Interview: Nicolas Bos, CEO of luxury jeweller Van Cleef & Arpels

It’s the season for grand openings in Macau. Last month, the US$4.2 billion Wynn Palace – Macau’s most expensive resort – opened and with it came the opening of a new Van Cleef & Arpels boutique, the luxury jeweller’s fourth in Macau, and second in Cotai after Studio City.

Amid a slowdown in the luxury retail market, the opening comes as a surprise, but Nicolas Bos, president and CEO of the venerable maison, remains optimistic.

What has 2016 been like for Van Cleef & Arpels?

We are not immune from what’s happening with the slowdown in Asia –  the tough times in Hong Kong and Macau –  but we are pretty resilient. We are not in a situation where we feel we have to downsize – the luxury market is still doing quite well. If people still spend on luxury, I think a majority of them at the high level still want to go for brands that respect them, that are reassuring and which hold a long-term value –  brands where they don’t feel they are being too betrayed by marketing.

Do you find that clients appreciate the intricacies of the craft of watchmaking as much as the watches themselves?

Over the past 10-15 years, I think a much better understanding and appreciation from clients has developed and they really understand the differences in the quality. I think we are probably less, right now, in the excitement of say, metiers d'art techniques, than we were three or four years ago when everyone was looking for new techniques. Now, people are looking more for the piece itself, so whatever craft it is – enamelling, stone setting or carving, is it the right technique for that product? And then is it done at a high level of excellence? There is more of this type of discussion than to say look, we invented or revived another new technique – now it’s more about the quality of the piece itself and the quality of the execution.