Kee Hua Chee Live!: MAURICE LACROIX OPENS BIGGER, IMPROVED BOUTIQUE AT STARHILL

KEE@FSWMAG.COM

MAURICE LACROIX HAS ENLARGED ITS BOUTIQUE AT STARHILL BY SOME 30% SO IT IS NOW NEWER, FRESHER AND SPACIER THAN EVER! INSTEAD OF SHOWING HUNDREDS OF WATCHES, ONLY THE LATEST MODELS ARE SHOWN, UPPING THE ANTE FOR MALAYSIAN WATCH LOVERS AS STARHILL CONTINUES TO CEMENT ITS REPUTATION AS ONE OF ASIA'S BIGGEST AND MOST COMPREHENSIVE WATCH CENTRES.

The official opening of the new, improved and bigger Maurice Lacroix boutique at Starhill

Left; Francis Phua, regional general manager of DKSH Hong Kong, Juliana Tan brand manager, Tay Liam Khoon, MD of Sincere Watches Malaysia, Mark Glaser managing director of Maurice Lacroix Switzerland, John Clare group finance director of DKSH Malaysia, ambassador Angel Wong and some handsome guy whose name I forget.

Kee Hua Chee and Mark Glaser, managing director of Maurice Lacroix from Zurich, Switzerland who flew in all the way from freezing Switzerland to be with us.

CS Poon, Kee Hua Chee and Jui Hong or something like that as his name is so complicated

Kee Hua Chee and Adrian Winson. His hair stands up due to hair spray as he did not poke his wet finger into an electrical socket

I know you wish to admire us again so here it is

Top squash player Azlan Iskandar with bag lady aka bag designer Yiu Ling who will soon get squashed by Azlan, unless he has already squashed her but we must assume they haven't sex yet as premarital sex is so shocking. They will only marry in December this year but have not asked me to be best man yet. She asked me to think of her when I think of hunky Azlan but when I do, other things come to mind as she is the last thing I think of.

Bryam Tham, owner of Watatime or at least his family owns it so same same with sexy lady Katie Chiu from Hong Kong who looks after Maurice Lacroix in Greater China. She reminds me of actress Anne Hathaway but she seemed displeased when I made this comparison. Maybe it is because Anne Hathaway is famous for her big, wide mouth which I think is sexy as wide mouths reminds men of kissing and shoving things inside.

Deborah Henry Miss Malaysia Universe 2011 and Miss Malaysia World 2007, one of only two to hold both titles. She was placed in Top 16 at Miss World 2007 finals and every Malaysian assumed she would be in Top 5 or even win Miss Universe 2011 as many blogs and internet chatter betted she would win the crown but she was not even in the Top 16! I fainted when I heard the shocking news as I thought she would be in the Top 5 at the very least. I told her to sleep with all the judges, organisers and audit committee members but she refused and see what happened?

All agog

Tay Liam Khoon making his welcome speech

SINCERE WATCHES IS GROWING BIGGER AS I TYPE AND THE NEW MAURICE LACROIX BOUTIQUE IS OWNED BY SINCERE WATCHES WHICH EXPLAINS WHY MD TAY LIAM KHOON WAS THERE TO OFFICIATE TOGETHER WITH MARK GLASER WHOSE PRESENCE ALMOST MADE ME FAINT AS HE IS THE BIG BOSS OF MAURICE LACROIX!

Mark Glaser is the Managing Director of Maurice Lacroix SA and based in Zurich, Switzerland. He flew all the way from Switzerland just to be with us Malaysians so it is a big deal as it proves he considers Malaysia to be important enough for him to make the effort to open the revamped boutique. I was very flattered and thanked him on your behalf OK. He will leave KL tomorrow 9 February at the unearthly hour of 5 am before the crack of dawn and I told him to party till 3am ad then go straight to KLIA and sleep on the plane in the luxurious Business Class. I would have accompanied Mark Glaser clubbing but I am now ailing from an overdose of mandarin oranges.

I have been eating 12 to 15 oranges per day for the last 2 weeks and never knew they could cause sore throat and fever as I thought they were just harmless, nutritious oranges! I mean, how much damage can oranges cause and they are supposed to be loaded with Vitamin C to prevent coughs and colds! But now I am coughing my tonsils out and may be on my death bed tonight! And to think I thought the more oranges I ate the better and healthier I would be!

My nose has been running too, all the way from Kuala Lumpur to Kathmandu to Kensington so Kleenex shares will soar by the time it stops running.

