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Tustains welcomes Breitling to its watch portfolio

Retailer Tustains has added Breitling to its growing portfolio of watches. The Royal Leamington Spa retailer is committed to boosting its watch offer.

The business, which is owned by brothers Tom and Joe Milner, has added Swiss watch brand Breitling to its watch portfolio, which already includes Omega TAG Heuer, Longines and Bell & Ross. The retailer has been in talks with Breitling since November last year.

Speaking about welcoming the brand in store, Tom Milner said: "From my point of view, I am over the moon to be working with a key brand that we have coveted for many years. It represents a great progression for our watch collection and for Tustains as a whole. I very much look forward to working with Breitling."

Breitling UK marketing manager Alice Wrobel is also pleased about the partnership. She commented: "Both family run, independent businesses for well over 100 years, Breitling and Tustains share many common values. As such, it was with very great pleasure that Breitling welcomed Tustains on-board as one of its trusted stockists in the summer of 2013. We look forward to celebrating many milestones together in the future."

The Milners previously spoke to WatchPro about their ambitions to introduce an in-house watchmaker and standalone watch gallery to the Tustains business, as it plans to ramp up its prestige watch offer.

Featuring in the WatchPro Hot 100 as Retail Titans, Tustains told WatchPro that revenue was up 10% in the 12 months up to June 2013, and added that efforts to reposition the store at the premium end will now be driven forward with the launch of a new website, which they said is ready to go live "any time now".

Joe Milner also said that their plans for the future include the introduction of more watches to the store and the hiring of an an in-house watchmaker, as well as the launch of a "destination standalone watch gallery".

The changes would bring a fresh perspective to the store, and Joe Milner said that he believes a mix of tradition and innovation is crucial to the future of watch retail in the UK.

He said: "I like the idea of a trade where you have independent shops in towns all over that are generations old but still totally relevant."

 

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