Mexicans' love of luxury goes beyond rational considerations - Mexico - From our correspondents

Mexico

Mexicans’ love of luxury goes beyond rational considerations

Rafael Sabat - Mexico is fertile ground for Fine Watches and Fine Jewelry. As anyone who has visited the early Mesoamerican calendars built all over the plateau will tell you, this is an ancient and solid tradition.

Salón Internacional de Alta Relojería © SIAR

Mexico is fertile ground for Fine Watches and Fine Jewelry. As anyone who has visited the early Mesoamerican calendars built all over the plateau will tell you, this is an ancient and solid tradition.

Rafael Sabat

For anyone who, like me, was born in a country of just three million people, 100 million Mexicans are not to be taken lightly. It should come as no surprise, given the size of the population, that Mexico boasts the second-largest Fine Watch market in all the Americas region (the US is first). What may escape the mainstream media is that Mexico is also the 15th market worldwide, the fourth in terms of growth, behind Russia, the UAE and China, and on a par with Hong Kong. In a word, Mexico could be described as emerging.

It was only a matter of time before the Mexicans had their own Fine Watch exhibition. Indeed, this September the country is to host its second annual Salón Internacional de Alta Relojería. As was the case last year, all the top brands will be taking part: A. Lange & Söhne, Audemars Piguet, Blancpain, Breguet, Cartier, Concord, Daniel Roth, De Grisogono, F.P. Journe, Franc Vila, Gerald Genta, Girard-Perregaux, Glashütte, Harry Winston, IWC, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Jaquet Droz, Montblanc (Villeret & Rieussec), Omega, Porsche Design, Roger Dubuis, Rolex, Tag Heuer and Tudor. Any careful observer will note that every major group will be present, along with most of the top independent names.

Last year, in just three days, some 1,800 accredited visitors were given a taste of the classical, the bold, the innovative and the sumptuous at the Four Seasons Hotel in Mexico City, which will once again host the Salón in 2008. The brands responded in style, with conferences, visits from their executives and ambassadors, workshops (Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Master Class was booked solid) and many exceptional, even unique pieces. This year’s event is expected to be no less successful.

The event is organized by Carlos Alonso, who also publishes the main Latin American watch magazine, Tiempo de Relojes. Mr. Alonso, another Spaniard who has made his home in Mexico, is a respected figure in the market with enough weight to attract such high-profile players as Giulio Papi, Gerald Roden, Jérôme Lambert and Stefano Macaluso to the forthcoming Salón.

Mexico is fertile ground for Fine Watches and Fine Jewelry. This is an ancient and solid tradition, as anyone who has visited the early Mesoamerican calendars built all over the plateau will tell you, or any visitor to the Museo Nacional de Antropología who has ever marveled at the wonderful necklaces and pendants made by Aztec, Zapotec or Maya artisans. Even before the arrival of the Spanish, the Mexicans had developed a passion for timekeepers and jewels. Wherever you travel in Mexico you will see an Aztec solar stone or a Maya calendar. At the very least, from the time your plane touches down at the airport until you return to the boarding gate a few days later, you’ll never be far from a shop selling objects in jade.

Mexico City is, if not the largest city in the world, one of the five largest, and the neighborhood – what chilangos, the city’s residents, call a Colonia – where the heart of luxury beats is Polanco. Its most important thoroughfare is Avenida Presidente Mazaryk. The few blocks that spread from the intersection with Calle Molière include flagship stores of most of the major players in the luxury world, together with the city’s major Fine Watch boutiques. If you want to look at the timepieces you only ever see in magazines, take a stroll down Mazaryk, stop off at Berger or Peyrelongue, check out the brand boutiques, and indulge your greatest whims. You will also notice the security guards on the sidewalks and inside the stores, an uncomfortable testimony to the state of affairs in many Latin American countries.

I’ve always been surprised, when in Mexico, by the countless times I’ve heard people complain how, in terms of personal safety, wearing a luxury watch can be like a red rag to a bull just seconds before buying an even more luxurious, even bigger, even showier timepiece. Something for a sociologist to study, or so I thought. With time however, I have come to understand that Mexicans just love luxury. And that their love goes beyond rational considerations (trust me: everything in Mexico is done on a large scale; passions are as huge as a Mayan pyramid, as intense as a Frida Kahlo love affair, as powerful as a twenty-six strong Mariachi band). If you ever wanted an example of how luxury is about the emotional, then come to the Mexican Salón. ■

The Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie has the pleasure to welcome you on his stand at the Salon in Mexico, from the 23rd to the 25th of September.

www.salonaltarelojeria.com

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