Place Vendôme now carries a range of men's and women's watches by Hermès.

Hermès, widely considered the premier French luxury brand in leather goods and fine jewelry, has finally arrived in Pasadena, right at home in the heart of Old Pasadena at Place Vendôme.

Mike Merritt and Max Emsallem, proprietors of Place Vendôme .

The owners of Place Vendôme, Max Emsallem and Mike Merritt, couldn’t be happier.

 “This is a huge deal,” Merritt said. 

 The brand is known for its quality in leather, high status and signature use of orange coloring in products. 

“To date, in terms of the big true luxury brand companies,” Merritt said, “there haven’t been any to have come to Pasadena.  There’s Tiffany and Co. across the street, but Hermès considers them to be ‘near-luxury,’ not a ‘true luxury’ brand.  For example, Mercedes-Benz is near luxury, whereas Bentley and Rolls Royce are luxury.”

Only six jewelers in California carry Hermès and only one other in Los Angeles. 

The Hermès look.

“A company like this is so particular about where their brand goes,” Merritt said.  “It’s so important to their image that it has to go through this whole process of approval.”

And what a lengthy process it is!  Before anything can get started, the shop applying for selling Hermès’ goods must send in photos of the shop and a list of what other brands they sell, to see if the shop is up to Hermès’ standards.  

If Hermès’ attention is caught, they look into it a little further.  Then they interview the store owners to make sure the owners know enough about the brand to represent it well in a way that’s “consistent with [the Hermès] image,” Merritt said. 

This goes on for a while until eventually, the president of Hermès of North America personally makes the decision on whether or not the shop is good enough to carry the brand.

“This, to Hermès, is of the utmost importance,” Merritt said.  “Selecting the places that get to carry the brand.  Because it represents them, it represents who they are, and they don’t want to diminish the perception of their brand.”

If you have to ask how much it costs, you probably can’t afford it, but the range is $1,500 to $10,000. 

 Hermès watches, which Place Vendôme will be selling primarily in men’s and women’s sport and women’s dress, are known for precision accuracy without the use of microchips.  Certain watches come with multiple functions, like one that has a full calendar and another that winds itself with the movement of the wearer’s wrist.

If you’d like to purchase one of your own Hermès watches, Place Vendôme is located at 1 W. Colorado Blvd, in the middle of the shopping complex.  For more information, call (626) 577-7001.