Costa Mesa’s Porsche Design of America Inc., a maker of high-end watches, apparel and an assortment of other luxe consumer goods, is marking its 50th year anniversary with a capsule collection of its most notable items from the past decades, including one of its parent companies’ most iconic cars.
After the collection released in January, the lifestyle brand of the Germany-based car company took to its neighbor South Coast Plaza to debut the limited-edition Porsche 911 Targa at the showroom near Carousel Court.
Each vehicle starts at $200,000 with only 750 units produced globally.
The 911 Targa in the South Coast showroom—the sole Porsche Design showroom in Orange County—is the only model to be on display to the public.
“Our South Coast Plaza location remains one of our top-performing stores,” Chief Executive and President Karsten von Engeln told the Business Journal.
“It was only fitting that we made the official West Coast debut of the special ‘911 Edition 50 Years Porsche Design’ here,” he said. “It’s certainly something to see in person.”
The Costa Mesa showroom will also have on-site events to lure consumers back to the in-person shopping experience.
Porsche opened its design store at the shopping center in 1988 and moved to its current location in 2017, which is designed to have a Porsche vehicle in display year-round, the first and only of its kind to feature an automobile inside.
The company has six showrooms total, including locations in Beverly Hills and Miami, with “more on the table,” according to officials.
Porsche Design’s headquarters are located across the street from the shopping center at Costa Mesa’s Plaza Tower, which are run by the affiliated Offices at South Coast Plaza.
Porsche Lifestyle
The late Ferdinand Alexander Porsche designed the original Porsche 911 in 1963, which led to the formation of the Porsche Design brand in 1972 and its very first product, the Chronograph 1 watch.
A new version of the all-black timepiece is included with every purchase of the 50-year 911 Targa. It was released beside a second limited edition Chronograph with only 500 pieces made.
The “Chronograph 1 – 1972 Limited Edition” watches were among several items relaunched this year along with the P’8478 sunglasses inspired by the original eyewear from 1978 and other sportswear, luggage, and accessories.
The Chronograph 1 was the chosen timepiece for Tom Cruise’s character in the 1986 film Top Gun. The original watch was again worn by Cruise in the 2022 sequel.
The latest 911 editions of both the vehicle and the watch took design inspiration from the original iterations, from the subsecond clock on the car’s dashboard with the small red seconds hand from the Chronograph 1, to the timepiece’s winding rotor derived from the Turbo S wheel of the sports car to match, officials say.
Each also includes Porsche’s design signature on its exterior.
The South Coast display runs until the end of August, at which point the sports car will make its way to Monterey Car Week before returning to Germany to remain in the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart.
The car show will also feature a restored 1972 “Porsche 911 S 2.4 Targa Classic” to be auctioned off later in December.
