Davide Lunghi on the Opening of the new TAG Heuer Boutique in Amsterdam

The P.C. Hooftstraat in Amsterdam is considered “the Golden Mile” for luxury brands in the Netherlands. Not only will you find plenty of high-end designer brands from the fashion industry there, but it’s also home to prestigious watch and jewellery boutiques. The next in line to open a boutique on this prized stretch of retail real estate is TAG Heuer, a brand with a strong historical connection with the Dutch crowd. Opening its doors this past December on the corner of the P.C. Hooftstraat, and now officially celebrating this occasion, we had the chance to sit down with Davide Lunghi, General Manager of the brand for Central Europe. Joining the conversation was Mike van Kinderen, Chief Commercial Officer for Schaap & Citroen, TAG Heuer’s Dutch retail partner in opening this specific boutique.

Robin Nooij, MONOCHROME – Davide, we’re standing here in the new TAG Heuer Boutique in Amsterdam. What can you tell us about it?

Davide Lunghi, General Manager TAG Heuer Central Europe – As part of our expansion strategy, we decided to bring important universal touch points not only to European cities but globally as well. And for us, Amsterdam is a very important place. It feels like the centre of Europe in a sense, and you have a luxurious experience in the heart of the city as well. We feel the city reflects the DNA of the TAG Heuer brand.

There’s a lot of lifestyle activity, performance, innovation and freshness surrounding Amsterdam, which ties into the values of our brand. Being in Amsterdam is important to us in welcoming customers into a unique universe. When you have multi-brand shops, you can’t present everything we can offer. But in this mono-brand boutique, we can expand that and offer the full spectrum of what we do and all the watch collections in our portfolio.

Can you describe what sets it apart from other boutiques in the area?

In terms of brand perspective, the particularity is that here, we really start with motor racing. We bring in the racing spirit of TAG Heuer, which is strongly interconnected with our partnership with Red Bull. In turn, this is very interconnected with Max Verstappen, your three-time Formula 1 World Driver’s Champion. As he is extremely successful in his sport, he brings a lot of attention from new crowds to not only Formula 1 but in extent also to TAG Heuer. To us, it was very important to reflect on that race track mindset Max and Red Bull bring to Formula 1 and focus on that in this Amsterdam boutique.

As soon as you enter, you are greeted by his racing suit and helmet, miniature cars, posters and so on, to really invite you into this world of high-level motor racing that’s deeply rooted in TAG Heuer’s DNA. In other boutiques, you have a similar offering in terms of our collections of watches, but the presentation is quite different. Here, we also have a unique space on the first floor with an even more immersive area to bring together the watchmaking heritage, the current collections and the world of motorsports that’s so strongly connected to us.

The space is bright, airy, and welcoming, with a very good view of this bustling part of Amsterdam. It’s really the boutique of Amsterdam, capturing potential clients’ imagination but also the attention of people passing by. We’re not just a brand or just a boutique, but we’re a centre of attraction where you can enjoy the full experience.

How important is the Dutch market for TAG Heuer as a brand?

For us, the Dutch market has always been very important. It really is a strategic market; for many years, we have enjoyed a strong market share. TAG Heuer is also playing with the top watchmaking brands represented in the country. That’s why it was extremely important for us to come in and make a statement by opening this boutique and bringing it into the city of Amsterdam.

The Netherlands is also a very good market in regards to our Connected collection, which is one of our strongest performers here. We see that the Dutch community is very open to this innovative technology. Through this boutique, we feel we’re really well connected with the country and with the market, which is really responding to what the brand is bringing forward.

We’ve undergone a very positive transformation in the past couple of years, not only for the brand but for the whole industry as well. There is a very noticeable shift from decentralized multi-brand shops to very focused and high-end multi-brand stores specializing in watches and even mono-brand locations. These locations can offer a much stronger selection from a brand, from the most desired brands, which is where TAG Heuer fits in perfectly. So now we bring multi-brand locations, this mono-brand boutique and our e-commerce platform together so the customer can experience our brand and products in different touch points wherever he or she wants.

Mike, the relationship between TAG Heuer and Schaap & Citroen has always been close. Can you tell us more about that?

Mike van Kinderen, Chief Commercial Officer for Schaap & Citroen – There has been a very positive development over the years within Schaap & Citroen based on the partnerships and the successes we’ve had all over the country. When looking at opportunities, at a certain point, we decided to join forces with TAG Heuer and create a mono-brand concept. Plus, from the start, we are a multi-brand retailer but the independent character of brands and the attraction and development a brand has on its own perfectly fits with such a boutique to be added to our network of shops. It’s also like Davide said with the omnichannel approach, combining on- and offline presence the best way we can.

