219 commemorates the first anniversary of Harrods' Fine Watch Room, a significant milestone for luxury watch retail in London. This article delves into the historical context of Harrods' unique offerings and showcases the exclusive 'piece unique' watches created in collaboration with eight brands for this special occasion.
Harrods store is perhaps the best known and one of the oldest standing stores in London. It is the largest department store in Europe and occupies one of the most prominent sites in London (on Knightsbridge). The Harrods motto is Omnia Omnibus UbiqueâAll Things for All People, Everywhere. And so it is and was! Growing up as a young gutter snipe in London, Harrods was always a magical place where you could go and see anything; and where, according to my parents, you could buy anything you wished for (providing you had the money â of course). Harrods makes the news: its annual Christmas sale makes the headlines; memories abound of the England cricket captain in full defensive gear â helmet, pads â doing battle with every local septuagenarian who wanted âthatâ bargain to take home. Some even started queuing for the Sale on Christmas Day despite the opening of the event being a week away.
Harrods fame for being able to supply anything the consumer desired were enshrined in such purchases as Christian the lion cub (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_the_lion) - look for the footage on YouTube, Harrods Bank still sells gold bars on demand, and Harrods can still convince manufacturers to produce unique items for Harrods and Harrods alone. The Fine Watch Room first year anniversary pieces are another example of this ethos.
When the Al Fayed brothers took over the store from the House of Fraser, they entered a committed battle against another famous holding company magnate: Tiny Rowlands. Donât ask me where the name âTinyâ came from. In 2010 Al Fayed decided to sell his shares in Harrods to Qatar Holdings, the sovereign wealth fund of the State of Qatar. The new owners acquired the store, plus other parts of the business for ÂŁ1.5 billion with the stated objective of creating a global brand. Since then, and being a resident of London, I have noticed that Qatar Holdings did not sit back and expect the store to run itself. Quite the opposite, Qatar Holdings have invested in the store, modernizing parts of it that were desperately needed, and creating new areas. One of which has been the Fine Watch Room (suitably created in the area that was the old sweet shop!). A veritable Aladdinâs Cave of Wonders of haute horologerie, created on the ground floor of the store, that has some of the very finest examples of watchmaking you can find in the world. Harrods, for the watch lovers among us, is once again where you can find all (or certainly most) watches for all people, everywhere. And people from everywhere come to Harrods to buy watches.
To celebrate the First Year Anniversary of the opening of the Fine Watch Room, Harrods worked with 8 brands to create âpiece uniqueâ for only 8 watches. Each watch is a unique piece, and as such, when sold, itâs gone. The collection was launched last week at Salon QP at the Harrodâs Seminar Theatre where various talks on watches were presented.
The brands involved were: Audemars Piguet, Breguet, Franck Muller, Hublot, Maurice Lacroix, Roger Dubuis, Vacheron Constantin and Zenith. Below are pictures of the watches: some were a little more difficult to photograph than others. Sharp-eyed Purists will note that there is one brand missing. Although I went to photograph the collection in less than 3 days from its launch; on day 1 (actually, lets make that in the first hour), a gentleman entered the Fine Watch Room at Harrods and bought the Hublot! The Hublot was a stunning Piece Unique Classic Fusion skeleton tourbillon. There is a very lucky collector out there! If he could share some photos for the rest of us?
Enjoy!
From Zenith: Christopher Columbus Charles Fleck Rose Gold Unique Piece.
From Franck Muller: a tonneau shaped diamond-set pink gold case, the numerals on the dial are set with pessartite gold dust and topaz khaki stones in the Harrodsâ iconic colours of green and gold. Not into âblingâ myself, but I really liked it!
From Roger Dubuis: an Excalibur World Time model with the London time zone replaced with a Harrods time zone. A solid rose gold bezel. A heavy watch that nonetheless has definite presence on the wrist.
From Vacheron: from their MĂ©tiers dâArt series, the piece unique âHarrodsâ demonstrates Vacheronâs craftsmanship and ability to link art and haute horology in (this instance) a very subtle manner. The piece unique watch has a translucent enamel layer placed over a guilloche dial. I tried my best, but it was difficult to capture the play of light over the surface of the dial.
From Breguet: a really stunning Reine de Naples 18ct white gold case set with 245 diamonds! The Mother of Pearl dial is set with 123 diamonds and a sapphire case back.
From Audemars Piguet: a different style, but equally stunning Ladies Tuxedo automatic 18-carat white gold case entirely set with diamonds, the crown is set with a translucent cabochon sapphire and is water-resistant to 50 m. The bracelet is set with 18-carat white diamonds and the case, bezel, crown and bracelet use 621 brilliant-cut diamonds.
From Maurice Lacroix: a Masterpiece Roue CarrĂ©e Seconde the dial has been created on the movement main plate itself, and decorated with a large âGrand Colimaçonâ. Mesmerizing to watch the pieces move as one of the puzzles that you never are going to solve!
Andrew H
