Dubai Watch Week 2021 returned after a scheduled two-year interval within the Center East’s most necessary enterprise and cultural vacation spot. Timepiece trade personalities from across the globe converged as friends of the highly effective Seddiqi household, which organizes the necessary Dubai Watch Week occasion and in addition serves as essentially the most highly effective retailer of watches throughout the complete area. What began as an experimental summit of necessary members of the watch trade and a cultural train in selling the enchantment of luxurious timepieces has now in all probability turn into a everlasting set up within the rotating pantheon of essential watch trade gatherings. From the beginning, aBlogtoWatch has been invited to witness every set up of “DWW.” What was it wish to be at Dubai Watch Week 2021, and what was the general temper?
Not surprisingly, the tenor was constructive. For many individuals – together with myself – Dubai Watch Week was each the final worldwide journey previous to the pandemic, and the primary worldwide journey since we started to emerge from the pandemic. The 16-hour journey from Los Angeles, in that sense, felt virtually like a homecoming, a return to a spot the place my kind of labor might be executed. After just some hours at Dubai Watch Week 2021, I started to appreciate that this gathering of watch trade elites and decision-makers wasn’t merely one other occasion, it was additionally a symbolic kickstarting of a return to luxurious timepiece trade vitality. The engine of exercise in our sometimes scorching house had been slowed to a mere putter over the course of the pandemic.
I used to be not alone in harboring genuine fears that our days of journey and assembly in worldwide locales could be over. The concept over a decade of fixed presence world wide to chase the most recent watches could be a factor of that previous for myself and colleagues was an all-too-real sentiment that, over the course of Dubai Watch Week, was shattered. No, the world will not be out of the pandemic but, however the burning coronary heart and soul of the timepiece trade – as manifested by means of its actors – has now been completely reignited. What’s extra, the watch world now completely understands the required mixture of digital and bodily advertising – however extra on that in a second.
Day certainly one of Dubai Watch Week 2021 noticed most friends considerably bleary-eyed with surprise. “I’ve been out of the sport for 2 years; do I even know methods to benefit from being at an in-person occasion?” Such a sentiment was extraordinarily frequent as two years’ price of Zoom calls and digital handshakes had been all of a sudden changed by the hotter reception of actual pores and skin and reside eyes. Getting again to in-person enterprise was an adjustment for a lot of – particularly watchmakers and collectors for whom Dubai Watch Week was their debut get together post-pandemic. Slowly however certainly, fist-bumps changed into tight embraces as social rustiness melted off within the warmth of the fixed Arabian solar. Europeans, Asians, People, and others virtually concurrently realized that this isn’t an trade of mere distant interplay. Watches transfer when individuals join, and that’s a actuality that struck everybody with fast urgency. Dubai Watch Week was a stark reminder that whereas shopper luxurious curiosity would possibly now start within the digital world, the contagious feelings that drive the sale of most new merchandise occur when individuals join.
I point out this as a result of there are two difficult and contradictory classes that managers within the watch trade have realized over the previous few years. First is that conventional watch commerce exhibits are a dinosaur of an period when such occasions are the one solution to successfully meet retail and distribution companions. Whereas the longer term might maintain extra “conventional” watch exhibits, “commerce” is now changing into a grimy phrase. What individuals need and want are neighborhood gatherings, not industrial appointments. Dubai Watch Week is among the many anathemas to the outdated and staid kind of present as a result of it blends lay customers, elite collectors, media, and watch model managers and founders all in the identical room. These exhibits are about giving individuals an expertise to see and contact merchandise whereas creating shut private relationships, not about taking wholesale orders and planning distribution into new territories. The autumn of a as soon as monolithic present reminiscent of Baselworld is a stark instance of how one thing so mighty can fall so rapidly with altering instances. The discomfort, expense, and sheer scale of Baselworld is an expertise few declare to overlook. Greater than as soon as throughout the pandemic, watch managers have praised the top of the commerce present and hailed the worth of doing their very own smaller occasions. The truth is that few manufacturers can handle to scale small occasion sequence with any consistency, and but assembly with shoppers in particular person continues to be essential. This suggests that almost all of luxurious watch manufacturers will want third-party-organized occasions to take part in particular person with the general public. These occasions received’t resemble the tradeshows of outdated, however additionally they received’t be “Basel-big.”
Dubai Watch Week is the most effective of its breed. 2021 noticed the fifth installment of the occasion sequence, and the present could be very a lot hitting a secure stride. In talking with the organizers, it’s clear that, for essentially the most half, the occasion will keep in Dubai given a sequence of sensible causes reminiscent of native assist, in addition to the truth that the Seddiqi household has much less incentive to carry such occasions exterior of their areas. The query is: Who will undertake this efficient mannequin for different markets? Such a query largely stays unanswered, however the watch trade is decidedly on board with the notion that cooperative neighborhood occasions are the way forward for in-person alternatives — not combative conferences so massive in scope that alternatives for relational intimacy merely aren’t typically potential.
