The Hour Glass

[shanrui_91]

Hi buddies, Hour Glass's business model seems easy to replicate. What will happen if the brands that it manages decided to open their own store? Just like Mercedes not renewing dealership with C&C.

Hope to hear your views!

Since 1979, THG has working relationship with brands like Rolex, Patek Phillipe and Cartier. Relationship is very important especially among the Swiss manufacturer given that many of them are family-owned business and are not listed public company. Many of the luxury watches are not mass-produced by factory which is why Swiss watch has such a good brandname. Compare this to Sincere, where the CEO sold the company twice in a span of 5 years.

Customer service is of utmost importance. There is a story that a salesman from THG made 6 phone calls, 2 faxes, 3 trips in order to get a watch model that their shop does not have. As for whether it is really true, I have no idea but I am sure you can try their customer service by entering one of their shops.

Another of their busines strategy is that they regularly organise high-class events like Tempus which attracted 50,000 people in its first introduction in 2005. They are also one of the first to promote hourlogy education among its customers, sharing with them how watches are made and how to appreciate a watch.

Their executive director, Micahel Tay, used to be an investment banker. However, he decided to come back to help his parent to manage the business. He went to emerge himself in Swiss for a year or so where he learnt about the whole watch manufacturing process. When he came back, one of the thing that he did is to close down Bulgari as well as THG USA.

In the Singapore scene, the 2 largest players are Sincere and THG, followed by Cortina and Dickson Watch. While anyone may be able to open a shop, customer and manufacturer relationship takes time to build. Especially for tourist, they will usually choose the branded shop to avoid buying counterfeits. This is more applicable in Thailand and Malaysia.

One last thing - you will be surprised to learn that HENRY TAY YUN CHWAN actually owns 12.40% of Cortina, being the 2nd largest shareholder

(vested)