Oris chairman Ulrich Herzog told WatchPro last year that he hoped to establish a permanent boutique for the brand in London following the success of a pop-up in the West End run originally as a franchise with Fraser Hart.
Securing a long term lease on the site on South Molton Street, which runs parallel to the world-famous Bond Street, proved a challenge and it was thought at one point that the store would have to move.
“We’ll have something permanent in this area because we cannot disappear. In London we need something in the centre. We are in the shopping malls, but in central London in this area [Mayfair] we don’t have much except for Selfridges and Watches of Switzerland on Regent Street,” Mr Herzog said in August last year.
Now Oris’s UK sales manager Paul Thurlow has confirmed that the South Molton Street site has been locked-in so the boutique has been declared open for the long term.
I have recently found an Oris wristwatch which I owned as a child. It was not working, but I have now had it repaired at Bluewater. The watch dates I think from the 1950’s. This is the first week I have had it back and I absolutely love it. It is keeping good time and feels great.
Next time I am in London I will pay a visit to the Oris shop in South Molton Street.