Is CH Premier opening a standalone Patek Boutique in Westfield Valley Fair Santa Clar

[dauster]

Just saw this at their old location




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[dauster]

Originally Posted by dauster

Just saw this at their old location




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Answer is yes ;) I talked to the CH folks at Vacheron. At least not another store closure but that means two boutiques in the Bay and one in Monterey (at least Patek AD unsure about boutique)


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[llngoc]

Originally Posted by dauster

Answer is yes ;) I talked to the CH folks at Vacheron. At least not another store closure but that means two boutiques in the Bay and one in Monterey (at least Patek AD unsure about boutique)


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I guess if you are fond of bundling…

[dauster]

Originally Posted by llngoc

I guess if you are fond of bundling…

Not a client of CH and I know they bundle but was surprised they are opening a stand alone Patek boutique tbh


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[llngoc]

Originally Posted by dauster

Not a client of CH and I know they bundle but was surprised they are opening a stand alone Patek boutique tbh


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Yes. Especially with the Kern’s store on Post Street opening soon. Surprised that CH just opened the VC boutique and now is opening a Patek store. Anyway, it is a non-event for me since I know I am not their type of client.

[dchang81]

kind of curious what things patek is ok with and what they're not. I mean they were shameless in telling me what I had to do to get certain references.

[dauster]

Originally Posted by dchang81

kind of curious what things patek is ok with and what they're not. I mean they were shameless in telling me what I had to do to get certain references.

I don’t think they care tbh Ch has a big following plus the Socal stores they own so I guess they sell a of watches in Silicon Valley


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[llngoc]

Originally Posted by dauster

I don’t think they care tbh Ch has a big following plus the Socal stores they own so I guess they sell a of watches in Silicon Valley


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So many ADs are doing bundling, Patek either don’t care or is expecting the AD to use PP watches to increase auxiliary sales of diamonds. In turn, the AD will probably order more from Patek. As long as the buyers are okay with this practice, it is mutually beneficial for AD and Patek. I guess it is good until the market turns south and real collector was turned off from the brand.

[norcalgt3]

The problem is this CH premier location offers bundling but then renegs leaving you on the hook

[Crazywis]

Originally Posted by dchang81

kind of curious what things patek is ok with and what they're not. I mean they were shameless in telling me what I had to do to get certain references.

Playing devil's advocate, I'm wondering if some might actually prefer this over complete uncertainty in allocations otherwise

[Crazywis]

Originally Posted by norcalgt3

The problem is this CH premier location offers bundling but then renegs leaving you on the hook

That sounds like a repeat of https://www.rolexforums.com/showthread.php?t=907848 waiting to happen

[Gebbeth]

I've been to the CH store in Valley Fair many many times, as well as to their IWC boutique which opened when the new wing of the mall opened (serviced my BP there).

I've never left either of those places with a good feeling. I tried to get my Grand Seiko serviced from CH as well, and I decided instead to travel north about 30 miles to Topper.

While I'm excited that there will be a VC boutique and a Patek boutique, both feel as unwelcoming as they sound, and the CH relationship doesn't make me feel better about it.

My 2 cents.

[llngoc]

Reading the sign again. It is actually stating that CH Premier is going to be re-opened there. If it is indeed a standalone Patek store, should it just said Patek Boutique and not mentioning CHP?

[llngoc]

Originally Posted by Gebbeth

I've been to the CH store in Valley Fair many many times, as well as to their IWC boutique which opened when the new wing of the mall opened (serviced my BP there).

I've never left either of those places with a good feeling. I tried to get my Grand Seiko serviced from CH as well, and I decided instead to travel north about 30 miles to Topper.

While I'm excited that there will be a VC boutique and a Patek boutique, both feel as unwelcoming as they sound, and the CH relationship doesn't make me feel better about it.

My 2 cents.

Exactly my experience. The SAs there are more interested in the $$$ you can spend but not very interested in your interest in watches. Most of them made me feel like I was at some kind of used car sales lot.

[codecow]

When I think high end luxury I think Valley Fair. A simple search for “valley fair shooting” or “valley fair stabbing” yields true high end luxury results.

No thanks Patek!

[dauster]

Originally Posted by llngoc

Reading the sign again. It is actually stating that CH Premier is going to be re-opened there. If it is indeed a standalone Patek store, should it just said Patek Boutique and not mentioning CHP?

That’s why I asked and clarified in the vacheron store - SA clearly said standalone boutique from Patek and Omega and maybe more to come.


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[chimp98]

Originally Posted by llngoc

Reading the sign again. It is actually stating that CH Premier is going to be re-opened there. If it is indeed a standalone Patek store, should it just said Patek Boutique and not mentioning CHP?

That's just their regular store being remodeled. Definitely no PP boutique - confirmed with Jenny, their store manager.

[dauster]

Originally Posted by chimp98

That's just their regular store being remodeled. Definitely no PP boutique - confirmed with Jenny, their store manager.

Interesting Jenny should know. I guess the vacheron lady didn’t understand what I was talking about but weird that she mentioned another Omega boutique specifically oh wells


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[bay_area_kid]

Probably because a lot of people confuse the term "boutique" with "authorized dealer".

