Welcome back to an aBlogtoWatch original series, where we discuss important stores that sell watches all over the world. Each store we profile has an interesting story to tell about where they operate and who they sell to. Whether you buy watches from brick and mortar retailers or prefer to buy watches online, these are the stores that help shape our watch culture around the globe. There is a long list of stores to cover, but if there is a retail location in your favorite city that we simply can’t miss, let us know in the comments below.
Where to buy watches in Milan, Italy?
Without a doubt, one of the most important fashion and shopping capitals of the world is Milano (or just Milan to Americans). So where should you check out when shopping for a watch in this historic city? Pisa Orologeria has a long history and wide selection of fine timepieces. Next year will mark the 75th anniversary of Pisa Orologeria, which started in 1940 and has been selling watches since 1945. Today, their General Manager/CEO, Chiara Pisa, is the face of Pisa’s third generation. Locations in Milan include their flagship store and Patek Philippe Boutique at Via Verri 9 and their Rolex Boutique at Via Monte Napoleone 24 – all in the heart of the fashion and luxury shopping district of Milan.
aBlogtoWatch: What types of watches are popular in your market? What makes Milan a unique place to buy watches?
Pisa Orologeria: I don’t think we can talk about “popular” watches in our market because our reality has singular logics and dynamics.
First of all, each person has a proper identity: everyone has different tastes which determine different choices and motivations of purchase. For this reason, every watch represents a specific buyer: some prefer complications and they have a technical approach, while others think of the watch like an accessory and they prefer an aesthetic approach. Certainly nowadays, there are some frequent requests: moon phases and perpetual calendars, ceramic or steel for Europeans and pink gold for Eastern customers, and alligator watchstraps.
Secondly, our market is not limited to the Italian one, but today it has an international scope. For this reason, Pisa Orologeria has the distribution license of the most popular and highest quality brands in the world. In addition to Rolex and Patek Philippe, with which we have built a distribution partnership culminating with the opening of two Boutiques, there are the brands of the three giants such as Richemont (Officine Panerai, Jager Le-Coultre, Piaget, IWC, Roger Dubuis, Vacheron Constantin, A. Lange & Söhne, and Baume & Mercier); Swatch Group (Breguet, Blancpain, Glashutte, Hamilton, and Longines) and LVMH (Tag Heuer, Bulgari, Zenith, and Hublot) but also many other independent brands (Breitling, Parmigiani, Audemars Piguet, Corum, Girard-Perregaux, Chopard, Ulysse Nardin, De Bethune, Greubel Forsey, and L.Leroy).
This international scope is also catalysed by our location: Milan is known as “the capital of taste and elegance” in the whole world. In addition, according to statistics, Milan is the second location for shopping at a world level, after Paris, and it attracts potential buyers from all over the world.
ABTW: What would you tell watch lovers in other cities that watch lovers in Milan are like?
Pisa Orologeria: In this case, we need to keep in mind that each person has his own personality, and we cannot make critical standardizations. In general, watchmaking lovers in Milan are connected to the business world, who do not like to be in the spotlight. For this reason, they prefer reliable and recognizable watches but not eccentric ones. In addition, recently we launched the collection “Lancette”: the first jewellery collection by Pisa, which has been inspired by our great passion for timekeeping. Pendants have been really appreciated by watch lovers from Milan: many of them have combined their watches with a pendant, which recalls their passion for watches.
ABTW: Do you serve mostly locals or tourists, or is it a good mix?
Pisa Orologeria: Our customers have changed a lot from the 1940’s when Pisa Orologeria was founded: nowadays, instead our customer base is more heterogeneous: only 20% of our clients are Italians, while foreign people compose the other 80%. Our Italian customer base has a great importance to us. In addition, we are truly appreciated by our Chinese and Russian clients and we are also becoming an important landmark for Middle Eastern ones. Our personalized service, which, in addition to a large offering of models and products, puts the client at the center, is becoming a winning factor. The mix between different cultural realities and mine is very important, because diversity is a value that enriches, not only economically, but also humanly.
ABTW: Also, what percentage of your customers would you call “knowledgeable watch collectors?”
