rolex Submariner. Seems like the store's inventory just got even more impressive!
Thanks for the wonderful report and interview Patrick
The Hing Wa Lee boutique looks super impressive! I think it has the nicest decor for all ADs I have seen/read. Very impressive indeed and also great to read that their staff are well trained to explain the watches they sell. I enjoyed all the photos alot....
You have to come over...
For the mandatory PuristSPro community meeting. Just kidding. It truly is an amazing space. Come over with the kids. Disneyland for them, and watch disneyland for us. Singapore's watch stores are impressive too! If you can be impressed here, then that'll ...
They must have pulled out some RM's from the vault to display for your pics :)
...because every time I visit HWLJ the RM section is completely empty. HWLJ is by far my favorite AD in the LA area. I've been a customer of theirs since they occupied a MUCH smaller space within the strip mall nearby. I hope they were able to retain her ...
Thank you!
These pics were from several years ago. Back when Richard Mille was still attainable!
