Tourneau Marks 100th With WatchFest

By JCK Online Staff -- JCK Online, 12/1/2000 2:00:00 AM

Tourneau, America's largest watch retailer, marked its 100th anniversary in late October with "WatchFest 2000," the company's largest-ever watch fair. The event was held Oct. 25-28 at the Tourneau TimeMachine, the world's biggest watch store, at 57th Street and Madison Avenue in New York City.

The WatchFest unveiled Tourneau's Historical Collection, which featured its own original timepieces of the past 100 years-exhibited together for the first time-and showcased one-of-a-kind timepieces of the brands Tourneau carries. The weeklong event included contests and gift certificate giveaways and ended with the close of daylight-saving time for the year. Earlier in October, the store hosted celebrity appearances and manufacturers' exhibits.

The family business was founded in 1900. Today, there are 13 Tourneau locations: five in New York City (including its flagship Tourneau TimeMachine) and eight in upscale shopping areas in Florida (3), New York (2), New Jersey (1), Texas (1), and California (1). The company also has a growing chain of mall watch shops, called Tourneau Watch Gear (four in New York and one in Florida), and a Web site (www.tourneau.com). Two leading watch brands "served" up two tennis superstars to launch new watch lines this summer. In New York City, Pete Sampras was on hand at Macy's in late August for the U.S. debut of the new Movado SE luxury sport watch, a revamping in stainless steel or 18k plating of its classic Sports Edition watch. The timepiece's numberless dial with a dot at 12 o'clock evokes Movado's signature Museum watch. A month later, in London, Anna Kournikova became Omega's newest brand ambassador as she launched "Anna Kournikova's Choice," the newest addition to Omega's successful New Constellation Carrérange of women's watches. The tennis star, who has a keen interest in fashion, joins Omega's two other superstar ambassadors, Cindy Crawford and Pierce Brosnan. Gold versions of the new collection, with colored satin-look straps that match the pastel hues of the mother-of-pearl dials, were due to be launched by year's end.