Depending on how you arrive at the Bürgenstock resort overlooking Lake Lucerne, which re-opened in October after extensive renovation work, you will come face to face with one of two watch stores from a Swatch Group brand. Arrive the bucolic way, taking a boat across the lake from Lucerne and then climbing the hillside on the hotel’s private funicular, and you will see a two-storey Swatch store, complete with its own mini gallery of contemporary art. Come by road and after a number of switchbacks as you ascend from the level of the lake to the summit, you will pass by Switzerland’s first Longines Corporate Store at the entrance to the hotel. Omega also has a store in the first-floor gallery of this sprawling new resort, which boasts the biggest spa in Europe by surface area.
The store was officially opened by Longines President Walter von Känel on 13th December, but it has already been serving customers since the resort opened back in October. It is the brand’s first corporate store in Switzerland, since it is the first to be managed directly by the brand itself (Longines has two other stores, one in Lucerne and one in Interlaken, that are managed as franchises by retail partners). It also has a particular significance for Longines, since Audrey Hepburn, who has been used extensively in the brand’s advertising, married her first husband Mel Ferrer at this very resort. Surprisingly, the majority of the first customers at the store have been Swiss residents. The hotel, with its magnificent views and excellent walking country, has been a magnet for well-to-do Swiss pensioners who like nothing better than enjoying autumn walks in the countryside. A more international clientele is expected as the seasons change, an evolution that Mr von Känel will observe first hand, since he admitted at the opening that he reviews the sales statistics for every one of Longines’ 40 corporate stores every single day.
Longines Ambassador of Elegance Giulia Steingruber also attended the inauguration. “I am delighted to have been invited to the Bürgenstock Resort for this inauguration and to be able to show my support for Longines,” she said. “I have been an Ambassador for the brand since 2014 and this participation in an official inauguration here in Switzerland, close to home, is the perfect premiere for me. I believe its sophisticated atmosphere is a perfect match for Longines’ elegance and that of its watches.”