The opposite difficult difficulty going through the watch trade is the mix of bodily and digital advertising experiences. After I first began aBlogtoWatch in 2007, the Web was largely an unwelcome and soiled place for the luxurious trade. I struggled and finally succeeded in convincing the watch trade that digital communication wasn’t simply the longer term, nevertheless it was additionally a remedy to lots of the area of interest advertising woes that plagued the trade’s advertising efforts till that time. After which… components of the watch trade began to take the digital message too far. Managers with little maturity and principally ambitions determined that the Web was the right solution to lower out companions and gobble up margin. Manufacturers determined to faux as if their e-commerce web sites may operate like ATM machines giving them cash with out a lot effort. Simply arrange a digital storefront and mysterious new shoppers would come to buy their merchandise! Get these individuals to your web site not by investing time and sources into broad advertising campaigns and relationships, however by shopping for social media consideration and commissioning life-style pictures. For many that tried this vertically siloed “digital-only” strategy, gross sales efficiency was not almost what they’d hoped for. Now what?
The watch world we reside in now could be a “digital-first” one. The overwhelming majority of customers study manufacturers and new merchandise on-line first – by way of publications reminiscent of aBlogtoWatch. That is in distinction to historic instances when many individuals would possibly study manufacturers first from visits to retailers or journal advertising. Today when a shopper enters a luxurious timepiece retailer, they’re as a rule armed with data about what they need and why they need it. Retailers are within the enterprise of providing availability and repair, not training and publicity. This is a crucial level to make as a result of the function of retailer (third-party or direct from the producer) is hardly out of date in distinction to the stance of some model managers. What has modified is the function of shops and gross sales employees. Their needed operate isn’t simply to be a degree of sale, however to transform an already particular person right into a paying buyer. Good watches to purchase aren’t briefly provide, however experiences that make a shopper really feel their price are. That is the reply to ,“Why would I buy your watch over a Rolex?” The response might be, “As a result of we truly need your cash and can truly worth your enterprise. Personal our watch and also you’ll be a part of our membership and handled like household. Rolex watches could be good, however nobody at Rolex goes to say ‘thanks.’ We’d even invite you over for dinner.”
E-commerce web sites don’t say thanks, both, however dwelling and respiratory employees definitely can. Right here I return to the subject Dubai Watch Week organizers, the Seddiqi household, who excel at their craft particularly due to their famend service and shut relationships with their shoppers. On the one hand, they’ve perfected the artwork of creating their consumers really feel like royalty (which in all probability comes naturally on condition that a few of their shoppers truly are royalty), and however, they’re kingmakers of the area. Ask any watch model CEO who does enterprise with Seddiqi in Dubai, the UAE, or the bigger area the place their shops are situated – and they’re going to say that success actually solely comes with the blessing and energy of the household. Within the purest kind, it is a manifestation of why relationships, belief, and mutual respect are really the cornerstone values that successfully drive luxurious watch gross sales. Hype and hyperbole as strategies to do enterprise are as fleeting as they’re fallacious.
Throughout Dubai Watch week 2021, I as soon as once more took the chance to take a seat down with Hind Seddiqi, the manager common of Dubai Watch Week. In reality, she is the organizer and matriarch of the occasion, and what she shares in frequent with others in her household who take part within the watch enterprise is an unwavering love of timepieces. I requested her this 12 months, as I had when Dubai Watch Week debuted for the primary time a number of years in the past, what had been their objectives for the Dubai Watch Week occasion sequence. Thought-about in her response, her causes for placing on Dubai Watch Week have remained impressively constant: “To share our love of watches and produce individuals collectively who share our values” is the enduring message for why Dubai Watch Week exists within the first place. It’s not a slick advertising assertion, however the earnest fact. The subtext, after all, is that if you love watches, you in all probability find yourself shopping for a number of of them…
Baselworld was by no means organized by watch lovers and different occasions reminiscent of Watches & Wonders are much less direct of their mission, given their have to fulfill a posh matrix of company pursuits and stakeholders. Dubai Watch Week is extra coherent in that regard. Sure, it’s a gathering of numerous members of the watch trade every with their very own enterprise motivations, however it’s uncommonly cooperative in what’s successfully a cut-throat trade of competitors. Dubai Watch Week in 2021 was essentially the most obtrusive reminder I’ve had to this point that the important thing enchantment of the occasion sequence is that the gathering is peaceable. There’s, certainly, some irony to the truth that the Swiss might be so completely schooled on diplomacy by outsiders.
