Time to grow

Christine Carrillo

High-end watch retailer Tourneau has begun construction that will

nearly double the size of its South Coast Plaza store.

The company has a strong presence on the East Coast where its

largest store, The Tourneau TimeMachine in New York (featured in the

Guinness Book of World Records) offers an elaborate four-story

selection for customers. It made its first move to the West Coast

market when it opened the Costa Mesa store in 1993. Now, Tourneau

hopes to enhance its presence in the mall by adding about 70% more

space, said Andrew Block, senior vice president of marketing.

“It’s been a very viable success,” he said. “We love the location

in the mall but the space hadn’t been available.”

Now, as South Coast Plaza completes construction at Macy’s,

adjacent to Tourneau, the watch retailer received the opportunity to

begin the store expansion it longed for. In addition to expanding,

the original portion of the store will also receive a face-lift.

“It will be a much more consumer-friendly layout,” Block said.

While the plans for the new store will enhance its appearance,

West Coast manager Steven Plank believes that it will, more

importantly, enhance the selection of watches.

“It’s like a toy store for adults,” he said. “The expansion, from

a selection standpoint, will benefit the consumer.”

With the expansion providing an increase in the number of watches,

from among the more than 100 brands sold in each of its 21 stores,

the Costa Mesa location will now become one of the company’s top five

stores, said Block. The new store will open in October.

The company, which recently opened a store in San Francisco, will

open stores in San Jose and Las Vegas this year, finally giving it a

greater presence on the West Coast than the East.

Focusing solely on selling watches has proven a success for

Tourneau.

“We’re only a watch retailer and that’s unique in itself,” Block

said. “We know how to sell them and we focus on just watches.”