In Chennai, Swiss luxury watch boutique TimeVallée opens third outlet in the country

How do you make the experience of buying a luxury watch, an immersive and memorable one? Through its third boutique in India and first in Chennai in collaboration with Art of Time, Swiss luxury watch multi-brand retail outlet TimeVallée aims to do just that. 

At Chamiers Road, spread over three levels, the boutique houses eight brands – Baume & Mercier, Bulgari, Cartier, IWC Schaffhausen, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Panerai, Piaget, and Roger Dubuis. 

“Purchasing a watch is a big commitment, and people often want to celebrate rewarding themselves as well as getting something that they can pass on to the next generation. We want to deliver emotion through this journey, and this is how our stores are conceptualised as well,”  says Hélène Maslin, deputy CEO, TimeVallée. 

At the Chennai outlet, customers are welcomed on the first level and then go on to the second level to see all the eight watch maisons on display. “We do not want this experience to feel intimidating. Every brand is properly showcased so that the customer can know more about the history and DNA of the brand,” she says. The third level has a Time Cafe which Hélène says is instrumental in rounding off the purchasing experience for the customers as a memorable one. 

While TimeVallée’s first luxury watch boutique in India opened last year in Mumbai, they have since launched a boutique in Bengaluru as well. “Indian customers are increasingly willing to buy watches and we can see a good demand. Since they largely buy abroad, the idea was to be a part of this journey closer home,” she adds.  A fourth boutique in India will open in Hyderabad next year, and commenting on their expansion plans, Helene says she wants it to be sustainable, exclusive, and select. 

For Bharat Kapoor and Gaurav Bhatia, directors of Art of Time, which retails luxury watches across the country, Chennai has always been on the radar.  

The Cartier watch display
| Photo Credit:
Dhruv Mehta

“As far as limited editions go, Chennai is a new market for us but we are excited to see where this takes us. In Mumbai for instance, we have done three different limited editions which includes a Lord Ganesha edition with Roger Dubuis and a Panerai edition with a Hindi calendar.  We would like to bring limited editions like these to Chennai as well,  depending on how the market responds,” says Gaurav. 

India has also seen a steady increase in awareness with regard to luxury watches, its history and heritage, and how coveted pieces are spotted on celebrities, discussed and dissected on social media. “In the last 10 years, there has been a massive shift. We have seen an increase in the number of young professionals that visit our stores and have become clients over time. For women as well. There has been a significant shift from jewellery to watches as a big purchase and this is another big evolution in our client base,” Bharat explains. 

In the coming months, the space, Bharat and Gaurav say, will play host to interesting events for customers and Chennai’s thriving community of watch enthusiasts.

 “We have hosted watch-making workshops for small groups where participants get to work on movements guided by a watchmaker who comes in from another country, and are given a certificate at the end of the experience. Looking beyond experiences with watches, we are also looking at fun engagements with supercars, or even restaurant pop-ups with the community here,” Gaurav adds. 

TimeVallée by Art of Time is at 117, Chamiers road, RA Puram, and is open from 11am to 8 pm.