Our new series explores the world's best watch boutiques - next up, we look to Vacheron Constantin, who are bringing a horological elegance to London.
Vacheron Constantin
Vacheron Constantin is shifting the focus to the watch community with the opening of new Bond Street space, Club 1755. Open to collectors and clients, and by appointment, the boutique promises to be a cultural hub, offering a packed summer schedule of art exhibitions, bespoke events, conversations and previews. Club 1755 opens with the 'Geometry of Time' by British artist Nick Hornby, who explores the connections between art and horology with a series of sculptures.
Club 1755 at 45 Old Bond Street, London, W1S 4AG
vacheron-constantin.com
A Lange & Söhne
A Lange & Söhne draws on both its own heritage and that of its adopted home in the newly-opened watch boutique in Mayfair's Bourdon House. For its third London space, the German watch brand has chosen to settle in the former home of the Duke of Westminster, marrying traditionial English architectural codes with with the Saxon watchmaking expertise it is celebrated for.
Taking centre stage inside is a large installation of the outsize date mechanism familiar to A Lange & Söhne watch lovers and inspired by the famous five-minute clock at Dresden’s Semper Opera House.
Kettle Kids, London
The traditional codes of jewellery and watch boutique design have been reconsidered with the opening of the Kettle Kids’ flagship London space, with classic and contemporary references intertwining in the design by Hesselbrand.
‘Today, most brands have strong visual identities but often struggle to translate them coherently into a space,’ say two of the Hesselbrand founders, Magnus Casselbrant and Jesper Henriksson. ‘As this was [Kettle Kids founders and brothers] Harvey and Jacob [Hutson’s] first retail space, we didn't just design a store but created a spatial identity for Kettle Kids. That meant designing a formal vocabulary and material palette, and how the brand manifests physically. We worked closely with Two Times Elliott, a London-based design studio responsible for Kettle Kids’ graphic identity. Through this collaboration, our material and colour research carried over into packaging and digital. The result is rare coherence across all media and disciplines.’
Girard-Perregaux, Beijing
To mark Girard-Perreguax's just-announced expansion plans - with a host of new stores set to open internationally, including the first stand-alone boutique in London - we are looking back at their other design-led spaces around the globe. This store in Beijing's China World mall juxtaposes materials and finishes for an elegant and contemporary aesthetic.
MB&F, Dubai
Typically, MB&F puts an idiosyncratic spin on a traditional watch boutique, with its innovative spaces in Geneva, Dubai, Hong Kong and Taipai part art gallery and part watch showcase.
The M.A.D. Gallery in Dubai, located in the Dubai Mall, is a futuristic backdrop for both MB&F's gloriously eccentric Horological and Legacy Machines, but also for a rotating timetable of designs from visiting artists. They are inspired both by an abstract concept of time and the avant-garde spin MB&F gives it for a series of sculptures drawing a new definition of horological art.
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