Luxury watch brand Panerai clocks in at Dublin ‘boutique’

Italian luxury watch brand Panerai has opened the doors at its new boutique on Chatham Street in Dublin, the first store of its kind in Ireland or Britain.

The Florence-founded, Swiss-headquartered manufacturer, owned by luxury goods giant Richemont, is one of six international brands that will sell watches from its own unit, its first Irish outlet, at investment group Hines’s Chatham and King development off Grafton Street.

Hines has leased the entire ground floor of the property to jeweller Paul Sheeran, who will sell watches by Hublot, Longines and Rolex subsidiary Tudor. Panerai and its Richemont stablemates Cartier, IWC Schaffhausen and Jaeger-LeCoultre, meanwhile, will operate stand-alone outlets on the ground floor along with TAG Heuer and Breitling.

Panerai unveiled its new boutique on the site on Wednesday, becoming the first of the new tenants to officially open to the public.

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Speaking to The Irish Times after cutting the ribbon on new unit – the focal point of which is an Italian coffee and aperitif bar – Jean-Marc Pontroué, chief executive of Panerai, said the average price of a watch at the Dublin boutique is €10,700.

The Dublin boutique is Panerai’s first outside of continental Europe to incorporate the Bar Italiano concept.

“You are entering Italian territory and we wanted to show that,” said Mr Pountroué. “When you go to Italy, it’s always a country which creates some fun, excitement, pleasure. We wanted to recreate that, especially because the watch industry is a Swiss business.”

Asked why Panerai chose Dublin city centre at a time when brick-and-mortar retail appears largely to be in decline, he said the company had identified Dublin as one of the fastest-growing cities in Europe.

“You also have an accumulation of local people who know the watches,” he said. “So you have the historical background, interest, the collectors community and so on. And you have tourism. I remember 20 years ago, Dublin was not as tourist oriented as it is today. Today, it’s a city which has a lot more to offer so you have these two factors – an affluent local population plus tourism. We strongly believe this is the time to open the store.”

Mr Pontroué said the watchmaker – which has stores on Madison Avenue in New York City, New Bond Street in London and Piazza San Giovanni in Florence – has opened 30 stores in the past 12 months.

He said the rent on the Chatham Street property would be among Panerai’s top 10 most expensive in Europe.