By partnering with TAG Heuer on the Golden Mile, I feel we are genuinely strengthening one another. It creates synergy, and it’s also an attraction around Schaap & Citroen as a retailer. Besides that, the differentiation that you have, being able to offer the full TAG Heuer collection and experience, makes us even stronger. It sets it apart from what we used to present. When people walk in here, we can tell them the entire history of the brand, which is not possible in multi-brand locations.

How does TAG Heuer envision its distribution strategy from a global perspective in line with your distribution channels?

We really want to be present wherever the client feels comfortable, whether that is online or offline. We have already been structured in a way that this omnichannel strategy really fits well with TAG Heuer. We launched an e-commerce platform for the Netherlands a couple of years ago and now we come full circle with this new boutique, in combination with the multi-brand locations we have in the country. We work with a local chain of independent retailers, but also Schaap & Citroen, our partner that covers the entire country. For us, this is excellent because the three channels are complementary to each other

What are the advantages for you as a brand of partnering with a retailer such as Schaap & Citroen in opening a boutique?

For us as a brand, it’s the knowledge of the local market and Schaap & Citroen’s footprint in the country. They have an extremely wide network of muti- and mono-brand shops, are well established and have a very food brand portfolio. I would say Schaap & Citroen is the best partner for this because they know the market and local customers the best, the expectations in the customer journey and so on. TAG Heuer has always been very strong in the Netherlands, so for us, it was really important to partner with the right retailer to build the brand in the country, to bring the brand and the collection to the clients. They can answer what we have to do, how we have to do and how we have to act together to really make sure that it’s a win-win approach.

Mike, what are the specificities in terms of the clientele in the Netherlands?

I would say that since the opening of the boutique, we have welcomed existing clients who have heard about it and want to check out the location, but also a lot of new clients who simply pass by and decide to step in. So in addition to clients that we already had, that are now looking for the full experience, we meet several new client profiles. Davide mentioned one already, which is Formula 1, a major attraction for us. On the ground floor, you can see a Max Verstappen racing suit and helmet, which immediately catches the eye. People walk in based just on that, not knowing that we have a boutique here. And luckily enough we can get them interested in the brand. Besides that, people also travel for some icons that can only be purchased here in the boutique.

If you look at our client base, a lot of them start going into watches very young and are looking for an entry-level piece such as the Formula 1 or the Aquaracer. Then there are the people looking for the true icons, the Carrera and Monaco, which have a very strong fanbase in the Netherlands. Newcomers to the brand also gravitate to the Connected and the Golf watch we recently did, for instance. All those elements resonate with new clients but also with existing clients, with people of all ages coming into the brand. What we also see are fathers and sons. We had a gentleman step in last week who got his first TAG Heuer watch from his father, and he’s now purchasing one of our watches to give to his son. And in the end, it’s all about that kind of emotion.

The Carrera Chronograph Glassbox in black & gold.

The 60th anniversary edition of the Carrera.

And finally, a question for both of you: what would you pick as your favourite watch from the current line-up of collections TAG Heuer is offering in this new boutique?

Mike van Kinderen – Well, I’m quite into icons when I’m talking about watches, and I find the Monaco a great example. It cannot be set apart from TAG Heuer, as it interlinks with the whole brand. Another one I like is the Malbon Gold Edition of the Connected. That one really taps into what TAG Heuer also represents, going from a classy mechanical chronograph to a sporty smartwatch and also a very trendy and fancy designer brand. Very Technique d’Avant Garde, so to speak.

Davide Lunghi – I have to confess that when the TAG Heuer Monaco with Calibre 11 movement was launched, I just purchased it as a customer despite working for TAG Heuer. I wanted it that bad, I went to a shop and simply bought one. It’s an iconic product and a memorable piece for me. Another one I have a strong connection with is the Carrera, which I am wearing tonight. It really represents the values of the TAG Heuer brand, as you have the elegance, the lifestyle, the performance and so on. Last year we celebrated the 60th anniversary of the Carrera, and earlier this year we presented the Carrera Glassbox Chronograph Dato in green which I am personally really proud of.

For more information on TAG Heuer and Schaap & Citroen, please visit TAGHeuer.com or SchaapCitroen.nl.