Horological Meandering

Photo Credit: Bloomberg

In 2021 I attended the November Geneva Auctions, Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Exhibition: The Sound Maker New York City, GPHG Awards Ceremony, ONLY Watch, unfortunately they cancelled Watches & Wonders 2021, and an event called Dubai Watch Week…  This year was a little light on events.  But a busy schedule considering it was a pandemic year!  But one event really stood out – Dubai Watch Week. 

 

Say what you will about Dubai, but this incredible mecca of a city, is on a warpath to become not only an economic powerhouse of the Middle East, but a cultural powerhouse.  The government of Dubai, which is not the capital of the United Arab Emirates (the capital is Abu Dhabi), is keen to build the city of Dubai into a cultural powerhouse filled with arts, culture, and sporting activities.  Time will only tell if they will succeed, but with the amount of time and effort, and an existing track record of solid success over the past twenty years, I’m confident they will. 

 

As far as success when it concerns Dubai Watch Week, it’s already a success as far as I’m concerned.  I will use DWW as the acronym from now on.  DWW is a multi-day event put on by the Seddiqi Luxury group, a group that operates 50+ jewelry and watch stores primarily in the Dubai region.  The Seddiqi family is the primary organizer (and financial underwriter) of a gigantic watch event that is entirely focused for consumers and watch lovers in an elegent setting with an incredible format.  Basically they put on a party for the watch lovers of the world at their expense.  There’s definitely something for every type of collector here.  The two portions that are accessible by any guest are the Discussion Forums and the Great Exhibition Hall.  Below you can read about each one. 

 

The Discussion Forums

Current topics are discussed with a panel of luxury experts and watch industry experts in the Discussion Forums.  Some of these were truly great with a great panel and a great moderator moderating the show. 

Some had super-power names – like Kevin O’Leary the famous investor on a popular entertainment TV show, where he championed NFTs and Blockchain technology and advocated its use within the luxury industry with only superficial use-cases – in a true “Emperor With No Clothes” style.  Needless to say, I wasn't impressed with O'Leary's shamless allegiance for pro-blockchain and pro-NFTs despite demonstrating very little knowledge about the subject.  Kudos to the show organizers to get these powerhouse speakers, it’s obvious a lot of time, energy, and effort was spent on trying to get these big speakers. 

Other discussions were truly “Lost In Translation” where in one case an art critic debated with designer watchmaker Alain Silberstein about “death” in totally different contexts.  Alain Silberstein was discussing the theme and imagery of death in Salvador Dali’s painting “The Persistence of Memory” at the same time the art critic was discussing the death of the artist himself and how his work lives on.  The moderator of the discussion forum unfortunately didn’t know enough about the topic and a near dark comedy ensued. 

Musician and celebrities, such as Wil.I.Am partook in a discussion with Hind Seddiqi about the future of the watch industry. 

And even YouTube star Tim Mosso of WatchBox presented a compelling approach on how one should collect watches.  This was a great discussion event! 

I spent most of my time in these discussion forums, which I feel would be fun and educational for the public at large, although most WatchProSite members who attended them regarded some of them as too simple and one insightful WatchProSite member complained some speakers weren’t able to say risky things since the discussions were recorded.  Sir, you were definitely correct!   

 

The Brand Exhibition Hall

The Dubai Watch Week gives consumers access to the famed watchmakers in its Brand Exhibition Hall.  The Brand Exhibition Hall featured watch brands from large brands to independents, whom all exhibited their latest wares and coolest unattainable products.  A lot of watchmakers themselves were in attendance.  For instance Ludovic Ballouard gave a big smile and thorough discussion to any passerby, you could see sparkly diamond watches from Jacob & Co., some other independents had watchmakers present where they would discuss the minute details of their mechanism, the owner of Moritz Grossman gave me a technical run down of how a special dial was made, Max Busser of MB&F was in and out and even signed an autograph for one WatchProSite member as well as taking multiple photographs, Felix Baumgartner and I discussed some future product ideas and I complained I wasn’t able to buy one of his Macallan X Urwerk flasks and I demanded he comfort me and assuage me (I’m joking, I’m not that unreasonable).  In other words, you had the opportunity to get up and close with the watchmakers. 

(JOKE) Felix Baumgartner of Urwerk has collected so many GPHG trophies over the years that he was giving them as free gifts for visitors to his booth! (JOKE)

In Conclusion

I want to finish my explanation of Dubai Watch Week by mentioning a luncheon I had with other amazing WatchProSite members.  Akrivia’s star watchmaker, Rexhep Rexhepi sat down with a group of WatchProSite members for a casual luncheon.  It was an unprecedented opportunity to be able to get to know the young watchmaker who has a simple approach to watchmaking – do the best he can do, and it doesn’t leave his hands until he’s satisfied.  Unbeknownst to us, one of the host family members seated at a faraway table noticed we were having a good time, and he graciously settled the bill for our luncheon.  Shukraan lak sayidi!  Again, access to brand executives and watchmakers that was once reserved for only super collectors and journalists is now available for the general public – you just have to make your way to Dubai (hmm, it ain't special to be press anymore)!  If you are a cinema lover and you had access to movie stars and all the Hollywood producers, you’d fly to Los Angeles to meet them right?  I flew many hours from California to get to Dubai, and I found it to be WORTH IT! 

