MANILA, Philippines?In the frivolous and whimsical world of fashion, affordable luxury seems like an impossibility?an oxymoron, if I ever heard one. Luxury, after all, entails very expensive elements, say handmade details or exotic skins, that can elevate an ordinary piece to iconic proportions.

But according to Patrick Steiner, international director for business development for Cerruti 1881 watches, affordable luxury is exactly what they aim to give their consumers. The watch line, originally established by Nino Cerruti in 1950, now endeavors to offer good quality timepieces at affordable prices to a discerning market.

As such, fashionable details, Swiss-made features, and a modern classic identity characterize the Italian lifestyle brand?s current offerings.

During a recent visit to Manila to launch the Cerruti 1881 watches via an exhibit of its Spring/Summer 2008 collection, Inquirer Fashion caught up with Steiner to ask him more about the brand and its growth since its reintroduction into the international market in 2004.

What was the mission vision of Cerruti 1881 when it was first established?

It?s, for me, a little hard to understand because looking at it, I didn?t know if they had a mission. It was kind of a private label approach. There was no concept wherein they had different kinds of design, different kinds of price levels.

Now, we have a very clear concept and mission. It is an Italian fashion lifestyle brand so we have color codes, criteria?how a watch has to look, what kind of details it has to feature. And on top of this we have our own mission?affordable luxury.

We are a fashion brand, we are not expensive traditional Swiss watches but we want to make people feel that they own a luxury watch. So we concentrate a lot on all these details, a lot of features, which make people feel that this is a very valuable timepiece but for a very affordable price.

How do you give someone luxury and affordability at the same time? Can you give specific examples?

Obviously I can say, by giving a Cerruti watch, you give affordable luxury but in reality, it?s a kind of compromise. You have the traditional luxury high-end watches, which cost thousands of US dollars and then you have the fashion design watches, which are much cheaper.

What we try to do is to give people fashionable designs but with the quality of luxury and high-end watches. So we have folding clasps, leather straps, the dials?what we call the face of the watch?with not only a plate which is printed with figures but with a lot of little details. Our collection is Swiss-made with Swiss-made features and movements.

We have a certain criteria that the Cerruti watch has to fulfill. That means most of our collections feature certain parts, which are either black, brown, white, steel or gold. We don?t, in general, use very fancy colors. Cerruti is about an elegant Italian fashion lifestyle?not necessarily freaky or fancy?which we believe gives it additional value.

With the Cerruti watch, we want to provide something that you actually can wear longer. It?s a fashion brand but still with a classic approach.

What are the latest trends in watches?

Well, we do have a lot of demand for rose gold watches in combination with black leather straps, dials and parts. A big part of our sales, for the ladies, are watches with Swarovski stones, as a kind of alternative to diamonds. They?re obviously not as expensive as diamonds but they still give the impression of luxury. They?re sparkling and fashionable. The sales of watches with Swarovski crystals have increased a lot in the last year.

How do you blend the heritage of the brand with modern-day designs?

I do believe that there are two ingredients that make up our brand. One is the name Cerruti 1881, the date of the foundation of the brand, which is a big part of the heritage. The other thing is the color codes and concepts that we apply that give the watches a modern classic identity. The use of brown, steel, gold, black with a lot of details on the watches, I believe, very much reflects Cerruti itself.

Cerruti, the brand, in respect to garments and textiles, always goes for the highest quality and standards with a lot of details, and we try to reflect that too in our watches. Of course, again, we are a fashion brand. We have to be competitive. We have to, at the end of the day, make business so we also have to have products that sell. As much as possible, we try to reflect the brand.

Who are your main competitors in the watch industry?

I think that in the environment where we are, we don?t really have that many competitors. Brands like Armani or Hugo Boss are in our environment when it comes to watches.

However, we believe that we differentiate very much in the details. If you look at the watches, the details of our watches give them extra value but at affordable prices. We are in retail around US$500 or US$600 at the top, and we start at US$200.

The watch line was
re-established in 2004, right? Though it?s been there for quite a while now.

Yes, there were Cerruti watches before but they were managed by a different team, different people. Their approach then was not on a global, international platform. Within our group, it was a strategic decision to change the concept and the approach with watches and jewelry. So there was a new team that was established.

Watches were launched in 2004 with a new concept, new collection. And we launched jewelry beginning 2007.

How have you fared in the market since 2004?

Much better than we can actually handle. We are moving to a new factory next month. We have to increase our capacity because since 2004, which was ground zero, we had a certain increase in 2005, and in 2006 things started to accelerate.

In 2007, we had a much bigger demand than we could actually supply. Despite increasing capacities, we expect, in 2008, a 50-percent growth from 2007.

Where?s your main market?

We?ve defined our key markets as Germany and France. Cerruti, the brand, is very well known in France. There is a Cerruti boutique in Place de la Madelaine in Paris.

We have Saudi Arabia, which is a very big market with a growing economy. There are a lot of young people who are very eager to get fashionable things and spend a lot of money. And then we have Russia. We only started in Russia a little over a year ago, but it has already become one of our most important countries.

When did you establish your presence in Asia and specifically in the Philippines?

In Asia, we?ve had certain activities since we started in January 2004. We have countries like Malaysia where the business is very well-developed. In Malaysia, we just opened end of last year the first Cerruti watch and jewelry boutique in the world.

Since January 2004, we?ve been active in developing and finding business partners around the world. Our main target at this stage is not really to start a new market in new countries, but to really concentrate on the ones we have.

But since we really have a very good opportunity here in the Philippines with Euro Timing, a good and professional company, this is also a chance for us to have an opportunity with really good partners. The first activity was three months ago, with the official launch today.

How are the watches selling here?

Well, the feedback was that sales over Christmas and the first three months were much better than expected. So, it shows that despite the fact that Cerruti as a brand is maybe not so well-known here as some of the competitors, at the end of the day, consumers like the collection that they see in the shops and are motivated to buy. Sales are really much better than expected.
What?s the best-selling style here and abroad?

The big gold-plated square watch, which we have in our collection. And a similar model that we have for the ladies with a little heart in the dial with Swarovski crystals. Again, you see these little sparkling things and the combination of rose gold with black?their popularity here shows that the Philippines keeps pace with the rest of the world.

Cerruti 1881 watches are available at Wrist Pod at Bonifacio High Street and Ayala Mall Cebu, Lucerne at Shangri-La Mall, Chronos at Glorietta 3, SM Mall of Asia, Alabang Town Center, SM Megamall and Gateway Mall. You can also avail of Cerruti 1881 at Swiss Gear stores at The Block, SM North Edsa and The Landmark TriNoma.

E-mail the author at afashion@inquirer.com.ph