Originally Posted by
SimonK
For ADs, the best is around the intersection of rue Royale and rue du Faubourg St. Honoré - there is an enormous Wempe on the corner (with windows dressed by the hand of God). from this corner you can head south towards Concorde and there is Royale Quartz and a couple of other ADs.
On rue du Faubourg St. Honoré near the Elysée Palace (tell the trouble and strife you are going to take piccies of the Presidential palace) there is the shop of F P Journe then if you head east past Hermes there is a Glasshütte Originale Boutique.
Keep heading east on rue du Faubourg St. Honoré past the Wempe (mentioned above) and on the same side there is a second hand dealer called Watch Addict - wonderful window display of vintage pieces but laughable prices; I suspect the clientele is more interesting in offloading cash than the actual prices. On the other side of the street is Chronopassion - THE high end dealer sans pareil - with rare brands - Hy Moser, DeWitt, Richard Mille, Urwerk, De Bethune, MB&F, etc. Next door there is a Hublot boutique.
Incidentally, rue du Faubourg St. Honoré is packed with clothes and jewellery shops, so no problem for the ball and chain to window shop as well.
After Chronopassion keep heading east and there is an Audemars Piguet boutique and then an Omega boutique. At the Chopard boutique you can turn left into place Vendôme for Breguet, Blancpain, Rolex, Jaeger, Richard Mille, Patek, Chopard, Paiget, Cartier, plus a couple of high end ADs with Lange & Sohne, etc. If you cross place Vendôme and head up rue de la Paix on the right hand side there is a street called rue Daniel Casanova (Charvet is on the corner - you can pop in and order half a dozen bespoke shirts) just a few yards into this street there is an AD with lesser seen brands - Maurice Lacroix, Favre Leuba, etc.
Carrying on up rue de la Paix there is, of course, Cartier, but also Mont Blanc, Panerai and Jaquet Droz boutiques.
Incidentally, If you carry on along the rue du Faubourg St. Honoré a bit instead of turning into place Vendôme, just after Goyard (expensive luggage) there is a second hand shop called Miller. They always have a large selection of higher priced ladies watches from Rolex, Cartier, Chopard, etc.. I have it on good authority that this is where the city's high class call girls offload there unwanted 'tips'.
There are some good second hand dealers but a bit spread out. Near the Madeleine church (north east corner) in rue Godot du Mauroy there is a well stocked second hand place called Charly. If you go there I recommend lunch at Fauchon, or for a special treat on the west side of the church is La Maison des Truffes and La Maison du Caviar - outrageously expensive at night but doable, fixed-price lunches.
Near the above mentioned F P Journe shop (and opposite the Bristol Hotel) there is a shop called MMC - selling high end second hand or long waiting list stuff from Vacheron, Patek, etc., with prices to match.
Rive gauche there is Antoine de Macedo on boulevard St Germain for new and very nice vintage pieces and not so far away in rue du Bac (near the Seine) there is Romain Rhea - where Olivier Martinez bought Kylie a vintage Rolex Oyster as an engagement pressie.
Paris is one of the safest and most enjoyable cities in the world - you can safely walk back to the hotel late at night without fear. Two warnings though; first - look both ways when you cross the street, even a one way street, and don't assume that it is safe to cross just because you have a little green man at a pedestrian crossing. And secondly watch out for pickpockets - don't leave your handbag or camera on the back of or under a chair in a café, and be especially careful on a busy underground train - the pesky Romany kids are extremely efficient.
Bon voyage.
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