At The Shops at Hudson Yards in New York, Watches of Switzerland introduces a 6,500 sq ft flagship designed by London-based CAPELO in collaboration with New York-based MNA. The project translates luxury watch retail into an open and highly visible environment, combining branded boutiques, multi-brand displays and hospitality within a space conceived to maintain a continuous relationship with the surrounding architecture.
Located at the base of Hudson Yards’ central Great Room atrium, the store benefits from an exceptional position. A 110-foot, four-bay frontage faces the public plaza, while approximately 160 feet of internal mall storefront extend along the opposite sides, providing almost 360 degrees of exposure.
A flagship designed around visibility and connection
The design brief called for a contemporary luxury environment that could also function as an interactive and welcoming social space. Central to the concept was the relationship between interior and exterior: the extensive storefront needed to provide a strong architectural presence while maintaining visual connections with the mall, the public plaza and the wider Hudson Yards development.
An illuminated white onyx storefront curves inward from the mall, guiding visitors towards the entrance. A digital wall introduces a dynamic visual layer, while bronze cladding defines the transition into the store.
Rather than creating a closed luxury environment, the architecture uses transparency, light and the extensive perimeter to establish a continuous dialogue between the retail space and its surroundings.
Brand boutiques within a unified retail landscape
The interior accommodates a complex combination of individual watch brands while maintaining a coherent overall identity.
A dedicated Patek Philippe boutique is accessed directly from the bronze-clad entrance foyer, while a Rolex boutique anchors the opposite side of the store. Around the perimeter, dedicated installations accommodate Breitling, Hublot, IWC Schaffhausen, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Omega and Vacheron Constantin.
At the centre, a multi-brand area brings together Bremont, Grand Seiko, Longines and Tudor.
A restrained palette of soft, neutral tones provides the architectural background for these different identities, allowing individual brand environments to retain their visual character without fragmenting the perception of the flagship as a whole.
Onyx, marble and bronze define the material language
Materiality plays a central role in establishing the store’s luxury character. Illuminated white onyx introduces luminosity and depth at the storefront, while marble and bronze provide contrasting textures and warmer tonalities throughout the interior.
The combination is controlled rather than decorative. Materials are used to articulate thresholds, focal points and different retail functions, creating visual continuity across a space occupied by numerous brands.
Light further enhances the material palette, particularly where translucent onyx surfaces become luminous architectural elements rather than conventional wall finishes.
The cocktail bar introduces hospitality into watch retail
One of the flagship’s most distinctive elements is the Watches of Switzerland cocktail bar, positioned as a focal point overlooking the Great Room.
Here, the richer palette of illuminated onyx, marble and bronze creates a more intimate environment within the larger retail space. Customers can pause for refreshments while maintaining views towards the public plaza, the Hudson River and Vessel, the sculptural structure designed by Heatherwick Studio.
The bar extends the customer journey beyond product display and consultation, introducing hospitality as an integral component of the luxury retail experience. Shopping, conversation and pause become part of the same spatial sequence.
A luxury flagship integrated with Hudson Yards
The Watches of Switzerland flagship demonstrates how a large multi-brand environment can retain a coherent architectural identity while accommodating the individual requirements of some of the world’s leading watchmakers.
CAPELO and MNA use transparency, materiality and carefully defined focal points to organise the 6,500 sq ft space, while the extensive glazed perimeter maintains a constant relationship with Hudson Yards.
The result combines the precision associated with luxury watch retail with a more open and social model of customer experience, in which branded environments, digital communication and hospitality coexist within a unified architectural framework.
Client: Watches of Switzerland
Location: The Shops at Hudson Yards, New York City, USA
Area: 6,500 sq ft
Architectural and interior design consultancy: CAPELO & MNA
Lead consultant / Project manager: Watershed Partners, Inc.
Services consultant: Rosini Engineering
Main contractor: Shawmut Design & Construction
Millwork contractor: Norclair
Photo credit: Peter Murdock