Breitling Aims for Younger Audience
Too many luxury brands have discovered the hard way that they can’t count on aging customers to be around forever so the smart ones learn how to evolve in order to survive. Breitling is trying out a fresh look for its new stores but sticking to the same standards of craftsmanship that have shaped its heritage as a maker of fine watches.
For the new Breitling boutique in the Philippines, the darker, more conservative look of the brand’s old stores has given away to a colorful new style with lighter woods, splashes of bright colors and huge pop art paintings by America artist Kevin T. Kelly.
The logic behind the updated design was explained by Alexander Melchers, GM of Breitling’s exclusive distributor for Southeast Asia: “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.”
Melchers also pointed out that Breitling’s ties to aviation inspired the design of the new boutique. “Breitling first became famous for making clocks for airplanes,” he said. “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.”
One thing that does not require modernizing is the Breitling devotion to quality, which is shown by the fact that each watch made and sold by the company is certified by the Geneva Chronometry board.
“From a production and quality-control point of view, that requires huge effort and no room for mistakes,” Melchers stated. “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.”
