Swiss luxury watchmaker Breitling celebrated the grand opening of its first flagship boutique in Asia in WF Central, Beijing. Breitling CEO Georges Kern was on hand for the ceremony along with Jacques Bothelin, Captain of the Breitling Jet Team, renowned Chinese actor Lei Jiayin, and renowned Chinese actress and singer Han Xue.
Located in WF Central, Breitling’s new 152-square-meter boutique, with its imposing nine-meter facade and four-meter ceilings, is ideally suited to the brand’s compelling industrial loft concept. Its design is an artful, modern interpretation of the stylish spaces that characterize mid-twentieth-century industrial buildings. It recalls the period when Breitling created some of the most admired tool watches ever made and, with its striking decor and bespoke furniture, recreates generous but intimate ambience of an exclusive industrial loft in a dynamic city.
The boutique features some exquisite materials and furniture: more than 10,000 exclusive Japanese bricks were used to construct the huge wall with its neon Breitling logo from the 1960s. Another vintage logo, a stylized “B,” adorns a yellow mesh wall. The floor is made of waxed concrete combined with American walnut.
No less compelling are the displays of Breitling’s remarkable watches: the metal structures are a stunning reinterpretation of industrial shelves and represent water, land, and air, the three environments where the watches have long distinguished themselves.
