A land eager to look rich: luxury brands edge into Myanmar

Yangon

"EVERY man has a crazy hobby," said Thiri Thein Than, a car engineer from Yangon who also has a home in Tokyo. "For me, it's cars and watches."

For years Mr Thiri Thein Than, 40, has done his higher-end shopping overseas. But in March, he visited a boutique that the Swiss watch company Franck Muller had just opened in the upscale Sedona Hotel overlooking Yangon's Inya Lake - the company's 44th location worldwide and Myanmar's first monobrand luxury watch store.

Mr Thiri Thein Than bought a Master Calendar Lunar watch in pink gold with a tiny moon that rises and falls with the lunar calendar. He said that the watch, which sells he…