What Dubai Watch Week 2021 didn’t do is supply a lot in regard to hinting about upcoming product traits and new releases. Certainly, some contemporary merchandise had been debuted on the present (principally regional restricted editions commissioned by and carried by Seddiqi), however for essentially the most half, the present has by no means been about releasing a slew of latest merchandise. 2021 in all probability noticed extra new releases on the occasion than prior exhibits just because the pandemic make new product releases tougher for many of the exhibitors. That mentioned, being on the occasion was the primary alternative for many individuals to see contemporary merchandise in particular person and on the wrist. The thrill – particularly for native watch lovers – was palpable. What I can say is that extra so than ever earlier than, Dubai Watch Week combined an assortment of comparatively accessible luxurious timepieces from manufacturers reminiscent of Louis Erard, NORQAIN, Oris, and others, with extraordinarily lavish ultra-luxury items from manufacturers reminiscent of Greubel Forsey, Jacob & Co., and Hublot, together with a lot in between. As tastes within the native Dubai area proceed to increase, a bigger number of merchandise in any respect value factors is required to fulfill demand.
For me, this was one of the crucial fascinating issues to watch concerning the present as a result of 2021 has extra buyer friends versus mere trade individuals than ever earlier than. I’m enduringly fascinated by how watch markets develop and evolve. By that, I imply how areas start their relationship with luxurious timepieces buying well-known luxurious names, after which slowly over time undertake curiosity in lesser-known and extra distinctive firms. Whereas not a exact time period, “independents” is the title typically used to confer with the smaller manufacturers that always find yourself being collector favorites over the extra established names in luxurious reminiscent of Rolex and Patek Philippe.
The popularization of unbiased watch manufacturers is necessary for the Seddiqi enterprise as they occur to assist and carry a lot of them. Till just lately, pushing many of those manufacturers to all by essentially the most eccentric of customers was fairly difficult. Dubai is a migratory place in spite of everything and far of its conventional luxurious gross sales enterprise has been to vacationers and short-term residents. After which the pandemic occurred, which for essentially the most half ended the inflow of vacationer buying energy. Seddiqi all the time had a powerful foothold with native collectors however the pandemic supercharged their deal with creating native relationships and activating resident timepiece lovers. Few retailers world wide have had as a lot success throughout the pandemic transitioning their enterprise from promoting primarily to vacationers to promoting to locals.
An enormous a part of this effort was serving to to teach watch followers concerning the lesser-known names within the horological house. Dubai Watch Week is a really efficient technique of doing that particularly because the individuals behind these lesser-known model names are reside on the scene. To me, it was superb to watch as native Dubai and regional watch followers interacted with visiting watchmakers and designers. In comparison with customers in say Europe and even North America, the urge for food for novelty, distinctiveness, and originality in Gulf Area followers of watches is spectacular. Whereas I can’t say if the success skilled by the Seddiqi household within the UAE might be replicated elsewhere, given differing norms and cultural traditions world wide, all retail our bodies can be taught from how they function and performance.
There’s one other extra sensible purpose why “unbiased” watch manufacturers are surging in recognition nowadays. For one factor, the excessive international demand for watches made by big-name manufacturers reminiscent of Rolex, Patek Philippe, Richard Mille, and Audemars Piguet has devasted product availability. Reasonably than wait lengthy durations of time or pay ridiculous premiums over retail costs, many timepiece lovers have shifted their curiosity and spending {dollars} to smaller manufacturers that each have out there inventory and supply an unparalleled alternative to really get to know the individuals from whom you’re shopping for a timepiece. This isn’t precisely a foolproof solution to assure you will get a watch, nonetheless. What additionally comes with being a small watchmaker is market-imposed exclusivity. In different phrases, you’ll be able to solely produce so many watches per 12 months. Shoppers are actually conscious that many of those firms produce extraordinarily small portions (generally as little as just some dozen watches per 12 months, and by no means quite a lot of thousand watches) are thus doubly inquisitive about getting them on condition that in comparison with a Rolex (who at instances makes almost 1,000,000 watches per 12 months). Having a watch that’s onerous to get is one factor, however having a watch that’s merely uncommon, and in some situations unique to you, is a distinct type of gratifying enchantment altogether.
The drama actually by no means ends within the watch trade. Simply as Dubai Watch Week 2021 friends had been stepping into the swing of issues on the second day of the occasion, information of the brand new Omicron variant of the COVID-19-causing virus emerged and spelled potential doom for extra scheduled timepiece trade occasions to occur within the close to future as meant. For many individuals, it made being at Dubai Watch Week 2021 occasion sweeter as a result of the prospect of one other delay till the subsequent comparable occasion, loomed menacingly overhead. One may inform that information of such international uncertainly impressed upon Dubai Watch Week friends that they actually wanted to each recognize and worth their time there. The information truly served to spike the vitality stage on the gathering as friends felt a renewed sense of urgency to fulfill and consult with colleagues – on condition that the subsequent get together would possibly come later than anticipated. What the pandemic can’t appear to halt (in truth it solely appears to amplify it) is the curiosity and love individuals have for timepieces. So whereas we eagerly await plans for the subsequent trade summit and the subsequent Dubai Watch Week in 2023, I relaxation assured realizing new watches are nonetheless coming, with consumers prepared and ready.
English 