We sit down with Luca Bozzano, General Manager for WatchBox Middle East, to discuss what WatchBox is all about, how they operate, and how they are bringing clarity to the secondary watch market worldwide and now in the region…
Can you tell us briefly about WatchBox Middle East?
WatchBox Middle East is a joint venture with Ahmed Seddiqi & Sons, and we started in November 2019 with the aim of coming into the market and bring some rules into the grey watch market – the secondary watch market. Today, you can buy a second-hand watch almost everywhere in the world, but you don’t know the provenance – from whom you are buying the watch, if the watch is clean, whether it is stolen, or counterfeit, or if some parts have been changed inside.
The idea of WatchBox is that you buy with peace of mind; that is the key concept. You buy with the knowledge that the watch is original, it has been serviced, and comes with a two-year warranty. We buy the watches we sell, so before buying a watch, we investigate the watch carefully.
How did WatchBox start? Where did the idea come from?
WatchBox was started in the US around seven years ago by Govberg jewellers. They were jewellers who were also selling watches and they wanted to enter the secondhand market because there saw a lot of room for improvement. They saw that if they could step into this market, put in some rules and proper organisation, proper processes, and create a community of collectors, then they could make a serious business out of this. And this is what has happened because today WatchBox is a very good business today.
How many locations does WatchBox operate in worldwide?
Our headquarters is in Philadelphia, and we have branches in Geneva, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Dubai. Of course, we are planning to open in new locations, and we have announced openings in New York, Miami, and Los Angeles. We are also planning to open in new locations across the GCC, and within the next two-three years, plan to be present in the main countries.
What is the process if someone wants to sell his watch to WatchBox?
The process is quite simple; the person can approach us by sending us pictures of the watch or can come in physically. We give a first quotation for the watch, based on the average market value, say for instance, $10,000. If the seller is okay with the price quoted, we ask him to bring the watch in, or we can send FedEx to collect the watch from him.
We then do a physical inspection of the watch to understand what the watch needs to be back in the best possible condition – which kind of service, etc. If, for instance, we estimate that the service would cost around $1,000, then we would get back to the seller. We would tell him that although we had first quoted $10,000, we can only offer $9,000 as the watch would need $1,000 worth of servicing to be done. If he is agreeable, then the watch stays with us and we transfer the money to the seller. That is it; the sale is done.
The watch then goes to Swiss Watch Service run by Ahmed Seddiqi & Sons. They are certified watchmakers and do a complete refurbishment of the watch. Sometimes, it is just polishing, sometimes we may need to change the bezel, the crystal, depending on the watch. When the watch is fully refurbished, it goes to the boutique and becomes part of our global inventory. Anyone from anywhere in the world can buy the watch and we can ship it to them within 2-3 working days, be it Geneva or Hong Kong. It is super simple.
From our side in Dubai, we can also access inventory worldwide. when you come to the boutique or see a watch on our website, and you like it. For instance, if it is in Hong Kong, you pay a 25% deposit as a commitment – fully refundable, of course – we then ship the watch from Hong Kong to here, you can then come in, touch it and inspect it.
If you like it, you pay the remaining 75% of the price and it is yours. If you don’t like it, we refund the 25% and we are still friends. The watch – if unsold – stays in Dubai. We don’t ship it back as it doesn’t make sense to ship watches around the world for no reason. Most of the time, around 90% of the time, if a watch is shipped in, the customer buys it. Because, honestly, we take very good care of our watches and they are in a really good shape. We don’t oversell what we have.
