Portfolio: Tourneau

Luxury watch retailer Tourneau (New York) just celebrated its 115th anniversary with the opening of the company’s third flagship in New York. The corner location near Bryant Park features entrances on both 42nd Street and Sixth Avenue, opening into a 3300-square-foot circular store design by New York-based Kenneth Park Architects.

The store’s distinctive round layout permits Tourneau to create a customer experience where guests can shop “in the round,” explains Brian Guze, director of store design and visual, Tourneau. This shape was crucial to the success of the location, according to Guze, since it allows for a store that “not only celebrates the brands carried by Tourneau, but also [creates] a customer journey where [shoppers] can experience the essence of each brand.”

The new location houses a much smaller floor plan than Tourneau’s primary 16,000-square-foot “TimeMachine” flagship, just a few blocks away at the corner of 57th Street and Madison Avenue. Its compact size enables distinctive presentation of the retailer’s key labels. And rather than carrying full lines of luxury brands, the Bryant Park location features a reduced collection, creating showcases for each.

According to Guze, this was purposeful, as the curation of watches is meant to give “greater exposure to each brand.”

The design features nods to classic timepieces throughout, including a 12-hour “tick” pattern displayed on the ceiling of the circular space, while its façade also includes an array of clocks, a traditional design element for Tourneau.

The store also references a nearby New York icon: “The silver-leafed dome over the center with hundreds of fiber optic lights (or stars) pays tribute to the main hall of Grand Central Station only a few blocks away,” Guze says.

Not just about selling luxury items, the Bryant Park flagship aims to create a love of watches through its unique design and product offerings. “[It] seeks to infuse its passion for timepieces into every customer who walks into the store,” Guze says.

Photography: Richard Cadan, Fairfield, Conn.