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When the OMEGA Boutique at the Swatch Art Peace Hotel opens on the 26th of May, its visitors will be welcomed to a historic architectural gem which has been a landmark address in Shanghai for more than a hundred years.An historic hotel; an innovative operating conceptThe Palace Hotel opened its doors for business in 1908 and it immediately became one of the major attractions on the Bund, the fabled street in Shanghai characterized by its distinctive four- to six-storey western-style buildings constructed in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The hotel hosted high-profile events and welcomed guests who would play a significant role in Chinese and international history.Now, more than a century later, it has reopened as the Swatch Art Peace Hotel. The building at the corner of the Bund and Nanjing Road, which enjoys protected status as a cultural monument, has been renovated by experts in historic preservation who were particularly mindful of the building's heritage and its status as one of Shanghai's most significant and well-known landmarks. Also worth noting: Nanjing Road and the Champs Elysees in Paris recently became partner streets, acknowledging the similarly prominent role each plays in its home city.The Swatch Art Peace Hotel has a unique operating concept: it combines a retail area with a hotel where invited artists live and work. OMEGA and three of its Swatch Group partners �C Breguet, Blancpain and Swatch �C have boutiques on the hotel's ground floor.The Boutique: a unique OMEGA experienceThe OMEGA Boutique at the Swatch Art Peace Hotel has been designed to respect the heritage of the cultural landmark, to highlight the distinctive architectural features of a building steeped in history and to present the brand’s full product range in an environment which perfectly bridges the hotel’s storied past and its promising future.While the Swatch Art Peace Hotel OMEGA Boutique has some of the design elements shared by all of the brand's flagship stores, it is absolutely unique in that it was necessary to preserve the existing interior architecture and the original art deco fittings. Because of the building's protected status, no modifications could be made which would compromise its structural integrity.The ornately carved art deco ceiling and the impressive support pillars in the boutique are exquisitely trimmed in gold with an attention to detail which recalls the days when Shanghai was first earned its accolade "the Pearl of the Orient".Visitors to the OMEGA Boutique at the Swatch Art Peace Hotel will recognize certain furnishings which are part of the brand's global flagship concept, including the free-standing display cases and the champagne glass along its back walls. The furniture is also the same as that used in the brand's network of boutiques around the world.As nothing �C including lighting fixtures �C could be hung from the ceiling in the 141 square metre retail space, specially-designed tapered ribbed profile elements have been placed at locations throughout the boutique. These are equipped with all the necessary electrical wiring and subtle LED lighting which allow the room's historical fittings to be preserved but which also allow OMEGA to display its products in a warm, welcoming environment.The OMEGA Boutique at the Swatch Art Peace Hotel offers the entire spectrum of the brand's watches along with products from the Fine Leather and Fine Jewellery collections. All of these are presented in one of Shanghai's most extraordinary buildings whose specially trained staff members are looking forward to welcoming visitors from around the world to share a special OMEGA experience.

TweetEmailI came across an interesting site recently called timeanddate.com whichhas answers to pretty much any and all time/date related questions. Among theirmany articles and resources, I found an extremely thorough explanationof Swatch Internet Time, including a tool for converting Internet Time to "standard"time in about 130 different time zones.I wrote about Internet Time in my reviewof the Swatch Paparazzi (watch pictured at right). Internet Time is to timewhat the metric system is to measurement. It was invented by Swatch, and as faras I know, isn't much more than a marketing gimmick at this point, although Ipersonally think it's a pretty interesting concept. Internet Time does away withtime zones, and with the basically arbitrary units of 60 and 24. The day is dividedinto 1000 "beats" with each beat equaling 1 minute and 26.4 seconds. Since thereare no time zones in Internet Time, the time is the same all over the world withthe reference point being Biel, Switzerland, the location of Swatch Group's headquarters.This "new meridian" is referred to as BMT, or Biel Mean Time. Internet Time isexpressed by the number of beats proceeded by an "at" (@) symbol. For instance,2:27 PM in San Francisco is expressed as @997.I really like the concept of Internet Time for two primary reasons:It has the same kind of intuitive logic as the metric system.You don't have to worry about time zones. I often work with people all overthe world, and doing the conversions can be a pain.Of course, time zones do serve a very valuable purpose. They allow us to relatemore easily to other parts of the world. For instance, if I schedule a meetingat @997, and I'm expecting people from all over the world to join, I have no wayof knowing if @997 is in the middle of the night, early in the morning, or rightsmack in the middle of the day for the other attendees. Time zones, on the otherhand, allow me to get a relative sense of time so I can schedule meetingsat times that are convenient for all parties.Check out the articleon timeanddate.com for a much more thorough analysis ofInternet Time.