[bay_area_kid]

Originally Posted by norcalgt3

The problem is this CH premier location offers bundling but then renegs leaving you on the hook

One of the sales associates in their VC boutique point blank told me that the wait for a blue dial Overseas is 5 years because of my low purchase history (<$10k) in their CH Premier store.

[llngoc]

Originally Posted by bay_area_kid

One of the sales associates in their VC boutique point blank told me that the wait for a blue dial Overseas is 5 years because of my low purchase history (<$10k) in their CH Premier store.

A friend who was already a CH client but not with big spending history was invited to the VC boutique opening. He saw a Fifty-Six and was interested but his SA told him that the watch was reserved for a VVIP and just stopped at that. She did not even bother to offer to order another one for him. He was quite upset but felt much better when another friend showed him that he can get the exact watch for 30% off in grey market.

Another friend went it and asked about a 5712/1a and was shown a JLC diamond bracelet watch for $135000. The sales implied that he may get a 5712/1a within a few months if he is interested in the bracelet watch. I told him to just get the 5712 at grey for less than the price of the bracelet watch and save some money and headache.

The few times I went in to look at even jewelry with my wife, the SA always tried to push and up sell something which was not even what we inquired and showed interests on. It is very obvious that the SAs there were trained in a very special way by ignoring what the customer wants and only focus on what he/she needs to sell.

[llngoc]

Originally Posted by dauster

Interesting Jenny should know. I guess the vacheron lady didn’t understand what I was talking about but weird that she mentioned another Omega boutique specifically oh wells


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I found it interesting that a lot of the brands are stating that they move to the boutique model to provide better customer experience. But they ended up partnering with a local multi brand jeweler who is still practicing bundling with other less desirable items from the other stores in the company. So the “experience” does not change except now the bundle may become bigger since the store needs to recoup their cost to set up standalone boutique now. Not sure how this model will play out in the long term when a severe downturn in the market happens.

So far, the only good experience I have from single brand boutiques are only from true corporate owned stores. Like Richmond owned ALS and VC boutiques. AP corporate owned boutique and FPJ. All the other standalone boutiques owned by someone else left me with less than pleasant experience in most cases.

[rolexandlange]

Years ago I visited CH. They would negotiate watch prices by typing out final numbers on a giant oversized calculator. It reminded me of rug shopping in the grand bazaar in Istanbul. Fun times.

[llngoc]

Originally Posted by rolexandlange

Years ago I visited CH. They would negotiate watch prices by typing out final numbers on a giant oversized calculator. It reminded me of rug shopping in the grand bazaar in Istanbul. Fun times.

If you go to a fake goods bazar in China, this is the exact practice. Extremely high touch

[Greenp]

Originally Posted by rolexandlange

Years ago I visited CH. They would negotiate watch prices by typing out final numbers on a giant oversized calculator. It reminded me of rug shopping in the grand bazaar in Istanbul. Fun times.

If you've ever been to an Asian jewelry store that's how they do it. You ask them for their best price, they whip out the calculator, do a little math on the price on the tag and show you the final price.

[rolexandlange]

Originally Posted by Greenp

If you've ever been to an Asian jewelry store that's how they do it. You ask them for their best price, they whip out the calculator, do a little math on the price on the tag and show you the final price.

I imagine the brands don't want their ADs doing this. I could be wrong but I doubt Patek would be ok with this. To be clear, this was pre pandemic, a different time for watch buying where most of what CH sold was discounted, including Lange.

[dauster]

Originally Posted by llngoc

A friend who was already a CH client but not with big spending history was invited to the VC boutique opening. He saw a Fifty-Six and was interested but his SA told him that the watch was reserved for a VVIP and just stopped at that. She did not even bother to offer to order another one for him. He was quite upset but felt much better when another friend showed him that he can get the exact watch for 30% off in grey market.

Another friend went it and asked about a 5712/1a and was shown a JLC diamond bracelet watch for $135000. The sales implied that he may get a 5712/1a within a few months if he is interested in the bracelet watch. I told him to just get the 5712 at grey for less than the price of the bracelet watch and save some money and headache.

The few times I went in to look at even jewelry with my wife, the SA always tried to push and up sell something which was not even what we inquired and showed interests on. It is very obvious that the SAs there were trained in a very special way by ignoring what the customer wants and only focus on what he/she needs to sell.

Lol you can literally buy the 56 collection from vacheron online like at cartier


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[llngoc]

Originally Posted by dauster

Lol you can literally buy the 56 collection from vacheron online like at cartier


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So my friend was really happy that the SA did not bother to help him.

[codecow]

It’s funny that their go to line is, “It’s for VVIP”.

[Crazywis]

This thread brings back old memories. I got my Omega Aqua Terra from CH a long time ago (~2010) - they punched in an unbeatable price on that calculator of theirs

With the bundling practices and the CH owned standalone boutiques, it appears like a lot has changed since then. The vibe that I got was that someone like them would always find a way to be competitive on pricing, one way or another, directly or indirectly.....