Tiffany is keeping watch over the L.A. scene

Sometimes it’s hard to tell who’s branding whom. This week at Tiffany & Co. in Beverly Hills, between cases of gold necklaces and an extensive martini bar, the jewelry maker threw a cocktail party to launch a new watch -- called the Tiffany Mark -- and to honor two local arts stars. Tiffany has chosen cultural figures from five U.S. cities and Toronto, offering watches to such luminaries as hockey great Wayne Gretzky and “Sex and the City” author Candace Bushnell.

In Los Angeles, perhaps incongruously, the two figures are emissaries of the high arts, Los Angeles Philharmonic conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen and Walt Disney Concert Hall architect Frank Gehry.

Asked why he’d shown up, the blue-blazered Gehry pointed to his new Tiffany watch. “Whenever there’s a freebie, I’m there,” he said, with a just-along-for-the-ride smile. It turns out it’s his first Tiffany; he pulled a battered black Timex out of his pocket that he seemed eager to put back on.

When asked about his own appearance, Salonen shrugged ambiguously. After being introduced -- as a figure worthy of “what we consider to be the quintessential watch,” in the words of a Tiffany vice president -- he was more eloquent.

“What’s delightful is that the Los Angeles recipients belong to the arts and not to any other discipline,” Salonen said, describing the potency of the local cultural scene. Then, to scattered laughter: “This is not widely known.”

The party also marked a gift Tiffany has given to the Phil; another donation will come when Disney Hall opens. In best Old Money fashion, the company’s spokesman would only call it “a sizable grant” but wouldn’t name the figure.

--Scott Timberg