Retailers are facing heated competition to attract increasingly wealthy mainland shoppers, and luxury watch brands are flocking to open stores in China.
US jewellery and watch brand Harry Winston has opened a flagship timepiece store at Elements shopping mall in West Kowloon, while Swiss watchmakers Maurice Lacroix and Zino Davidoff - also known for its cigars - plan to expand further into the competitive market.
Overseeing the three brands' expansion is DKSH Hong Kong, which wants to tap into Chinese consumers' increasingly deep pockets at a time when high unemployment in America continues to bite and the spiralling European sovereign debt is weakening consumer demand.
'Greater China is the most flourishing market in [terms] of income growth and middle-class numbers,' said DKSH Hong Kong managing director Victor Hew. 'We saw the fervour and felt the pulse of mainland buyers a few weeks ago at an in-house auction.'
A collection of top-end watches was auctioned off last month in Hong Kong, where a mainland bidder snapped up a Harry Winston 18-carat white-gold watch for HK$2.55 million, from the original floor price of HK$2 million.
DKSH - which helps foreign brands access customers in new markets with marketing, sales, distribution, logistics and after-sales services - expects the brand outsourcing business to grow 7 per cent annually over the next five years, citing results of a survey by consultant Roland Berger last month.