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Power List: The Most Influential Retailers
News
Power List: The Most Influential Retailers
Retailers are influential middlemen who make an impact on the popularity and distribution of watch brands, and they have been constantly evolving their operations to further incentivize brands and end consumers. Singapore-based global retailers like Sincere Fine Watches and The Hour Glass, for example, have contributed invaluably to the public’s education of independent brands, while Cortina Watch has heightened the retail experiences of historical brands and added to their brand equity.
In other continents, Ahmed Seddiqi & Sons has organized watch fairs that have been increasing in scale every year, first in Dubai and now in New York City. Noting the burgeoning secondary market, Bucherer has invested its expertise in acquiring, certifying and promoting secondhand luxury watches, while Westime has been intrepidly championing young independent watch brands in North America, to great success.
Like New World wines, these New World watch retailers, through decades of diligence, have inserted themselves in many a watch conversation. Although making pilgrimages to your favorite manufactures should still be on your bucket list, the variety of festivities and exclusive limited edition launches organized by these retailers are incentivizing connoisseurs to visit and purchase from them. Thanks to these movers and shakers, the experience of buying a watch has become much more memorable and gratifying.
Ahmed Seddiqi & Sons
2022 marks the eighth year of Dubai Watch Week. Started in 2015, this international fair had begun as an annual event, but over the years, its format has been updated to better engage the watch community. Currently, the watch fair itself is held on alternate years, while its dedicated Horology Forum continues during the gap years to engage the watch community. The Seddiqis’ commitment to the forum was evident when, during the height of the pandemic in 2020, they did not cancel the discussions, but deftly redesigned it as a virtual presentation. Since the inaugural fair in 2015, the brainchild of the Seddiqi family has started many memorable conversations and hosted numerous insightful masterclasses themed on traditional and avant-garde watchmaking.
When Dubai Watch Week started, it was attended by a handful of independent watch brands and around 2,500 visitors. In 2021, the fair boasted over 16,000 attendees with over 45 participating luxury watch brands. This year, the Dubai Watch Week Horology Forum was held in New York City, to the delight of collectors who live in the Five Boroughs and East Coast. The Horology Forum NYC Edition comprised a series of eye-opening discussion panels, debates and seminars that facilitated meaningful discourse between artisans, brand principals, collectors and creative minds from a range of industries.
Bucherer
Founded in 1888 and headquartered in Lucerne, Bucherer has been run by its namesake family for three generations. Bucherer shares that it has enjoyed a strong partnership with Rolex, its first retail partner, since the 1920s. The retailer ambitiously expanded across Europe in the mid-1970s. The 2010s was a milestone decade for Bucherer too, which comprised its 125th anniversary; opening of the world’s largest watch and jewelry store in Paris in 2013; acquisition of Tourneau, the biggest luxury watch retailer in the U.S., in 2018; and opening of the first Bucherer Gallery in Geneva and launch of the Certified Pre-Owned Business in 2019. Bucherer has rapidly expanded its Certified Pre-Owned Business across Europe and the U.S., where it now has over 60 points of sales. Over the past two years, the company has opened several major boutiques in New York, Switzerland and Germany. In October 2022, Bucherer acquired Leeds & Son, a luxury retailer of fine watches and jewelry located in California.
“We are refurbishing our existing boutiques and incorporating them with new customer experience concepts,” shares Patrick Graf, chief commercial officer of Bucherer. “We have partnered with renowned auction house Sotheby’s for cross-category luxury exhibitions and retail projects. As for our unique Certified Pre-Owned concept, the ‘C’ sets us apart from the other players in this field; our watchmakers are certified by the respective watch brands and our Certified Pre-Owned watches are thoroughly serviced with original spare parts before they appear in our online or in-store portfolio.”
Cortina Watch
Sincere Fine Watches
Sincere Fine Watches launched its rebranded SHH boutique in September 2022, which is located in Marina Bay Sands and retails special limited editions by brands like Greubel Forsey, Laurent Ferrier and Lang & Heyne that are not available elsewhere.
The Hour Glass
Westime
Founded by Greg’s father, John Simonian, Westime has brick-and-mortar boutiques in Southern California and South Florida which, Greg shares, continually attract clients from across the United States and beyond.