My first international event this year, and post-pandemic for that matter, kicked off in successful fashion at Seddiqi & Son’s fifth iteration of Dubai Watch Week.
WatchPro has attended previous editions of this fabulous event which looks at have grown again this year with a plethora of brands in the main exhibition space and the likes of AP, Hublot and Chopard all joining Rolex with dedicated spaces of their own outside of the main building.
While the main and peripheral players are all showing stunning timepieces, with new releases from the likes of Girard-Perregaux, Oris, Norqain, Breitling and Urwerk all standing out so far, the independents on the rise trend looks set to continue as we head in 2022.
A stop on my travels on day one set this is stone for me when visiting Chopard co-president Karl-Friedrich Scheufele, though we did not talk much on Chopard.
Chatting on the stand of Ferdinand Berthoud and while learning more about the all-new Chronometre FB 1.4-3, we dived deeper into the independent watchmaking sphere.
He explained how this year’s Dubai Watch Week 2021 outlined how things look set to continue for the independents, a thought echoed by Bovet’s Head of Communications, Keith W. Strandberg.
We touched on how the pandemic had actually given watch collectors around the world a chance to take a step back and consider exactly what they wanted to invest their money in.
Strandberg explained: “There will always be an international appetite to make a financial decision when investing in a watch but what is really interesting is how the pandemic has made watch lovers really consider how they want their collection to evolve and take the time to do so.”
It is also fair to say that we have all more or less had it with Zoom calls, especially as we can now see glorious new releases in the metal.
That said, it was fascinating to discover how Bulgari and MB&F had managed to create a masterpiece together, all via Zoom.
Sitting down with Bulgari’s Fabrizio Buonamassa Stigliani and MB&F’s Maximilian Büsser, the duo explained how it was made much more difficult given they could not sit and brainstorm ideas in the flesh.
Despite that, they have come up with a masterpiece and as you can see from the images, from paper to product it is a thing of beauty and Buonamassa was very pleased to show how his free hand drawings had come to life.
Dubai Watch Week, an event which has no-doubt become a key stakeholder in the international watch industry, has a lot to give in years to come.
Seddiqi & Sons can be proud of the successful event it has managed to build alongside the magnificent relationships nurtured with brands.
Girard-Perregaux’s new Laureato collection for example, will be exclusive to Seddiqi for the remainder of December before being made available internationally in January is a fine example of this.
Onwards and upwards, I expect.