Savoy watches enter India with a fashionable statement


Savoy, an innovative Swiss brand is making its way to India, with a unique style and classiness. With bold, modern, and edgy designs, SAVOY competes with some of the most well-known luxury watch brands worldwide. With the unique Savoy Icon watch case, the company has created a striking range for men and women, with accentuate details that include Mother of pearl dials, sapphire crystals, diamond bezels,enamel embellished inserts and much more. SAVOY – the new watch brand in the luxury space was launched in November in India and is credited as one of the most innovative design in its price category.

The brand is the brainchild of Pascal Savoy, who practically brought Hublot to the United States and continues today to work with a number of fashion brands. He has also worked for the Richmond Group, which owns luxury brands such as Cartier, Piaget, Baume & Mercier, and Montblanc. With a drive for perfection, Swiss native Pascal Savoy is all set to impress the Indian audience with its style and intricacy. He gives our readers and us an insight on the Luxury market in and about his exclusive brand.

1) Mr. Savoy, thank you for agreeing to this interview and to answering questions to satisfy the curiosity concerning your brand.
A first question springs to mind. Why did you leave the world of brands that already had a formidable reputation, such as Hublot and Richemont group, to start Savoy collections?

I always had an entrepreneur mind and wanted to follow my own direction. Those brands are very well known but unless you are their CEO – and even then you still need to adhere to a Group rules and pre-set image – there isn’t much you can influence. Besides, being a known brand with a known name is not a guarantee that you are doing well or have a better product.

The key for me was to be able to innovate freely, start from a blank page and elicit a reaction from people that were discovering the brand and design.

2) Buyers in the the entry level luxury watch market are very brand conscious how do you plan to promote and position Savoy collections?

First you need to have the right product that is distinctive compared to your competition. Our second step was to position the brand carefully. My philosophy is that today, if you want a special watch that looks different, you either have very high end watches from $8,000+ or you have fashion watches below $500. There is a void in between. People are tired of spending so much on high end Swiss Made watches and with fashion watches you don’t get the quality and services.

We position ourselves to people who like distinctive Swiss Made watches but would prefer a more affordable price without scarifying the quality. They are leaders, modern and independent men and women who make their own decision without being told what to buy through advertising only.

Our distributor and retailers are a key element to promote SAVOY so we will focus a lot on marketing in the point of sales and events instead of just print media. Having actress Nargis Fakhri as a SAVOY ambassador is a first step in getting the brand known.

3) Do you have any India specific designs in mind?

We have a great advantage. Our patented insert system (an oversize metal piece inserts on each side of the strap) allows us to easily make special editions. Making a special design for India on these inserts is definitely something we will look into very soon.

4) What are your thoughts on the Indian luxury market?

India is a great market thanks to its culture of gold and luxury items. We see a strong potential as people are ready now to discover new Swiss Made brands that are different from those who entered the Indian market a long time ago.

5) In your view, what is most important for the success of a watch? A good design, a good movement or good marketing?

If you want a long term success then you need a combination of all 3. I would add also that the quality of the product, and not just the movement, is imperative to success.

6) As of now Savoy collections uses Quartz movement and do you plan to develop your own movements?

Absolutely. As a matter of fact I am wearing one right now. We are in the testing face at the moment and this collection will be officially presented at Baselworld 2014 at the end of March for delivery in April/May 2014. We will have a single time and a chronograph collection.

7) Which is your dream watch (apart from your own creations) which you own or aspire to own?

My dream watch can only be a SAVOY I haven’t designed yet. But I like independent watchmakers like FP Journe or Chrisophe Claret who bring innovations to watchmaking.

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