Lastly, after speaking with the organizers of the event, the vision for this event is just incredible.  There is no profit motive for this event.  The Seddiqi family simply loves watches and the watch industry and they want to educate the world about the wonderful world of watches.  Thus, they've assembled a menagerie of watch vendors for the public to see and to educate the public in a no-sales environment.  Not a single watch was sold at the event (there isn't a single credit card swiping machine except at the restaurant), and it was just an amazing experience. 

The event takes place in Dubai every other year, so the next event will be in 2023.  However, a 2022 event organized by the Seddiqi group will take place outside of Dubai this year.  Expect to see announcements soon! 

 

Full disclosure: I paid for my own flight to and from Dubai (from California) and I paid my own hotel stay and there was no expectation for me to write anything (positive or otherwise) about the Dubai Watch Week event.  Thus, I can confidently state my overwhelmingly positive impression of the Dubai Watch Week event is completely from the perspective of someone flying in on their own expense for this event. 

I just hope it's not too crowded after this overall very positive review of the event. Pretty soon, it'll be like that restaurant I told everyone was good and later couldn't get a table at.

Thank you for commenting! And you'll almost definitely see Max Busser there at the next one! Bring your MB&F! Dubai and Singapore are big MB&F collector centers!

I would love very much to attend DWW in the future! We were planning to visit Dubai for Christmas 2020 but had to cancel. Now I will plan the future trip around DWW.

It was definitely a great event for me! Plus a lot of WatchProSite members in attendance! Are you coming from San Francisco?

I am living in the suburb that is about one hour drive south from San Francisco.

I have read your three very insightful reviews and apart from the information and opinion, which are valuable, I am left with two main ideas (I could be wrong): the impression that you really felt most at home in Dubai during the dinner  with other prominent WPS fellows, and this priceless quote from your posts: “diamond encrusted watches are practical - they don’t scratch”

I really did feel at home at the Dubai Watch Week event. The Seddiqi family who hosted the event were incredibly gracious, as they organized and took on a lot of risk to put on the event during COVID times. There was a tremendous amount of fear that they would invest millions into this event and nobody would come due to COVID. Thankfully, this was not the case. But to be sitting down for a meal with a watchmaker and a couple other WPS fellows was just totally comforting... The setting was elegant. The conversation was elegant. The watchmaker (Rexhep Rexhepi) was actually quite inspiring and charming despite his very calm personality. The weather was perfect. The food was good. It was just an incredibly comfortable way to spend time. One of those rare cases where you're incredibly relaxed yet incredibly engaged (these two don't normally go together).

The effort is fully appreciated. 

I was privied to some of the expectations which were in the tens of thousands. The first day was a little lower than expected. And this was cause for worry. But the weekend days far exceeded their expectations. I find that "relaxed and engaged" mentality to be the best space one can be in. Totally at ease, yet, completely engaged. The head is leaning back, yet the mind is leaning forward. A great spot to be in.

I was Very Pleased to have met you as well! You are a true Purist and I love how you march to your own drum! We'll have to rendezvous again somehow somewhere before 2023! The discussion forum we attended was totally crazy though... that one we attended didn't make a lot of sense! We should definitely plan a GTG in 2023! That's a good idea! Thanks for commenting!

I'm a little worried... Seems like it might not happen! And I haven't received any information about it yet! Yikes!

and bringing us this review of the event. 

It was a true pleasure to attend this event and write positive things about it. It was a good experience! And it was nice to remember it!

I think Dubai is a good venue for this event and we should recognise the Seddiqi family for all the effort it must have taken to make this event a reality.

I wasn’t sure if it was worth going but your report ( and what I hear from others attending) clearly proves it’s something to consider for the future. 

I wasn't very certain at first if it would be enjoyable. And while I was in Geneva in November, I was thinking I was traveling too much in too short of a time, especially considering there was additional risk due to COVID. But no risk, no reward. So I took the risk and it worked out much better than I thought!

cancellijg in Amsterdam meant I could attend. I went to the previous DWW so roughly knew what to expect but the independent watch industry, my own collecting and my interactions with other watch purists had moved on a great deal inbeteeen both shows. I booked my flight and within 48 hours I was in Dubai. The event was free to attend and ticketing was easy, hotels are in abundance for every price category and flying to Dubai is relatively low cost. The weather is amazing in November too. As soon as I arrived at DWW i had such massive excitement and knew it was going to be a tremendous event. I sat having a coffee and I immediately saw “watch” people around me whether it was swisswatchgang (a fantastic guy) or Wei Koh whom I had followed for years or indeed one of my watch gods Max Busser. I was like a kid in a sweet shop and I hadn’t even gone in the halls yet. The access you have to the brands, watchmakers is unparalleled in a completely relaxed environment. It is the complete opposite of how I felt going to Basel as a consumer where I was made to feel unwanted and unwelcome by the major brands. Everyone had time to show you their pieces, new models not launched whether it was a FP Journe Astronomic Souveraine , the new Urwerk or Chopard minute repeater.. I ended up randomly partying with debethune, MB

Back then, there just seemed to be a relentless commitment to ensure enthusiast felt that this was a horological summit. The forums, respected guest speakers, etc. were all top notch. I’m so glad to read in your post that they have continued to elevate this event! Many thanks for you unbiased thoughts!

I was glad to attend and pleased to experience Dubai Watch Week.  Overall, I'd say more moderation in the discussions were needed, as some went off topic quite a bit and the moderator of a discussion needs to be more active in setting the context.  Not every moderator did this.  But generally, the event was quite good.