Mr Porter launches luxe watch offer as hard luxury gains strength

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Jun 7, 2018

The growing importance of ‘hard luxury’ was further illustrated on Thursday as Yoox-Net-A-Porter’s high-end menswear arm Mr Porter announced the launch of its new watches offer combining commerce with content.

Dubbed The Luxury Watch Guide, it’s an online destination for its ever-expanding selection of the world’s major luxe watch brands, including IWC Schaffhausen, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Breitling, TAG Heuer, Officine Panerai, Ressence and more. 

The company said that The Luxury Watch Guide will showcase curated content, educational features, and style advice, “alongside details on how best to select and maintain your luxury timepiece through Mr Porter.”

Hard luxury – that is, fine jewellery and prestige watches – is the new frontier for both the most expensive global brands and the retailers that sell them. Designer labels are putting more investment into their jewellery/watch offers and pureplay online retailers such as Net-A-Porter and rival Farfetch have dived deep into the category in recent periods.

Now it’s Net-A-Porter sibling Mr Porter’s turn and the company said that The Luxury Watch Guide establishes it “as the leading global online retailer for customers to shop luxury timepieces alongside [its] vast offering of menswear and lifestyle items, further bolstering its commitment to providing the best in product, content and service across all of its categories.”

The Watch Guide features dedicated pages for customers and (and non-customers) “to gain insight into each brand’s story, alongside each of their current product offerings on-site.”

There’s also shoppable content “aimed to inspire, educate and advise customers during their purchase experience,” including The Knowledge, covering topics such as how to choose and take care of watches. Plus there’s a Tick Talk video series, which dives deep into a brand’s heritage; specific product focused stories on discovering a particular novelty; and lifestyle features of inspiring men highlighting the relationship they have with their own timepieces.

And with personalisation and nurturing VIP shoppers always to the fore in modern luxury e-tail, direct access to Mr Porter’s team of dedicated Personal Shoppers and service propositions are also key features. That means same-day delivery in London and New York, plus Try Before You Buy, 24/7 customer service and, secure hand delivery for all luxury watches.

For each luxury watch purchase online, the e-tailer has also established a “unique” aftercare programme, which includes a five-year warranty for all working parts and manufacturing faults, more than twice as long as the industry’s standard two-year warranty.