It is hard to extract anything other than personal humility and praise about the achievements of others from David Coleridge, chairman and CEO of DM London, although he does concede that this year his company became “possibly the largest online retailer of watches in the UK.”
It is hard to put that claim to the test, since his empire spans several retail brands including Watch Gallery and Watch Hut, and the Wonder Room concessions in Selfridges department stores. If David isn’t overseeing the largest online retail operation for watches in the UK, he is certainly close.
Seven consecutive years of growth have been notched up in a row and, lest we forget in these heady days of economic recovery, those seven years reach back and include the global meltdown in 2008.
There was little to suggest David’s acquisition of DM London in 2006 would be the start of his journey to become a superpower of British watch retail, although the 20 years with Richemont that preceded it certainly gave him pedigree.
Today, with such a dispersed portfolio of businesses and brand relationships, it is DM London’s executive team that David credits with its ongoing success. “Devolving resonsibilities to the management team” has been the single greatest business achievement of the past 12 months, he states emphatically.
