Watching Celebrities

By Danielle Max

Love and marriage, horse and carriage, hip hop and diamonds – they’re the perfect mix. Where you have celebs you’re going to have diamonds, and no one likes their stones more than the hip hop community.

One company that caters to and is supported by the celebrity world is Tiret. The New York-based watch and jewelry company was co-founded by Damon Dash, the former CEO and co-founder of Roc-A-Fella Records, with watch designer Daniel Lazar.

The connection between the watch maker and the entrepreneur extraordinaire came about after Dash  saw  some  of  the watches  that  Lazar was making for the Jacob&Co. brand, which he helped launch with jeweler Jacob Arabo (known as Jacob the  Jeweler  in  celebrity  circles).  In 2004, Tiret (which means “Dash” in French) was born.

Tiret’s ultra-luxurious watches are heavily studded with diamonds and can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Lazar designs the timepieces while Dash adds the finishing touches. As he told a reporter on a trip to Japan, “My man Daniel designs it, you know. I just tweak it, throw my swagger on it. But I’m into luxury things, and if you are going to buy a watch you might as well have the best watches.”

The idea of a celebrity partner is an attractive proposition in a world where celebrities can help to propel a fledgling brand into a hit, a fact not lost on Lazar. “Naturally Dash has a lot of connections,” he says. “He leads those circles that some musicians and leading businessmen can only dream of being a part of. In the world of business, Damon is exceptionally respected and an inspiration to many.”

Lazar, however, is reluctant to attribute the brand’s success among celebrities entirely to Dash, although his taste and opinions are very popular and influential.”  He does, however, believe that some of the popularity of the big and bold watches he designs comes down to the freedom of expression prescribed in the world of hip hop with which the company is so closely connected. “America is unique,” says the Russian-born designer. “It’s the musical and movie heart of the world. RnB and hip hop styles celebrate the freedom of expressing yourself in the world of conventionality.”

And he has no doubt that the celebrities who choose to wear his watches (who include Kevin Bacon, Pharrell Williams, Jamie Foxx and David Beckham) contribute to increasing sales. “They are famous people and a lot of people see them as fashion makers,” he says of his famous clientele. “If they prefer a certain brand, others will choose it too.  That’s why many watch brands choose to close such expensive marketing campaigns with celebrities.” Nevertheless, he contends that celebrities wear Tiret watches not because they are contractually obliged to, but because they love the design and the quality of the watch. “Today most of my clients buy two or three pairs of Tiret.”  Even so, it’s the company’s celebrity co-founder who is helping to propel those sales numbers. Lazar says that Damon is a real collector of Tiret watches and always purchases the first five serial numbers of each collection.

As well as buying and wearing the firm’s watches, celebrities have also plaged an intrinsic part in the design process. The company made a unique portrait watch for singer Usher that displayed his likeness, picked out in natural yellow diamonds, on the face of the watch. It took seven months to create the watch, which Lazar claims is the most complex design on a watch face ever. But such celebrity doesn’t come cheap. The watch is valued at €300,000 ($440,430).

However, with this sort of price tag, Lazar knows that this is not the kind of watch that can be worn to run down to the supermarket. Rather, he sees them more as works of art. “I think that such items have a unique artistic value.  This watch is a masterpiece – an exact portrait made of diamonds – and cannot be worn every day.”

As well as seeing his products as a work of art, Lazar also contends that his watches  are not  just  about  telling  time  but  rather  about expressing  a  style.  “Watches  as  a  fixation  of time are everywhere around us,” he says, “but my idea is that time-connected emotions would not  reflect  just  a  flow of  time, but  a positive attitude to  life. My watches are not created to define time, but to define personality, freedom of expressing your own self and your style.” It is this anti-functionality that Lazar believes has contributed to his line’s success.  “When the brand entered the market my clients were those who defined its concept – the watch became popular among successful, famous, daring and fashionable people, who create style and trends by themselves.”