Savoy: A name to watch

MANILA, Philippines - Time was when watches available on the market were either high-end or cheaper fashion watches.

“When we started, there was no market in the middle,” says Pascal Savoy, founder and owner of the watch brand that bears his name.

That, however, did not stop him from targeting precisely that underserved segment of the market. “We were one of the first,” he says. “The luxury brands are too high-priced, which makes them  inaccessible for a lot of people.” He places his brand at the base end of the luxury market, with prices ranging from $900 to $2,500.

“What makes Savoy watches different is the design,” says Pascal, who’s originally from Geneva. He was president of Hublot USA, headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida — which he grew into “one of the most recognizable names  in the watch industry and luxury lifestyle arena” — until he started his own brand.  Savoy was launched at the 2011 Baselworld fair and was “immediately credited as one of the most innovative designs in its price category.”

Pascal calls it the bangle shape. “It looks like a bracelet,” he explains. The watches also have the unique “patented interchangeable strap insert system.” With different designs, the inserts allow the wearers to customize their own watch to suit their mood and express their personality.

He started with a men’s collection. Interestingly, the first watch he ever sold to an end user was to a Jamaican woman on a cruise ship.

“It was a man’s watch, which she bought for herself to wear,” Pascal relates. It seems, for him, that some of the most interesting things have happened on cruise ships. It was in his store on a cruise ship where he met Chito Bautista whose company, Timebound Trading, was eventually to become the  exclusive distributor of Savoy watches in the Philippines. Chito’s wife Minki was buying a watch for her husband in the cruise ship’s Savoy store when they met Pascal. In 2011, the very first Savoy boutique was opened  in the Philippines  — at the New World Hotel in Makati. In 2013, a second boutique store opened in India.

Pascal was in town recently to introduce his second collection, the Epic Automatic Collection, which was launched at Baselworld 2014, following the success of his first Icon quartz collection. It is their first foray into the automatic movement category.

The collection also features a new case shape, which is more round and slightly smaller than the big watches in the first collection. “They are still big by other standards,” Pascal notes, like most men’s watches. “When you see our ladies’ collection, it has character,” Pascal says, which represents the brand’s image —  strong yet refined. The same is captured in the brand’s logo: two heads  with ram’s horns locked together. The idea was inspired by Pascal’s zodiac sign, Aries, and his wife Lola’s zodiac sign, Capricorn.

Pascal sees the Savoy brand maturing into a lifestyle brand, carrying not only watches but also other accessories such as eyewear and leather goods such as small bags, clutches and purses. Who knows? Someday, Savoy watches may also become a prized item among watch collectors.

“We are still young,” Pascal says. “Time will tell.”