Rolex Datejust Champagne Automatic 18kt Yellow Gold President Ladies Watch 178288CSP

WORLDTEMPUS - 15 April 2011

For better or worse Australia is not typically a market that garners a great deal of interest from the luxury watch industry. The perception is that it's too far away, consumer tastes aren't sophisticated enough, and there is not enough population. Certainly most of the big names in watchmaking maintain a presence, but the ranges are generally limited and many of the high-end complications never seem to reach Australia's shores.
Nowhere is the effect of this isolation felt more bly than in Perth, the capital city of Western Australia. Thanks to the significant distance that separates it from the "big" cities on the eastern seaboard - it takes more than five hours to fly to Sydney - Perth is often left out altogether. While this is not terribly surprising, it does demonstrate an incredible lack of foresight.

 
Boom Times
Although Perth may be relatively small from a population standpoint at approximately 1.7 million, it is a rapidly expanding city fueled largely by the astronomical growth of the mining industry and China's insatiable appetite for its resources. Thanks to this burgeoning prosperity, there are more self-made millionaires per capita in Perth than anywhere else in world. Indeed, such is the demand that people come from all over Australia seeking work there.
With these favorable factors at play, it is of little surprise that a number of serious collectors call Perth home. What is interesting, however, is that despite being shown little interest from the industry they have still managed to cultivate a sophisticated watch scene that extends far beyond well-known, mainstream brands such as Rolex, Omega and Patek Philippe (although plenty of those are sold in Perth too). While brands may not publicly disclose the information, or perhaps even be aware of it, a number of private collections feature pieces from prominent independent watchmakers.

Have Money, Will Travel
One of the reasons why Perth has such a sophisticated subset of collectors may be its location. Rather than fly across the country to Sydney or Melbourne to view relatively limited collections, wealthy residents of Perth can take a short, four-hour flight and find themselves in one of the most impassioned watch cities in Asia: Singapore. Here they are exposed to a wide range of brands and have the opportunity to handle pieces that will never make it to Australian retailers. They also benefit from having access to extremely knowledgeable staff (arguably some of the best in Asia) who are very well informed about the brands, the products and of course all the latest industry news.

 
While collectors may be forced to buy some of their pieces overseas, there is a flow-on, word-of-mouth effect for the local market as these individuals often move in wealthy circles and share similar tastes. One day a businessman spots an MCT Sequential One on his associate's wrist and asks where he got it. A passionate conversation ensues and within minutes another Perth resident has had his or her eyes opened to a completely new segment of the luxury watch market he or she never knew existed. This person catches the next plane to Singapore and so the cycle is perpetuated.
Because all these people are buying their timepieces overseas, very few people actually realize that this small but incredibly affluent market exists.
That is set to change very soon, however, with some exciting developments ensuring that the city of Perth will begin to feature prominently on the watch industry's map. While confidentiality prevents disclosure of too many details at this point in time, this will be an event the likes of which the Australian watch market has not seen before. For the time being though, wealthy Perth collectors will continue to travel overseas to spend their hard earned money, leaving Australian brand managers tearing out their hair in frustration.