The hub of the Orient

Shoppers in Hong Kong are the savviest of them all

No city—not London, Moscow or Dubai—can claim consumers as sophisticated as Hong Kong’s. Whereas a VS clarity grade will suffice in other markets, here only a flawless will do. Hong Kong’s astute buyers are descendants of a long trading tradition that’s distinguished the region since Britain defeated China in the Opium Wars of the mid-19th century. When the Communists seized control of the Chinese mainland in 1949, Hong Kong welcomed scores of entrepreneurs as refugees began shifting their businesses to the area. Today, the special administrative region, firmly back in Chinese hands, is in the grip of a consumer frenzy. It all begins in Central, the district at the heart of Hong Kong Island’s luxury retail scene. From the International Finance Centre (ifc) Mall, where the über-department store Lane Crawford maintains a flagship (as do Bulgari, Chopard, Damiani, Georg Jensen and David Yurman, to name others), to the stately confines of the Prince’s Building, where Adler, Van Cleef & Arpels, Cartier, Piaget and Chanel all play host to the Cantonese equivalent of ladies who lunch, Central’s long boulevards teem with shoppers on a mission to impress. Local jewelers like Ronald Abram and K.S. Sze & Sons, whose boutiques are located in the shopping arcade of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, command a healthy share of the high-end business, while mass-market retail powerhouses like Chow Tai Fook, which set up its first store on Queen’s Road, Central, in 1939, have a lock on Hong Kong’s aspirational shoppers.

But that says nothing of the thriving auction market, where stones in 100-carat plus sizes have little trouble finding willing buyers. Christie’s Hong Kong, once a backwater in comparison to New York and Geneva, has become a global sales powerhouse over the past decade. The spring 2008 magnificent jewels sale, for example, totaled a record HK$468.8 million, or $60.1 million — “the most valuable jewelry sale ever organized by Christie’s anywhere in the world,” as the house breathlessly reported in its post-sale roundup. A bevy of locally based, world-class designers, including Edmond Chin of Etcetera, Michelle Ong of Carnet and Wallace Chan of Wallace Gems, only adds to Hong Kong’s tremendous jewelry caché. All three take their inspiration from motifs and traditions found only in Asia, yet they’ve earned global collector followings, a testament to their talent as well as to the energy of the city they call home. Of course, no talk of Hong Kong as a high jewelry destination is complete without mentioning the untapped riches that lie just across the border. However, as mainland China gears up to become the definitive market for luxury retailing in the 21st century, Hong Kong is already there, waiting patiently for its slumbering neighbor to catch up.

Made in Hong Kong A multicolored diamond bracelet, price upon request, from Ronald Abram, a local luminary, and jewelry-artist Wallace Chan’s Honey Life earrings in titanium and 18-karat gold with padauk wood, gemstones and pink crystal, price upon request.