I told Mark Glaser I bought a Maurice Lacroix skeleton watch some 8 to 10 years ago but lost it in a hotel! Alas, he told me that watch is no longer in production but I am not the only one hankering for it! "Many have asked about it and many retailers too so I may start producing that skeleton watch again. I will email you the instant it goes into production! Meanwhile may I introduce you to our latest skeleton watch? You may buy this first while waiting for the older model."

The new skeleton watch was a beaut in every way but price! At RM 80,000 it comes in pink gold but leather strap and a Rolex solid gold with gold bracelet is practically the same price and you get more gold for your money! Sighed Mark Glaser as he now considered me a lowclass Philistine, "Yes this is an expensive model but the gold in the bezel is very heavy and the movement is our own manufactured one and very difficult and time consuming to make so be assured it is worth every ringgit. This is our own inhouse movement! We also do not compare ourselves with other brands. Those who wish to buy Rolex will always do so and we cannot do anything about it."

Maurice Lacroix has been in Malaysia for nearly 25 years and a staple among local collectors and cognescenti. It is considered a prestigious and upmarket watch and its best sellers are in the RM 15,000 to RM 40,000 range. The entry price is RM 4,500 or so and these steel watches come with date so young executives on their way up should wear one to prove they have discerning taste.

Maurice Lacroix is a mainstream brand and not niche like Graham or MBF but quite exclusive as they produce less than 9,000 watches a year. When they started decades ago, it was 50% men and 50% women but now it is seen as a men's watch with 80% of sales going to men. Glaser says they are trying to capture a bigger slice of the women market but I advised him to stick to men as almost all their watches are big, strong and masculine and the few feminine watches come with only a sprinkling of diamonds at the edge of the bezel, hardly the type of dramatically couture watches sparkling with mega carats like those produced by Cartier and Piaget that sell for millions of ringgit or RM 200,000 at the very least.

Dunhill once commissioned a research and discovered it was such a manly brand that should they introduce feminine watches and sequinned handbags, they will quickly lose their men's image and sales while most women would not bother bother buying a watch that says Dunhill or a ballgown with the label Dunhill stitched onto it. Ditto for Hugo Boss. They have a relatively successful women's range but few women want to admit they are wearing Boss(y) Lady while it sounds great for men to announce they are wearing Boss suits! If you are a Boss Lady, you are usually seen as a bitch but if you are a Boss man, you are the hero and captain of industry. It is double standards but what to do? Life happens. I was going to say shit happens but it sounds so rude.

I asked Mark Glaser if there was a Mr Maurice Lacroix the same way YSL was founded by Mr Yves Saint Laurent, Dior was founded by Mr Christian Dior, Versace was founded by Mr Gianni Versace, Louis Vuitton was founded by Mr Louis Vuitton, Gucci was founded by Mr Gucci and of course the other Lacroix, Christian Lacroix was founded by Mr Christian Lacroix.

Surprisingly Mark Glaser said Yes. "When the company was being established, the owners needed a name. One of their lowly employees was named Maurice Lacroix and the shareholders decided his name sounded really nice so they decided to name the new company Maurice Lacroix!"

That's a secret few know OK! And don't query if royalty is still being paid to the original Maurice Lacroix or if Mr Maurice Lacroix ever demanded publicity. Anyway, it is futile as there are dozens of Maurice Lacroixes in the phone books in French speaking nations the same way there are dozens of Lim Ah Kow or Raj Patel or Yusuf Mohamad!

Four damsels called Candygirls clad in gold entertained ala The Supremes before the lucky draw as Tay Liam Khoon, Mark Glaser and Francis Phua, regional manager of DKSH Hong Kong picked the winners. For some unfathomable reason, I did not win! No wonder the world will end on 12/12/12!

Champagne flowed nonstop and I drank at least 8 flutes to get my petrol money's worth since I did not win any of the 3 watches. I thought Jesus Christ and Buddha would grant me a new Maurice Lacroix since I lost the one I bought years ago but my prayers went unanswered!

THE MODELS WEARING MAURICE LACROIX. BET THE LADIES AND FLAMING FAGGOTS WERE DROOLING AND ADMIRING THE MEN WHILE THE MEN WERE GAPING AT THE SOLE FEMALE MODEL. AFTER ALL, THE WATCHES WILL BE ON DISPLAY TOMORROW AND NEXT DAY AND NEXT MONTH!