Tissot celebrates their fourth NYC boutique opening at Westfield World Trade Center, with Garrett Gardner lending his voice to the proceedings.
Tissot just celebrated the opening of their fourth New York City boutique. This Westfield World Trade Center location holds a special place in their hearts. In order to help mark the occasion, Garrett Gardner performed live.
Tissot was founded on July 1, 1853 in the Le Locle region of Switzerland. Though Le Locle is the third smallest city in the country, it has a distinguished history. As the story goes, a Swiss man named Daniel Jean Richard repaired a London-made watch in the late 1600s. Afterwards, he was inspired to build his own. This craftsman subsequently opened his own watchmaker workshop in 1705. He therefore set in motion a chain of events, leading Le Locle to becoming known as the cradle of watchmaking in Switzerland.
Many years later, Tissot continues to uphold this ongoing tradition.
Though Tissot is firmly rooted in Swiss heritage, the United States was their earliest target market. They have since built a meaningful partnership with the NBA. In this capacity, Tissot is the official Time Keeper for the New York Knicks. A representative from Tissot shared with TheCelebrityCafe.com how special the relationship with New York is to the company. Consequently, they place great importance on being a part of the World Trade Center area rebuilding process.
Garrett Gardner helps Tissot celebrate
In an effort to best honor the occasion and location, Tissot asked New Jersey native Garrett Gardner to perform. The Tissot boutique opened exclusively to press and VIPs the evening of Oct. 13. With food and drinks provided by Westfield World Trade Center vendors, attendees were able to explore the Tissot watch collection, speak with the sales team and hear some great music.
Audiences will know Gardner from season four of The Voice. The artist just returned after taking a yearlong performance hiatus to write new music. His Tissot set list ranged from “Valerie” to “Superstition” and “Sunday Morning” to “Rehab” – demonstrating a great stylistic range. TheCelebrityCafe.com caught up with Gardner after he wrapped for the evening.
To begin, we asked how he got into singing and songwriting: “My dad was a drummer, so I actually started off as a drummer myself. I grew up in a musical family. And he played with a lot of big jazz and blues and funk guys. Like he was Tom Jones’s drummer back in the day. The John Pizzarelli jazz family he played with a lot. So I grew up around those dudes, Les Paul, like that whole crowd.
And then as like a nine-year-old kid I wanted to play guitar. I liked the Beatles. So singing just kind of came naturally. But it wasn’t what I expected to do. I always wanted to be a drummer or a guitar player; singing was a byproduct of it… I started writing, probably like seriously writing when I was a freshman in highschool or in eighth grade.”
Work in progress
Jazz influences in Gardner’s voice are apparent. However, he fuses other elements into the mix as well. When asked to explain his overall style, he replied: “That’s the hardest thing for me to describe. I think on Wikipedia it says ‘rock, pop, blues, alternative’ or something like that. It’s a mixture of a lot of things. I mean there is definitely Beetles influence. My vocal style has a lot of Blues influence. My guitar playing style has a lot of John Meyer influence. So there’s a lot in there. You know, it’s got a pop-alternative sound, but not like Top-40’s.”
We asked The Voice star if he is working on original music at the moment as well: “Yeah, I’m working on a lot of stuff right now. Unfortunately nothing has been released yet. I was with a band signed by 8Ball music and Sony. We were working for The Voice – it was like the first Voice band ever formed. So it was me representing The Voice in America and then we had somebody in England, France, Germany and South Korea. We were in this band and we released a single, and it just didn’t end up working out financially and politically and everything. So I’m writing right now to try to get out a [solo] single and a full album to try to get signed. But I’ve got 30-40 songs ready to be recorded.”
Gardner described his upcoming album as a combination of radio-friendly rock akin to Imagine Dragons – with counterpoints along the lines of Mumford and Sons. When asked if fans can expect a new single out soon, the artist replied: “I’m ballpark estimating the next few months, hopefully before the winter.”
In the meantime, audiences can catch Gardner performing at The Turning Point on November 10.
Building on the past
For other singers and songwriters looking to get into the business, Gardner says: “Don’t stop moving. An object at rest stays at rest type of thing. The more you get out there and play, even if it’s an open mic night… You never know, it doesn’t matter if it’s paid or not, just play it out as much as humanly possible. Really. And it can suck and it can be tiring and it can feel like you’re not going anywhere, but lots of times that’s when something will come up and give you an opportunity. So just keep going.”
The Trade Towers were not far from where Gardner grew up. We asked how it felt to be performing at the Westfield World Trade Center now that the area has been rebuilt. He described seeing the news on September 11, 2001 and catching glimpses of smoke on the road leading into his hometown. Gardner went on to say: “Getting lost on my way here I found myself being where the memorial is. And it’s really, it’s just powerful, I think is the most you can describe it. But also, it’s really cool to be asked to play here… You have more appreciation for what you’re doing.”
Tissot President, François Thiébaud, said of the event “Our introduction of the Tissot World Trade Center boutique – our fourth in New York City – is a testament to our dedication to developing a love for traditional Swiss watches in America. Tissot proudly welcomes New Yorkers and visiting guests alike to experience our quality products and celebrate the opening of this new retail mecca in the heart of downtown Manhattan.”
As the evening came to a close though, it was clear that this was not just about a new store opening – it was a celebration of rebuilding.
Guests can visit the new Tissot boutique at Westfield World Trade Center in New York City and check out Garrett Gardner’s music at www.garrettgardnermusic.com.