Govberg Jewelers Opens New Headquarters in Philly Suburbs

The space underwent 18 months of renovation to better reflect its vision of tech-enabled luxury commerce, including a watch “trading floor.”

Brecken Branstrator brecken.branstrator@nationaljeweler.com

Govberg Jewelers’ renovated headquarters in the suburbs of Philadelphia features a “trading floor” on the second level, where associates engage with clients across the world.

Bala Cynwyd, Pa.--After an $8.5 million investment and 18 months of renovation and construction, retailer Govberg Jewelers has opened its new headquarters in a Philadelphia suburb.

Located in Bala Cynwyd, the three-story, 20,000-square-foot building is a shared workplace that brings together departments that previously were spread among five facilities: pre-owned watches, marketing, technology, finance, administration and watchmaking.

All floors have five-foot tall windows that span the entire perimeter of the building, allowing sunlight to flood the first-floor state-of-the-art watchmaking facility, where nine Swiss-trained watchmakers and refinishers service and repair hundreds of timepieces every month.

The second floor houses Govberg’s operations, administration and the digitally-focused pre-owned watch department, where concierge-style associates engage with clients across the world from what the company is referring to as its “trading floor.”

Here, the team of “traders” acquires luxury timepieces from private collections and estates while also accepting watch trade-ins and new purchases.

Meanwhile, the third floor houses the company’s executive department--marketing, technology and finance--where community spaces, conference rooms and designated lounge areas are an integral part of the floorplan to allow for collaboration, productivity and creativity, the company said.

The space’s décor reflects both its main point of business for more than 100 years through design features like wall clocks by the watch brands that Govberg Jewelers represents, as well as its embrace of startup culture, with aspects like autographed sports memorabilia from legendary athletes, playful artwork and life-sized superheroes found around the office.

Govberg Jewelers CEO Danny Govberg sits in the company’s newly renovated headquarters, which features larger-than-life superheroes, as seen in the background.
CEO Danny Govberg said, “The move is part of our long-term vision for tech-enabled luxury commerce as we become more agile and focused on introducing new concepts to the marketplace. We recognize today’s customer wants a trusted partner to buy, sell and trade luxury pre-owned watches with convenience and ease. Our new headquarters provides space and resources to scale these services in a manner unique to the watch category.”

Govberg Jewelers celebrated its 100th anniversary last year but received attention for the modern, technology-driven way it answers the demands of today’s consumers. It was mentioned in an article from The New York Times about Swiss watchmakers beginning to sell online, a space for which it provides a model with its omnichannel approach.

In 2015, the company launched its own app, Govberg OnTime, geared toward tech-savvy shoppers. It offered

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a platform for buyers who want to buy, trade and sell new and pre-owned watches, allowing users to see how much a specific watch sold for over a twelve-month period and giving them a benchmark to price their own watch for resale.

This spring, it was rebranded as WatchBox by Govberg, as it also redesigned its functionality, user experience and aesthetic--the watch pricing guide feature has a more advanced proprietary algorithm that factors secondary market analysis, estimated market value and recent market sales for more than 80,000 unique models, and that data is supplemented with descriptions and details of each model, related news articles and purchase availability. They also updated the shopping feature.

Brecken Branstratoris the senior editor, gemstones at National Jeweler, covering sourcing, pricing and other developments in the colored stone sector.