Italian luxury watch brand Panerai has opened the doors at its new boutique on Chatham Street in Dublin, the first store of its kind in Ireland or Britain. The luxury watch brand which is owned by Richemont, is one of six international brands that will sell watches from its own unit, its first Irish outlet, at investment group Hines’s Chatham and King development off Grafton Street.
Hines has leased the entire ground floor of the property to jeweller Paul Sheeran, who will sell watches by Hublot, Longines and Rolex subsidiary Tudor. Panerai and its Richemont stablemates Cartier, IWC Schaffhausen and Jaeger-LeCoultre, meanwhile, will operate stand-alone outlets on the ground floor along with TAG Heuer and Breitling.
“You also have an accumulation of local people who know the watches,” he said. “So you have the historical background, interest, the collectors community and so on. And you have tourism. I remember 20 years ago, Dublin was not as tourist oriented as it is today. Today, it’s a city which has a lot more to offer so you have these two factors – an affluent local population plus tourism. We strongly believe this is the time to open the store.”
Mr Pontroué said the watchmaker – which has stores on Madison Avenue in New York City, New Bond Street in London and Piazza San Giovanni in Florence – has opened 30 stores in the past 12 months. He said the rent on the Chatham Street property would be among Panerai’s top 10 most expensive in Europe.
Panerai new boutique in Dublin
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