Marc Djunbushian, a former watch collector and dynamic entrepreneur has over the past 15 years, built his business Time Gallery into one of Europe’s main sources of fine antique and vintage pocket and wristwatches. As an entrepreneur, he is geographically mobile. But he decided to relocate his business to Hong Kong, because he believes the future is in Asia. He also wanted his young family to have the opportunity of growing up in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong has everything to be happy

Marc explains, “The main reason for coming to Hong Kong was personal. I first visited Hong Kong when I was eleven years old and my father worked in Hong Kong. At that time I thought that everything was here in order to be happy and I sent a postcard back to my mother saying how happy I was in Hong Kong. I kept this postcard all those years ago and I have it here in my new Hong Kong store.”

Marc has now moved his family to Hong Kong so they can all enjoy the excellent quality of life. He feels there are lots of good things about Hong Kong, especially the weather and nature —the green of the mountains and the blue of the sea. Everything is well organised, from clean streets to the great transport infrastructure with the airport close to the city and plentiful cheap taxis. He explains, “Everything is easy in Hong Kong.”

InvestHK InvestHK also made the process of setting up his business easy. After an initial meeting in France, InvestHK provided all the necessary information so that Marc could set up the new business while living thousands of miles away in France. It was crucial that he was able to conduct all the necessary work setting up the Hong Kong business in week-long trips from France.  He explains, “When you are coming to a new country, you need to have the right information and contacts, so you can quickly confirm that you have made the right decision. I could not afford to waste time trying to find the right people.” InvestHK provided help with company registration, licensing procedures, visa applications and expatriate familiarisation, including private health insurance, schooling and housing.

The Future is in Asia Marc’s gut instinct was that Hong Kong was the only place in Asia to expand his business. He explains “50 years ago, every business needed to be in New York — now every brand name wants to be in Hong Kong because it provides easy entry into Mainland China. Hong Kong is also geographically located in the middle of the region, so Time Gallery’s customers in Bangkok, Taipei and Singapore are only a short 2 or 3 hours flight away.” Marc therefore started to research the market in November 2006 to test his assumptions by holding a number of exhibitions in Hong Kong, which were very successful.  However, his original assumption that the majority of his business would come from the expatriate community proved to be totally wrong. All his new customers are Hong Kong Chinese, and he now expects all his future customers to come from China. His new store opened on 16 January in the Galleria in Central. Marc chose to name the store “Tourbillon” after the most complex and accurate watch movement ever made at the end of the 18th century by Abraham Breguet. His range of fine antique and vintage watches includes: Patek Philippe, Rolex, Jaeger leCoultre, Vacheron Constantin, Cartier and of course Breguet. “My business was successful in Europe and I was not obliged to move to Hong Kong. I came with my family to Hong Kong because I like the quality of life here.” www.timegallery.fr Why Hong Kong? • Every brand name needs to be in Hong Kong. • Hong Kong provides easy entry into Mainland China. • It is quick and easy to invest, set up and open a company in Hong Kong. • Personally, I really like the lifestyle in Hong Kong.