Watch shopping in Kuala Lumpur Part 2

This is part 2 of my report on watch shopping in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia. This part covers the malls that are situated in the suburban area around Kuala Lumpur. The main shopping areas will be covered in part 3. However that report will come in about 3 months time when I visit Kuala Lumpur again. Part 3 will cover the main watch shopping areas in the heart of Kuala Lumpur covering KLCC, The Pavilion, Star Hill, KL Plaza and Lot 10. These 5 malls are located within a 2 km area and within them we will find most of the watch boutiques.

In the meantime, on with part 2. The first mall is The Atria. This mall is located in Petaling Jaya (fondly known as PJ). As this mall is located within a residential area, the shops that are in the mall cateres to the needs of the people staying there. In the mall we find 2 watch shops. The first is TJM Watch shop. This watch shop basically provides watch services like battery change, strap resizing and selling straps. They do carry some watches like Samsung, Timex, Anne Klien, Citizen, Pagol (nice to see this brand again), Titan (India brand I believe), Chagal, Pierre Cardin and Casio. The selection is limited. They also carry a lot of wall clocks.

The other shop is the Watches of Switzerland. This shop sells their house brand, Royal. Their main focus is watch repair and servicing. They are located in a number of malls.

About 2 to 3 km away we find PJ largest mall, the 1 Utama mall. This mall is located in the upmarket area of PJ. There we find a number of watch shops. The first shop is Watatime. They are a located in a number of malls and they do carry a nice selection of brands and watches. The shops and the brands they carry are dependent on the area the mall is located. The brands they carry in this mall includes Tudor, Breitling, Montblanc, Omega, Oris, Longines, Titoni, Fendi, Seiko and Frederique Constant. They have 9 other stores.

Across from them we find the Fossil boutique.

One floor up and we find the Hong Kong based City Chain. Again they are in most of the malls in Kuala Lumpur (or Malaysia for that matter). They carry many brands (in Hong Kong they represent some 70 plus brands). In this shop they carry among others, Guess, Guess Collection, Timex, ODM, Wegner, Che Che, DKNY, Fossil, Police, Nautica, Cerruti 1881, Cyma, Ellesse, K-Swiss, Casio, Seiko, Smash and Chevignon. There are always some watches that are on sale in the City Chain store. You can 40% off some watches.

On the same floor, we find PK Time. They are a small store and carry the following brands, Swatch, ODM, Tissot, Casio, Timex, Seiko and Nike. They also carry a selection of table clocks.

The 1 Utama mall is a big mall and is actually made up of 2 malls. The shops above are in what is called the old wing. There is a 'bridge' that connects the old wing and the new wing (the 2 wings are divided by a 6 lane road). On the bridge itself we can find the J. Bovier boutique. They carry their own brand and Jaguar watches.

In the new wing, we find more watch shops. The first is Watchshoppe. Watchshoppe is much like Watatime in that they are a chain store. The brands that carry are also dependent on their location. In this store they carry the following brands; Tag Heuer, Mondaine, Huarex, Baume & Mercier, Omega, Montblanc, Ball, Fortis, Gucci, Dior, Maurice Lacroix, Fendi and Tissot. They have another store in Kuala Lumpur and they operate another 2 in the International Airport.

In the basement level of the new wing, we find Watchzone watch shop. They are a small shop that carry some interesting brands. The brands they carry are Guess, Chronotech, Marc Ecko and Nautica. Next to them, we have the Swatch Boutique.

From 1 Utama, we move to Bangsar Village. This is a small mall located in the upper class residential area of Kuala Lumpur. In this mall, we find 3 watch shop. The first is Hang Thai watch shop. This is I believe a family run business. They have 2 shops, one in this mall and another in a residential area in SS2 (another part of PJ). Again the brands they carry is location dependent. In this shop, they carry the following brands; Epos, Hamilton, Vulcain, Fortis, Azimuth, Seiko, Ball, Seagull, Fendi, Movado, Edox, Otium and Nautica. They also carry a small selection of Casio watches.

The other watch shop was a surprise to me. This is their first foray outside their home country. It is the Passions Watch shop. Passions was founded in 1991 in Singapore by Jonathan Tee. This is their first store outside Singapore. Passions is also a noted watch seller over the Internet. They deal with pre-loved watches (OK, second hand or used). Since they have another store in Singapore, I asked if it was possible for them to bring the watches that is available in Singapore to this store. They confirm that it is a service they provide to their customers on both sides of the straits.

When I was there, they had a nice selection of watches including, IWC Mark XV, Rolex GMT Master (pepsi), a nice selection of vintage Omegas. They also sells watch accessories, tools and straps. I finally got my tube of Polywatch from them.

The last shop is again Watches of Switzerland. They are located in the basement level of the mall.

About 1 km away from Bangsar Village, we find the upmarket mall BSC (Bangsar Shopping Center). Here we find two other watch shops. The first is Hing's Watch. This is another family run business. They also have 2 stores. The other is in PJ33. Again the offerings is location dependent. In this store located in BSC, they have a large selections of brands that caters to all levels of customers. I was fortunate and managed to get an interview with the owners. I post the interview soon. The brands that they carry includes Omega, Montblanc, Bell & Ross, Maurice Lacroix, Tag Heuer, Ball, Tissot, Oris, Vulcain, Longines, Breitling, Ebel, Baume & Mercier, Mido, Swiss Army, Timex, Suunto, Nautica and Chronotech. The other store also carry brands like Seiko and Casio.

The other shop is Time Pacific. Time Pacific buys and sells new/ used branded watches. This is their second store. The first store is in Sungai Wang Plaza in central Kuala Lumpur. In this store they carry brands like Patek Philippe, Breitling, Officine Panerai, Cartier, Breguet, Piaget, Franck Muller, Tag Heuer, Rolex, Chopard, Omega and Audemars Piguet.

Prices are pretty standard between shops. The main difference is the selection and the ability to get particular watches. Some of these shops can get limited edition watches as they sell a number of watches of a particular brand. This allows them access to selected watches that may not be commonly available. Some of the shop owners goes to the Swiss watch fair (Basel for example) and place their orders there.

The other difference is the amount of discount offered. Some can offer more and some not so much. It is possible to get as much as 30% discount in some shops. Level of service also differs from store to store. I have to say that there are some stores that I do not feel comfortable buying from, but that is another story.

And there you have the second part of my report. There are other malls that I have not covered in my report. I hope to cover these malls and the main watch shopping areas in my next visit to Kuala Lumpur.