Curating Time the Seddiqi way

The second edition of Dubai Watch Week, a platform created by Ahmed Seddiqi & Sons that aims to educate the region on Haute Horlogerie, brought together renowned watchmakers and aficionados recently. “Day & Night” magazine spoke to Hind Abdul Hamied Seddiqi – Chief Marketing & Communication Officer, Seddiqi Holding – on the sidelines of the event

Why is it that your father is known as the “King of Watches” and Ahmed Seddiqi & Sons is now known as the “Retail King of Watches”?
That is because we, as a family, are in the business because we really love watches and when you love something, you give it your all. We have been in this business for a long time and we really love and respect watches and the watch industry. It is all that combined with the dedication and hard work our family has shown in educating the region about watches and the watch industry that is paying off. We are very thankful about this appreciation and such titles, which I haven’t actually heard before.

I knew that my father was known as the “King of Watches, but I assumed it to be more of a friendly joke; I didn’t realise that it was widely known. My father and uncle, more than anybody else, have really worked very hard and for so many years. They have wonderful relationships with everyone.  When I first visited Basel after joining the company, I was wondering how is it possible that my father and uncle know everyone in the exhibition. You know how huge Basel is, but everyone knows them. They have a story with everyone; they have a history. “I know him from when he was with Brand X, now he is with Brand Y.” It is a nice feeling; I feel that we are embedded in the industry; we have strong roots in it.

How was it growing up in a family dominated by the watch industry?
It was amazing; the love of watches is not something that you can force. I cannot say that all the family members are into this, but most of us, even my children, love watches. Whenever they see the adults; they look and ask which brand the adults are wearing. Whenever my father or uncle opens their safe or winding machine, they go running to see and listen to their stories. It reminds me of the time when we were kids and my grandfather, father or uncle did this and we would go running to listen and look at the watches.

The first watch that fascinated me was the Jaeger LeCoultre Reverso watch. I was six years old when my father came in with this watch and showed it to us. It was in the 1990s when I saw this watch. I wondered about this watch that you could slide and flip, and where suddenly the watch is not seen. The case back has an engraving. My father still has the watch. It fascinated me. He would put it in his bedside drawer when he came back from work. I would sneak in, open the drawer, slide the watch and try it on. It was like a toy; a very expensive toy – more my father’s than anyone else’s. That watch was the beginning of my love of watches.

From then on, whenever he came with a new watch, I wanted to know more about it. After I joined the business, my love for watches increased. It is the same with our staff; when they join us, they know nothing about watches. But they are in that environment and they start to love it. When you grow in the industry and are surrounded by people who appreciate the craft, you cannot help but appreciate and love it. Who doesn’t love something that is handmade and crafted this way with a lot of people’s imagination and creativity put into it? You cannot but respect this industry. You, in fact, are one of the people who love watches and grew up around it; learning from your father the way we did. You have shared the same experience that we share with the watch industry.

What do you love more – watches or jewellery?
I am more of a watch person and when I choose my watches, I choose them wisely. I am not an impulsive buyer or buy something because it is the trend. If it is the trend, I don’t want it. That is my character. All my cousins know me. If I see a watch that I know I am going to see on the wrists of everyone I know, even if I like it I would not want to buy it. I want to be different. I like watches with movements. I still am more attracted to men’s watches rather than watches for ladies. Although now the industry is creating more watches for women – brands such as Patek Philippe and Richard Mille have started making watches for women. I like them for the movement and prefer leather straps to bracelets because I feel that the leather strap accentuates the watch. Sometimes, the bracelet takes over the watch dial and the movement.

I am the kind of person who appreciates anything that is handmade; whether it is a carpet or a piece of art. Handmade things have character; not one piece is like another.

How is it working in the family business?
It is a big responsibility; if I was working anywhere else, I would be as dedicated but I would just go, do my work and leave. But when it is the family business, you have to always challenge, make the change, and be the one to drive everything around you. It is challenging but it is also a blessing – to work and be with my father, uncle, and cousins all day. It helps build a bond. I am blessed, it is challenging but it is not for everyone. You have to have a certain quality to survive in the family business. I am now the third generation and a woman. Sometimes, in the boardroom, I am the only woman sitting there. But I am very fortunate to have been born in a family that does not differentiate between male and female – that does not think that women are inferior to men.

Every woman needs to be strong; if you are smart, have the capability to do things, then you should show your strength. I am blessed to have a supportive circle of gentlemen – my cousins, my uncle and my father. God willing, when my brother is ready to be groomed into the business, I will have a very strong support system. It is a blessing but you have to be smart to survive it.

