Employee Spotlight - Jonathan Shields, Deputy Manager

I joined the Watches of Switzerland Group roughly March 2021 to be the Assistant Manager for Omega Edinburgh. I joined from Chisholm Hunter where I was most recently a Manager Designate with a 10-year service with themselves. I worked in many Boutiques for Chisholm Hunter prior to joining?the WoSG and was lucky enough to work alongside many great Maisons in the watch industry such as Breguet, Vacheron Constantin, Blancpain, A.Lange &?S?hne.?

From opening out Boutique in Edinburgh, I have been fortunate to work alongside the marketing team with Omega to assist in high profile events such as a photography shoot for some PGA professionals like the 2016 Masters Champion Danny Willet as well as the most recent Omega Masters Champion Matt Wallace. Here I spent the day assisting in the shoot, chatting with their agents, and liaising with our events team for future Omega trophy days.?

Through this relationship with the brand I personally looked after our clients, who I still have a strong relationship with, correlating our Omega Golf Days with Alan in our Glasgow Boutique and expanded our footprint in Edinburgh.

I have also been trusted in training and opening our Omega and Breitling Boutiques in Copenhagen 2 years ago. At the time, this was the first Omega boutique to open within the Nordic region for over 7 years, making it a high-profile launch for the brand. This was an incredible opportunity to further my relationship with both brands but to also showcase my skillset to the WoSG where I believe some of my key strengths lie.??

Furthering this, I have also assisted in the training and relocating of our Breitling Boutique in our Bristol Causeway location, where I spent a month assisting in the training of new staff. One of which now is doing very well when he relocated to our 155 Regent street showroom. Working closely with Elisha, the Audit department at that time and our European Director Gun Falk, gave me tremendous and valuable skills that set me up perfectly for my new role as Deputy Manager for Tag Heuer Trafford.

I made this move in June this year, relocating from Edinburgh to Manchester where our Boutique is currently TAG Heuer’s number one Boutique in the UK. The company have been very supportive during my move, providing me the time I needed to get all my ducks in a row, allowing me to have a smooth transition and let me hit the ground running from day one, without any of the "moving stress" that could have easily got in the way.

I would say that I have seen the business grow rapidly since Covid to today’s market, probably in a greater aspect than most through these opportunities. I have been lucky enough to highlight the tremendous opportunities that the WOS Group provide with the strong footprint in the industry that we have, and I don't plan on stopping here.

I would say that the best thing about working with the WOS group, for me, is that it has made me who I am today. Prior to working in this industry, I was incredibly introverted. Whereas now, I love to get out there and meet new people. Whether that be our amazing support network such as my senior leaders or our clients - I wouldn’t be who I am today without them. I'm incredibly lucky to be part of an amazing team here in TAG Heuer Trafford and I hope to gain more from the business In the future.

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