Everyone likes a beautiful watch, but understanding the history, creativity and craftsmanship that go into making a horological masterpiece will not only make you a more sophisticated customer, it may even help convert you into an important collector. That is the idea behind Dubai Watch Week, an annual event whose second edition wrapped up last December.
In a nutshell, Dubai Watch Week (DWW) aims to educate the public and connect watchmakers, collectors, brands and the media. Instead of the usual commercial activities favoured at most other watch shows, this particular meeting of minds features exhibits and panels that focus on the history and craftsmanship behind watchmaking. To engage the public, organisers Ahmed Seddiqi & Sons planted a sizeable exhibit of historical and collectible watches right in the middle of Dubai Mall, alongside a lighthearted display of quirky modern cuckoo clocks. A little further up the road, the world's most impressive new watches were displayed in art galleries around DIFC, courtesy of the Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève.
Spearheaded by the visionary Hind Seddiqi, it all made for an inspiring and thought-provoking affair. Once a small trader in the 1940s, Ahmed Seddiqi & Sons is now the ninth-biggest importer of Swiss watches, with a portfolio of more than 50 brands, and Hind, one of the third generation of Seddiqis, founded the event.
"When I started in the company in 2006, the first thing they did was take me on a three-week trip to Geneva, where I visited factory after factory," she recalls. "It really enriched my knowledge. Even though I grew up around watches, with my father in the business, it fascinated me, and I thought if it worked for me, it would work for everyone. So we started taking clients there and organising educational activities for them. But eventually we felt the need to go bigger, for the city and for the industry."
The non-commercial format, she says, is precisely what draws chief executives and watchmakers. "The feeling they have when they come, because it's a non-commercial exhibition, is that it's a very friendly environment. They get to talk on panels and listen to each other. They don't get those opportunities when they are at SIHH or Baselworld trying to sell. We hear them discussing issues they all face in the industry, like the transmission of knowledge and the fake-watch industry."
Seddiqi joined as an intern determined to prove the company needed marketing and PR; today she leads a large in-house team handling everything from printed collateral and advertising to a dedicated call centre. Working with family, she adds, has been a source of strength: "When I first joined, my cousins would sit with me in every meeting just to make me feel comfortable. They helped me a lot and I'm very blessed. But now sometimes they call me for advice."
On the threat posed by smartwatches, she is sanguine. "When they first started, a lot of watchmakers were angry and afraid they might replace traditional watches. But the person who wants a smartwatch is not the same person who wants a mechanical one. In my opinion, the technology will never take the place of real craftsmanship." Nor, she insists, has being a woman in a male-dominated industry held her back: "There's nothing that a man can do that a woman can't. If you understand your job very well, you'll gain everyone's trust." Her own wrist, for the record, currently carries a Richard Mille RM 07.
The calibre of work on show underlines her ambitions. Chanel's one-of-a-kind Signature Grenat secret watch, which took 600 hours to assemble at the maison's Place Vendôme atelier and scooped the top high-jewellery prize at the GPHG, was brought to Dubai; press open its 52.61-carat carmine garnet clasp and a gem-set quartz watch pops into view. The Chronomètre Ferdinand Berthoud FB1, the debut tourbillon from a new Chopard-backed brand, won the 2016 Aiguille d'Or, the show's top honour. Akrivia's young founder Rexhep Rexhepi, still only 30, presented the first watch to combine a tourbillon, jumping hours and a repeater, while MB&F, Bovet and Piaget all displayed prize-winning pieces.
For a city aiming to attract 20 million visitors by 2020, such cultural cachet matters. "Events like Fashion Forward Dubai and Dubai Watch Week will help make Dubai the other New York City," said Issam Abdul Rahim Kazim, chief executive of Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing, during a panel discussion. On the evidence of its second edition, the event is already placing the emirate firmly on the international watch industry's map.
