A Chopard watch

For those of you waiting to be driven to a shop in an S-Class Mercedes to splash out Rs 2 crore on a Chopard Ice Cube or a Piaget Miss Protocole, the wait is over.

Come June, a look at the latest model of Franck Muller or Dior Christal will not call for a trip to Singapore or Dubai as The Prime, the “biggest boutique outlet for luxury watches in India”, opens in Park Street, opposite St. Xavier’s College.

It will showcase an array of top-of-the-range watches — some entirely handcrafted in 18-carat gold and platinum, some with diamonds perfectly calibrated and adjusted.

“We will bring under one roof an assortment of iconic watch brands from around the world. Some of these, like Jaquet Droz and Leonard, will be made available in Calcutta for the first time, with price tags ranging from Rs 50,000 to 2 crore,” Rajiv Chopra, chairman and managing director of The Prime luxury watch boutique, tells Metro.

The 5,200-sq-ft outlet will be housed on the ground level of the Rs 150-crore Avani Signature tower at 91A/1 Park Street.

“We have named the building Avani Signature as we feel this is a truly signature-edition product from the Avani Group. The Prime luxury watch boutique will be in sync with the profile of the structure,” says Anirudh Daga, managing director of the realty group.

“The luxury watches category in the country is growing at 17.5 per cent, year on year, and the size of the Calcutta market is at least Rs 200 crore a year,” says Chopra. He has been buoyed by the “excellent response” to top brands like Omega and Longines at his Prime Watch World outlets in Forum and City Centre.

While Shah Rukh Khan, the brand ambassador for TAG Heuer, and Aishwarya Rai, Longines “Ambassadress of Elegance”, will grace the The Prime opening in June, Miss Switzerland Lauriane Gilliéron, who endorses Balmain Swiss watches, is also expected to fly down.

The owners will roll out the red carpet for customers. Besides a Mercedes pick-up from home and drop back, a lounge in collaboration with a five-star hotel in the boutique will pamper prospective buyers as they try out the watches.