Pia Wurtzbach, Will Stein & a tale of two destinies

Two stories. A tangle of destinies.

Philip Stein president Will Stein remembers his hometown — Essen in Germany, a coalmining city close to the Dutch border. Will’s father was a coalminer for 25 years. The son grew up inside the gray, confining walls of a working-class household, but the young Will loved to travel. He did not have a car or a motorcycle, so he hitchhiked. (“I hitchhiked everywhere,” he says.) Will’s love of exploration even found the young man and his friends on Pan-Am’s 80 Days Around the World tour. “We were on a tight budget. We had very little money.” They even visited the Philippines. “We rode on a bus with no windows. With goats. With chickens. With pigs. We also went to Puerto Galera and lived in a nipa hut. I felt like Robinson Crusoe.”

At 17, he went to the US to study under a student exchange program.  He studied hotel management and marketing. Went on to work for Lufthansa — in middle management, with catering as its prime responsibility. At that point, Will realized he wasn’t cut out for corporate life. “I’ve always had unique ideas that I wanted to fulfill myself.” He left the airline, got a divorce with his then wife, and decided that “instead of opening another page in my life, I am going to write a whole new book.” Will left Germany and moved to the States. He met the woman who would soon become his wife, Rina, in Miami Beach, soundtracked by the ambient waves and persistent salsa percussions wafting from the adjacent clubs. The skies were full of promises. Will and Rina danced the entire night.

The man recalls that fateful day. “(I told Rina,) ‘You’re a watch designer, and I’m in marketing — maybe together we can create something.’ That was destiny. I don’t believe in coincidences. I believe in connecting the dots, because when you look back at your life, you realize that you needed to, say, encounter a specific problem in order to meet a specific person.”

With the Philip Stein watch brand established in 2003, with a lean team of three working in the company, somebody called up Will and Rina. “It was Oprah Winfrey,” shares Will. “Oprah called us and said, ‘You know, I got your watch. It was a gift from Madonna, and I really like your watch. I like that it has two time zones. I like that it has interchangeable bands. The Natural Frequency Technology is also interesting — I don’t know if that works, but I like it as well. I am going to make it one of my Favorite Things (in the show).”

That was the call that changed the Steins’ lives. Soon, lines would snake outside their store at Neiman Marcus with people clamoring for the “Oprah watch.” The rest, as Will Stein would say, is destiny, with the brand expanding beyond the shores of America and into the rest of the world. Will visited the Philippines to open the brand’s 19th store in the country (the latest one is in Solaire Resort & Casino) together with Philip Stein’s partner and exclusive distributor, Lucerne. 

  Destiny also dialed up Pia Wurtzbach, the newest ambassador for the watch brand. But it had a different, more circuitous route via host Steven Harvey who mistakenly called up another candidate’s name as the winner of the Miss Universe pageant in Las Vegas Nevada before course-correcting the entire enterprise (never mind the effigies that will be burned by Colombians after the incident, or the memes put together in Steve’s honor). The “confidently beautiful with a heart” Filipina was the fairest of them all in 2015 after all.  

“I’m constantly travelling even if I have already relinquished the crown,” says Pia, who was born in Germany and — according to Will Stein — speaks very good German (even if Pia will humbly say her German is good enough in ordering bratwurst). “I lived in Manhattan for more than a year. I still work closely with the Miss Universe organizers. In fact, at the end of the month, I am going to Cancun, Mexico to do some duties for Miss Universe. There is still a lot of travelling (to be done). Sometimes, I feel like I live in two worlds at the same time, but I need to embrace ‘one universe.’”

The Philip Stein watch has become essential for the beauty queen.

“My family lives in England,” shares Pia. “One of the dials in my watch is set for Philippine time, and the other is set for London time — so that I don’t mistakenly call them up at five in the morning (laughs).” It fits her lifestyle.

She reveals that her very first watch was a Philip Stein. “(I had it) when I was 18 years old — one bracelet in red and the other one in green. I was a bit chubby then and with short hair. Hindi pa ako Binibini-ready nun (laughs). I see that watch in photos when my friends and I do Throwback Thursdays.” Pia still has that watch in safekeeping in London.

“It was my very first watch,” she shares. “And I had to pay for it in installment kasi wala pa akong pera nun (laughs). Now, I am an endorser of the brand.” Take note, Oprah: Pia believes the watch’s Natural Frequency Technology really does work.

(We’ve been told that “the technology inside every Philip Stein accessory acts like an antenna — finely tuned to pick up and channel the beneficial natural frequencies that surround us, toward our bodies.”)

Pia, who has been very active in speaking out against cyberbullying and promoting zero discrimination towards people living with HIV, explains, “I am constantly on-the-go, I am super-energetic, I am aligaga (restless), and this technology really helps me calm down. It brings back the natural frequency of your body to help you become more relaxed, to think better, to sleep better, to wake up more refreshed.” 

What unifies Will Stein and Pia Wurtzbach is Emerson Yao, managing director of Lucerne (the exclusive distributor of Philip Stein in the Philippines). Emerson explains, “Lucerne’s trust in Philip Stein is strengthened by my close friendship with Will. Our brands have created numerous limited-edition watches and collections exclusively for the Philippine market.” He shares, “And Pia is an ideal choice as Philip Stein ambassador.”

Will agrees.

“Pia has to balance her live(s) in Manhattan and Manila,” he says. “And Philip Stein helps her achieve that harmony.”

The look of the Philip Stein watch is important, Will admits. He and his wife wanted a timepiece that would be iconic and easily identifiable, thus paving the way for its ‘8’-shaped, two-time zone, and with interchangeable-bands look. But the soul of the brand is the Natural Frequency Technology.

“We want to be the first wellbeing accessory encased in a luxurious and beautiful product,” Will Stein concludes.

In the cases of Pia Wurtzbach and Philip Stein watches, the beauty that astounds and astonishes is but a bonus.

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Philip Stein is available at 6750 Ayala Avenue, Alabang Town Center, Century City Mall, Festival Mall, Robinsons Magnolia, Robinsons Galleria, Shangri-La Plaza Mall, Solaire Resort & Casino, SM City North EDSA, SM Southmall, The Podium, Vertis North, SM Clark, SM Pampanga, Abreeza Mall Davao, Ayala Center Cebu, Centrio Mall CDO, SM Cabanatuan, SM Seaside Cebu, Adora, Chronos, Elemento, Le Temps, Lucerne, Swiss Gear, and Wrist_pod.