Officially opening the boutique and cutting the ribbon were friends of the brand, Olympic Gold Medalist Lydia Lassila and Australian Rules Football legend, Scott Pendlebury, Publisher and Editor of GQ Australia, Nick Smith, Deputy Editor of Vogue Australia, Sophie Tedmanson, and Acting General Manager for TAG Heuer Australia, Bruce Grinter.

Following the official ribbon cutting ceremony and in homage to TAG Heuer’s “Don’t Crack Under Pressure” spirit, Olympic freestyle aerial skier Lydia Lassila took the ultimate pressure test, taking on the Batak simulator - a machine used by high performance athletes to test their reaction time, agility and peripheral vision. Lydia set the benchmark for guests to beat in the “Don’t Crack Under Pressure speed challenge” and it was TAG Heuer’s guest Nathan Fergus who turned up the heat and secured the winning result.

The 137m² flagship, featuring a double-frontage façade on Melbourne’s prestigious Collins St exemplifies TAG Heuer’s avant-garde retail design concept. Developed by TAG Heuer’s inhouse design and architectural team, the design offers the perfect environment to discover the four universes of TAG Heuer: sport, lifestyle, art and heritage. 

The new TAG Heuer Flagship at St Collins Lane continues TAG Heuer’s dynamic retail development strategy in Australia which will see two more Flagship boutiques open in Australia before the end of 2016 to complement the existing Sydney Westfield landmark Flagship on the corner of Pitt and Market Street and the Brisbane Flagship store on the Corner of Edward and Elizabeth Street – taking it to five TAG Heuer Flagship stores across Australia's key cities by the end of the year.

Bruce Grinter said: “We are thrilled to open our state of the art Flagship Store at the new St Collins Lane precinct. This boutique sets the benchmark for avant-garde design and offers an exciting 360° degree experience for customers to discover the four universes of TAG Heuer. Together with our Sydney and Brisbane Flagship stores and the two new Flagships to come in 2016, our latest retail development in Melbourne is setting the pace for dynamic luxury retail in Australia.”