Pisa Orologeria: We can identify two different types of “well informed watch collectors.” The first ones are those who have a deep passion for watches: they know not only the mechanism but also the history of the brands and the evolution of the models. The second ones are the investors, who have an excellent knowledge of watches and of the market, so they buy many watches, not for pure passion but for the opportunity to invest in products that they will be able to resell. Near these two kinds of very well informed collectors, who are very difficult to quantify with a percentage because of the very small size of the group, there is a third category: the “emotional collectors” who are immediately attracted by some kind of watches and buy them driven by a hedonistic need: a pleasure for watches. It is interesting to see that, even if they could not be defined “informed on the subject,” they are quantitatively more than the other two types and often they can build up collections of heterogeneous watches.
ABTW: What is Milan best known for? What do visitors have to do, see, or eat while there?
Pisa Orologeria: Certainly, Milan is best known to be one of the world capitals of taste and elegance. Here were born some of the most important brands. In addition, the city is also known to be one of the most important business centers in the world and it is the location of important international universities.
Certainly, I would suggest visitors to “live and breathe” the atmosphere which pervades the city. Not only the Duomo, Piazza della Scala, and the Castello Sforzesco, but also Santa Maria delle Grazie where they can admire the Cenacolo, the Museum of Science and Technology, the Pinacoteca of Brera, and Manzoni’s house.
ABTW: As a business do you sponsor or participate in any local events watch-related or otherwise?
Pisa Orologeria: This year Pisa Orologeria has been for the first time the official sponsor of a sport tournament, taking part and supporting one of the most prestigious junior tennis events in the world: the Bonfiglio Trophy.
During this international tournament – which represents an important date for all young players for half a century – every year, 200 athletes from 34 countries gather here, wishful of follow the footsteps of great champions of today, like Federer and many others whom at Tennis Club Alberto Bonacossa had their first satisfactions.
In addition, for years we have been participating at the Salone del Mobile, giving the visitors of the city the opportunity to appreciate the installation of design, which mixes the passion for time and the one for the design.
In addition, we will participate in Expo 2015 with some activities created specifically for the occasion: the event will give us the opportunity to put in the spotlight the watch culture of Pisa Orologeria.
ABTW: What are some of the watch brands you are known for carrying?
Pisa Orologeria: Pisa Orologeria, founded in Milan, in the heart of Montenapoleone, during its history, created strong bonds with some of the most important watch companies in the world. In the past, among the end of the 1940’s and the beginning of the 1950’s we strongly believed in Rolex, which, in that period presented an unusual product for the custom taste. Then, in the Sixties, we strongly believed in and encouraged the Piaget colored timepieces, which also in that case were not representative of the trend of consumption, and in the Seventies, we focused on Audemars Piguet’s Royal Oak. During the 1980’s, after a recovery of vintage watches, we wanted to make our customers rediscover manufacturers with major complications like Vacheron Constantin, Breguet, and Blancpain. In the Nineties, we valorized “the world artisans of time,” as I like to call them, and with pride, we gave space to Daniel Roth and Frank Muller but also to Roger Dubuis and De Béthune. Lastly, always in the Nineties, we accompanied our affectionate customers to the discovery of the timepieces of A. Lange & Söhne.
We always tried to transmit and spread the passion and the culture for watches, trying to tell our customers what lies behind every timepiece, the invisible of the visible: the manufacturers’ history, the mechanics of different models, the care with which watches are made and that has given rise to incredible complications; therefore, we tried to go beyond trends and fashions that have emerged from time to time. I think this is important: a watch is not only a set of precious metals that displays time and that has a high price – it is much more than this! There is the passion of watchmakers, and of the ancient arts and crafts that have been passed on until today, and also, there is the inner relationship that everyone has with time.
ABTW: If you could pick a watch brand or model that epitomizes the culture or style of Milan what would it be?
Pisa Orologeria: As I always say, even if we can’t make a rigid classification because in our case such a very rigid analysis is not suitable to understand and to valorize the area of Milan, where there are two brands which represent our culture. On one hand, Rolex with every day and practical watches, with excellent performance that accompany us in the hectic everyday life as a “life and battle partner.” On the other side, Patek Philippe, that, with elegant and classic timepieces, still represents after many years, the dream for many of us. pisaorologeria.com
