Just as Marcus Watches is a landmark of Bond Street’s sumptuous take on luxury retail, its hugely charismatic and deeply influential owner Marcus Margulies is himself a landmark of the watch retailscape. Put simply, our Hot 100 would just have been a little bit less hot without this horological legend in it.
As well as his ownership of the Bond Street store, there is Marcus’s family company, Time Products. It hails from the 1960s when his father Alexander moved here from Poland – no short journey in the context of the Cold War. He started a business as a distributor for affordable watches from the Soviet Union – again, a remarkable move when viewed in its political context and set against a cultural backdrop that saw most consumers clamouring instead for American products.
The brand he brought was Sekonda. It is with the understated certainty of the truly confident that he fires back bullet-like answers to each of our questions. He says that the biggest change he has seen in his time in the business has been the burgeoning strength of the brands and their dominance over the retailer. His forecasts for the industry are likewise Swiss-made in their precision: the good brands will get stronger, the main strength being at the very top end and the bottom end; the mid-market brands will have a tough time.
His proudest moment? Taking back private ownership of Time Products in 2002.
As for his future, Marcus’s vision is clear. “I am most looking forward to helping with the development of the Sekonda brand, taking it to the next level, and to working towards building it into a global brand,” he says.
We’re pretty sure he knows how to do that, particularly if he keeps following the best advice he ever received. “Think twice before making a decision and follow your initial instinct,” he recants.
Marcus Margulies was selected as a London Watch Show Power Player in the WatchPro Hot 100 2013 in association with The Company of Master Jewellers. To read a digital version of the book in full online, click here.
