GC Watches arose out of Paul Marciano's desire to create a brand for people like himself who aspire to a sophisticated standard of living. GC is a 15 year old Swiss-made watch brand that combines the best of Swiss quality and precision with remarkable European design.
So what exactly is Smart Luxury? David Yim, the COO of Sequel AG, a division of Timex Group which manages GC Watches, tells Anchor Division more about the philosophy of Smart Luxury at the Moments of Smart Luxury event where they honored GC's rising stars.
Anchor Division: Can you tell us about the brand ethos behind GC?
David Yim: Sure. The brand is Smart Luxury. Our event tonight is to honor those who have found a way to live out their dream creatively and figuratively. The brand is a promise to recognize the luxurious moments in life but at the same time not to blow the bank, not to overscale things. Our brand is all about time and timing, and recognizing the fact that life goes by quickly. You have to savor precious moments and smart luxury moments that occur in everyday life.
I had a Smart Luxury moment earlier this week. I travel a tremendous amount. I live in Connecticut just outside of the city and I have two boys, a 7 year old and a 6 year old. Normally they're in school but I brought them into the city this week since it's the summertime. It turned out what they wanted to do was just order Dallas BBQ, sit in the hotel room, and play Monopoly. And that was my Smart Luxury moment, but everybody can have a Smart Luxury moment.
AD: Can we talk a little bit about your definition of Smart Luxury? Most people think of luxury as being expensive and decadent. The way you describe your Smart Luxury experience was spending quality time with your children doing something they really wanted to do.
DY: Luxury is the ability to do what you want to do without boundaries. That's luxury. In a lot of ways today's society has really defined luxury as more as "what can you afford". 'Afford monetarily' is a great dimension of luxury but it's not the only one for both our rising stars as well as all of us in our life. Our brand is designed to allow people to recognize that luxury is not just in the format of how much you spend. Our product displays that because we have great quality stuff that is really representative of how people want to dimension and reflect themselves.
A lot of times fashion and accessories are a way of expressing yourself. People will find a way of doing it but not in a way that sets them back or that is an unwise thing. Luxury should never be an unwise decision. That's what we're all about.
AD: How are your ambassadors working with your brand and exhibiting that Smart Luxury?
DY: Our ambassadors are the embodiment of people who have found ways of being smart and luxurious at the same time in the way they live their lives and the way they define their passions in what they get to do every day. We've been embarking on this smart luxury emphasis for almost two years now. All of these people share a thread of commonality where they've discovered in their own selves what they're passionate about, what they want to do.
We're honoring Shaina and Moises, who have found a way to parlay that passion into what they make a living out of. They're our rising stars. They're able to have that be a part of their every day life. We think that's spectacular. We applaud it. We want to lift these people up all over the world and give them a platform, not just for our brand but for themselves as well to describe how smart luxury is a part of their everyday. It's the perfect synergy for our brand.
AD: What can we look forward to in the future?
DY: That's a great question. A lot of people feel like this is a culmination of smart luxury for them. For us this is really the beginning. GC is a brand of Swiss made watches. It's been around for quite some time. We're celebrating our 15th anniversary globally. It's something that in the US is more of a launch. It's more of a new brand for the marketplace. Amongst the global Swiss-made brands GC is number 15 in the world in terms of watch units sold globally.
In the US we feel like we're getting off the ground at 15 years old, but it's an exciting thing! We're looking to follow in the footsteps of our Swiss parent company and our other partners around the world who really make GC a part of the Swiss watchmaking industry. At 15 years we're super excited about what that means. We're in a league of folks who have been making watches for a much longer time than that but we do feel like we have a unique point of view. I think our ambassadors are the embodiment of that point of view. It's really exciting.
AD: Awesome. Thank you.
DY: Thank you. I really appreciate it.
