【Seoul, South】[Exclusive] What is ‘High Jewelry’… Cartier Gathers Only Jewels Worth Over 100 Million Won

Cartier is launching an offensive in the Korean market with ultra-high-end jewelry pieces costing hundreds of millions of won each. The brand has opened a specialized ‘High Jewelry’ boutique, where items rarely seen in regular stores are displayed.
According to the luxury industry, the French luxury jewelry and watch brand Cartier opened a ‘High Jewelry Concept Boutique’ on the 31st of last month at Avenue L in the Lotte Department Store’s Jamsil branch in Songpa-gu, Seoul. The brand renovated a general store, which opened in 2014, into a High Jewelry store over five months.

There are 11 Cartier stores in Korea (excluding duty-free shops). Currently, the only places to purchase High Jewelry domestically are the Shinsegae Department Store Centum City branch in Haeundae-gu, Busan, and the Jamsil boutique. Although it was also sold at the flagship store in Cheongdam-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, it is currently closed due to remodeling.
The Jamsil boutique sells about 50 types of High Jewelry. Cartier products are largely divided into a general line, priced from several million to tens of millions of won, and High Jewelry, priced over 100 million won. The brooch that recently caused controversy after being mistakenly identified as worn by former First Lady Kim Jung-sook is also a High Jewelry piece called ‘Panthère de Cartier’.

‘Panthère’ means ‘panther’ in Latin and English. Cartier’s official website explains that ‘the panther is Cartier’s symbolic animal, first used on a women’s watch in 1914.’ The controversial brooch is shaped like a large feline predator with a silver body and inlaid black gemstone spots; the actual Cartier product price is around 200 million won.
Regular stores do not stock High Jewelry products. If a customer places a special order, the product is shipped to that store for pickup. Therefore, unless a customer has made a purchase or there is a special event, general customers have no opportunity to see High Jewelry products in person.

At the Jamsil boutique, customers can examine and immediately purchase High Jewelry signature collections, diamond pieces, and colored stone products without separate orders or reservations. A Cartier official stated,

The brand will also hold an ‘Into The Wild Pop-up Event’ from May 9th to 22nd. The event, held at the Jamsil World Park lawn plaza, will take the form of an exhibition introducing the history of Panthère de Cartier and its representative creators. A Cartier official explained,

The French luxury fashion brand Christian Dior is also opening a flagship store in Seongsu-dong, Seongdong-gu, Seoul, at the end of this month. This is the brand’s second store in Korea, following the Cheongdam branch in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, opened in 2015.
The focus of global luxury brands on the Korean market is influenced by the tendencies of Korean customers, represented by ‘open runs’ (lines waiting for store openings). As a preference for luxury brands has formed, centered around the MZ generation (born from the early 1980s to early 2000s), sales have also increased significantly. Dior’s domestic sales jumped from 63.7 billion won in 2017 to 328.5 billion won in 2020.
The effective halt of overseas travel due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which made visits to duty-free shops impossible, is also a reason. A luxury industry official said,