The Seddiqi touch in Haute Horlogerie
Dubai Watch Week – the brainchild of Ahmed Seddiqi & Sons – saw the unveiling of Dubai watch editions from numerous prestigious watchmakers. “Day & Night” magazine talks to Mohammed Abdulmagied Seddiqi – Chief Commercial Officer, Seddiqi Holding – about the retail brand, its relationships with horology marques, and its fabulous success story
Why did you choose Sales & Retail as your forte, when as Ahmed Seddiqi & Sons is a family business, you would have had your choice of portfolios?
It is not exactly something I chose; it is something that is ingrained in me. After I graduated, I was working in several different companies and in the evenings, on my father’s request, I worked in our showrooms. I learned a lot of things on the shop floor and how things are run in Ahmed Seddiqi & Sons. During that time, I was noting down things – what we are doing right or wrong, and how we can improve. After I joined the company in 2004, I suggested a few key points to my father and uncle – in our invoicing system, our stocking system, checking our stock on a daily basis – important points that we needed to change.
What is the reason for so many brands staying with Ahmed Seddiqi & Sons for such long periods?
The key point is relationships; with Ahmed Seddiqi & Sons, business is based on relationships, whether with the principals of the watch industry or the media. It is built on personal relationships; as the third and fourth generation, we still carry on the same principles. We are all involved in the day-to-day work of the family business. We have a strong personal relationship with the brand principals and this keeps the business relationship strong as well.
Why have you recently started retailing jewellery-only brands such as Akillis and Messika Paris, when till now, Ahmed Seddiqi & Sons has only showcased jewellery produced by famous watch brands, such as Chopard?
The focus, around 98 per cent, I would say, would still be on watches and we do have brands such as Chopard, de Grisogono and Van Cleef & Arpels that carry both watches and jewellery. Messika and Akillis were the first jewellery-only brands that we included in our portfolio but we wanted to try something new.
Messika has a very attractive price-point and an aggressive design portfolio that caters to different demographics and ages, but most importantly, it is a family business. The communication and relationship we have with Valérie Messika – and her father André Messika – encouraged us to enter into this new segment. It was quite challenging in the beginning to have jewellery-only brands, but we believed in them and thought that it would provide our clients with a new selection of products in a watch environment.
Why did you decide on Messika, which had just started to become popular at that time?
Actually, Messika approached us saying that they were looking for agents in the region. At that time, they had just started in Qatar. In the Middle East, we have a very good relationship within the watch industry and retail partners. So, my father and uncle communicated with them to find out how the brand was performing The feedback was positive; more importantly, the comments and the feedback we got from the people working with the brand was positive. Though Valérie and her father are aggressive, they are also very polite and flexible. They want to do business but always put the human factor before that, which is important for Seddiqi.
How did the M.A.D. Gallery idea – which is related to watches and yet not just watches but art – begin?
I had been discussing this with Maximilian Busser since he opened the Geneva M.A.D. Gallery and I told him that we have to open one in Dubai sooner or later. It was challenging to convince both my father and uncle to venture into something new, but Max’s support helped. We have been enjoying Max’s support from the days he had been working with other brands; similarly, we have supported him when he decided to create MB&F and the HM1. We thought it was the right decision and again the relationships played a key role in venturing into a new segment.
We have known Max for more than 20 years and we believe in what he is doing. With time, everything evolves and today the M.A.D. Gallery is a new success story for Ahmed Seddiqi & Sons.
How did you decide on the current location of the M.A.D. Gallery?
We wanted a different location from other watch industry destinations, such as malls. So we thought of Alserkal Avenue and as we have a good relationship with the Alserkal family, we approached them and things went on from there. We have a very good boutique manager who follows up on things properly and supports the boutique. This, coupled with Max’s presence in Dubai, has been very helpful for its growth. We believe that though Dubai has major malls that people visit for their shopping, if they want something special they then take the time to go there.
How did your decision to open your Service Centre for watches, which is reputed to be the biggest in the Middle East, perhaps even the world, come about?
Ahmed Seddiqi & Sons has been providing after-sales services to its clients since 1987, when we first established the after-sales centre. It is important to provide our clients with a certified and reliable after-sales service so that they can be sure that whatever they are buying will be taken care of. Last year we rebranded the service centre and formally launched Swiss Watch Service, a subsidiary of Seddiqi Holding, which will be providing after-sales service to Ahmed Seddiqi & Sons’ customers. Today, the centre services more than 35,000 watches across all brands such as Patek Philippe and Audemars Piguet.
Why does Ahmed Seddiqi & Sons have so many independent brands in your portfolio?
The details in independent brands are mind-blowing. We have been in the watch industry for more than 65 years; we see the difference. True, it is a very tough market for most of them but the passion you see in the watchmakers of independent brands – such as in Maximilian Busser from MB&F, Felix Baumgartner from URWERK, Edouard Meylan of H. Moser & Cie. – the time they spend on new products, and the efforts they put into quality is unbelievable. Another point is that if we look back 177 years ago, Patek was started then as an independent brand by two people who were not even from Switzerland.
When Richard Mille started 15 years ago, nobody believed in his brand. The success he has enjoyed in the past ten years is unbelievable and, in terms of ratio, is equal to some of the big brands. The first five to seven years were tough for him. Nobody was willing to accept a new brand and a new concept with a ridiculous price, but he believed in himself, he believed in his brand and he made it. The same thing goes for all independent brands; if they believe in themselves, if they deliver high quality with the best standards, and if they have a product that is different –a very important point is that their product should be different – then they can succeed.
Richard Mille was the first to venture into the high risk, extremely high-end independent brand sector. URWERK entered the field before Richard Mille in 1997, but URWERK has always stayed with a very limited production and they have a very specific target group as clients.
How important do you think is the concept of the major watch brands bringing out Dubai editions of their timepieces? How does that make you feel?
It makes me feel proud that we can offer our clients and our friends pieces that no other retailer can offer. These are pieces that do not have just minor changes, but important differences. For example, when we created the Moser’s Dubai edition, we wanted the Concept, because it is the talking piece from Moser. But to have the Concept watch in 40 MM, which already exists in the blue fumé, the grey fumé, with the new Cosmo screen dial would not be interesting for clients. That is why we decided to do it in a bigger case, a steel one, with a new white Concept dial. We ended up with a dial that starts with white and ends with blue, but it is a very strong, electric sky-blue, which overwhelmed our clients and friends when they saw it.
How many watches do you have in your personal collection? And why is that you have never shown anyone your complete collection?
I have never counted all of them. The reason that I have never showed off my entire collection is because they are like my children. You don’t want show off your kids and brag about them. My watches are for myself. From time to time, friends ask to see what I have; I don’t bring it to show them but I wear them. I enjoy my watches; I don’t have any watches that are kept aside for investment purposes. Whatever I buy, I buy because I like it. I have never counted all of them so I honestly don’t know.
