Before motorsport’s elite gather for the final F1 Grand Prix race of the 2022 season on Abu Dhabi’s Yas Marina Circuit, IWC Schaffhausen invited brand ambassador Lewis Hamilton for a ride around Dubai. His driver and tour guide was no other than Alexandra Hirschi, known by millions of car enthusiasts worldwide as “Supercar Blondie.” The Australia-born content creator has been calling Dubai home for many years, which is known as one of the most attractive and exciting destinations around the world for tourism, trade and luxury. Driving down the famous Sheikh Zayed Road and passing many iconic landmarks, the two discussed Dubai’s association with cars and culture while sharing insights into their relationship with the city and recalling their most memorable experiences there.
After arriving at the Dubai Mall, Hamilton was welcomed to the flagship boutique by IWC CEO Chris Grainger- Herr and former F1 star and brand ambassador David Coulthard. In the entrance area, the 7-time world champion was reunited with the Mercedes-AMG F1 W12 E Performance, his race car from the 2021 season. The car is exhibited in the boutique, underscoring its strong thematic focus on racing and engineering. The group then walked over to the “Engineering wall”, where they admired a selection of iconic racing watches that IWC created in collaboration with its longstanding motorsport partners. Among these were the “Lewis Hamilton” Big Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar Edition with a burgundy dial, and the Pilot’s Watch Chronograph 41 Edition “Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team,” the official team watch that was launched at the Miami GP earlier this year. Finally, they headed to the “Big Pilot Café” for a well-deserved pit stop.
THE NEXT LEVEL OF LUXURY WATCH RETAILING
IWC’s innovative “new retail” concept blurs the traditional boundaries between a physical store and a digital experience. Interactive features and services enable visitors to immerse themselves into the IWC universe in an unprecedented way, taking luxury watch retailing to a new level. The first flagship boutique with this concept was opened in September 2020 in Zurich, Switzerland. The centrepiece of “IWC Racing Works” is the IWC Racing Mercedes-Benz 300 SL “Gullwing,” the official race car of the IWC Racing Team. The Dubai boutique then marked the second “new retail” flagship. Designed in the functional aesthetic of the Big Pilot’s Watch, it was opened in March 2022 and focuses on IWC’s longstanding connection to the worlds of motorsport and racing. For example, the Central Exhibition Area explores IWC’s partnerships with Mercedes-AMG and the Mercedes- AMG PETRONAS Formula One team, while the Engineering Wall lets visitors deep-dive into IWC’s engineering heritage and comprehensive materials expertise. Just a few weeks ago, IWC opened its third “new retail” flagship boutique at the Taikoo Hui Mall in Shanghai, China.