As a watch connoisseur, what is that attracts you to a watch – the aesthetics or the complication?
I appreciate all complications, but if it is for my personal use, then it has to be something that I can wear. I do not want something that I cannot wear, I am too scared to wear, or that I cannot bring out on any occasion. Because I love watches, I want to show it to people. So, it has to something that is practical, not too heavy, not too delicate or sensitive. Maybe, it is because I am a workingwoman, a mother, and a very practical person, I like things that are beautiful but really practical to use and to wear.

For me, the movement is extremely important. I get asked frequently whether the brand name is important; it is important but the appreciation of the movement is the priority. You could meet a watchmaker whose movements fascinate you. Because I love watches, the brand name does not matter.

But there are people in the industry, especially in this region, who care about it a lot. But because I come from this background and industry, we know what is different and what is important. But the general public is still influenced by the name, the history of the brand, and so on.

Why in Dubai Watch Week is Ahmed Seddiqi & Sons focusing more on the educational factor rather than the retail?
Because it is important; we have been educating our clients in small circles for years – at collectors’ dinners, during factory trips that we have organised, etc. We used to do that by taking one or two people with us to Basel, but then the group kept getting bigger and we had to bring people together, and then fly them over. But we decided that it was not enough; we needed to widen this circle and were wondering how to do it.

So we started with the GPHG exhibition in 2013, when we brought the pre-selected watches to Dubai; then Dubai Watch Week started. We have to educate people who can learn to appreciate this. You don’t have to buy it, but you have to at least appreciate it. So when you see someone wearing a watch on which they have spent a crazy amount of money, you don’t judge them as being spoilt, but understand that they buy it because there is something in it that they appreciate; it is a piece of art.

It is like an art piece by Picasso; you may not want it but there is someone else who appreciates art, knows a lot about what it is, and they want it more than you do. But it is nice and a cultural thing when you educate yourself about different industries, different things that people love and collect. It is a matter of respecting and understanding people’s choices and how would you appreciate collectors – such as watch lovers or art collectors – if you didn’t understand them?

People collect different things – some collect cars, some people even collect comic books such as manga, and why not? But try to understand what is it that they love in this. What is it that you have to appreciate in watchmaking?

What is the feedback about the first edition of Dubai Watch Week, which you launched last year?
We had received amazing feedback from various sources – both in Dubai and internationally. We created Dubai Watch Week for the people in the industry and for people in Dubai and other markets who have a deep-rooted respect for the industry. The success and feedback we received after the first edition compelled us to launch the second edition of the event.

Your advertising campaigns promoting Ahmed Seddiqi & Sons have received critical acclaim. How were the ideas conceived, how was it brought to fruition, and how much time does each campaign take?
The 60 years’ campaign was a very personal one; it was all created in-house, with the family members being the stars of the campaign. It was not a commercial campaign; it was a celebratory one. We were celebrating 60 years of being in the family business, not specifically the watch industry but the watches are there because it was my grandfather’s bread and butter. We had to tell the story of the family business and the only way to do that was to talk about the people behind the business and that is the story of that campaign.

It was very challenging to do that – convincing the family to do it; they are very shy, very humble, and they did not see the need for it. But we, as the third generation, are so proud of their achievements that we wanted to share it with the world. It is something to be proud of; there are so many family businesses that are struggling, so why not set an example and show that you can do it? We are strong pillars in the economy of the city, and family businesses are very important.

The second campaign came about because we frequently get requests to do a Seddiqi ad, without mentioning a brand or putting all the brands together. As the Chief Marketing & Communication Officer that is the direction I wanted to take. Yes, the brands are strong pillars of Ahmed Seddiqi & Sons and they are the reason that we are here today, but we also worked so hard to position ourselves and to gain their trust.

So we wanted to talk about time – people’s relationships with not their watch, but time itself; people and their best times. There are various interpretations of this in watches, such as ‘Hold Time still’. If you look at the Hermes watch, the tone is so splendid that you want to stop the clock. That is when you hold time still; you want to hold time still to enjoy that moment without seeing the time. We spoke to different people to ask, “What does Time mean to you?” “How important is Time to you?” That is how the campaign idea came. We worked with Leo Burnett, a well-known agency. We flew all the way to South Africa and Namibia to shoot the campaign. All of them were shot in South Africa; the one on the plane track and the beach – they are natural landscapes in Namibia. We had to go to the desert, and drive six hours to get to this location.

We wanted to bring a really human and natural element to the whole thing, with a little bit of a twist – such as the one of the woman pulling at the sun; holding time because she doesn’t want the sun to move; she wants time to stay still. It is about people and time. It is not a commercial campaign but more of an attempt to make people appreciate time and how to tell time, which is where the watches come in. Then we launched our tagline: “Curating time since 1950”, which describes Ahmed Seddiqi & Sons clear and loud. Because that is what we have been doing – curating time. We have been mixing and bringing different brands, curating an environment where anyone can walk in and find a watch that matches their personality. We have 65 brands now and a few more that are coming in soon. That is how the story of that campaign began.