Standing still simply will not get the job done when it comes to winning in the most competitive retail watch market on the planet. Ever-more-frequent top class refurbishments are crucial.
Our industry should be genuinely proud of its leadership in this field, and the best store upgrades are being completed by billionaire businesses like Bucherer, The Watches of Switzerland Group, Chopard and Cartier at the same time as independents including David M Robinson, Pragnell and Berry’s.
Incredibly, this Award ended in a dead heat as the votes of 123 watch brand executives could not separate the top two.
Those two winners, David Mr Robinson in Manchester and Chopard on London’s Bond Street, could not be more different when it comes to resources, but both build their empires from the customer upwards, and delight them with dazzling presentations of watches and jewellery.
Teams from both winners came on stage together to collect trophies, with Baron Blackman, Keith Parrett, Jonathan Tyers and Steve Parkinson representing David M Robinson while Chopard UK managing director Antonius Kerssenbrock and UK wholesale manager Charlotte Rhodes-James stepped forward for their company.
Executives at watch brands were asked in an invitation-only poll to give their views on the quality of retailers in a short list of finalists. A weighted score (shown in brackets alongside the retailers’ names) is given to each choice of ‘Very Good’, ‘Excellent’ and ‘Exceptional’ to decide the winner.
