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Scottish Watches Podcast #679 : The World’s Watch Theme Park – Dubai Watch Week 2025
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- [00:01]
A
Welcome to Scottish Watches Podcast. It's that time. Well, it's not actually that time of the year because that time of the year usually falls a little bit further forward this time around. We're here to talk about Dubai Watch Week, but we're not mere weeks away, we're not a couple of months away. We've actually got time to tell you all about it. Get your diary planned, get those bookings down so you can get your Airbnb and your flights in good time. You can book the time off work, you can tell the significant other in your life what you're up to or maybe take them across. Because Dubai Watch Week isn't just about Dubai and watches, it's about everything. It's the culture, it's the festival atmosphere, it's the things that you can do if you're on your own with a person or with your family. But we do, of course, have two people with us today, a co host, Barbara Plumbo, and the guest of honour, that is Hind. So, Barbara, do you want to do the introductions for maybe some people that have joined the show, maybe haven't heard previous ones, new followers to Scottish Watches or a bit of a rekindling of our get together just now.
- [00:55]
B
Hi, everybody in Scottish Watches Land. Thank you, Ricky. Yes, we again. Gosh, what is this the third time we've had Hindon?
- [01:01]
A
Well, more than that. Maybe four.
- [01:03]
B
Fourth, maybe y. We have Hind Siddiqui of Dubai Watch Week. The absolute grandma would be Grandmaster Grandmistress. How would we say this, of Dubai Watch Week. The person who makes it happen with a full team is joining us again. It's always such a pleasure to have you on hin. Thank you. And it's wonderful to see your face, even though the listeners won't be able to see your face this time, but will in the future. So we're gonna sort of get into some early stuff. We understand that you're not gonna be able to tell us everything right now, but I think it's important, and Ricky and I agreed that it's important to just sort of get of this, this information and a recap on early for, like Ricky said, the people who may want to plan out this trip out to Dubai, which is in its new location this year. So please say hello to our audience and let's get started.
- [01:51]
C
Hello, everyone. Hello, Ricky. Hello, Barbara. I miss you guys so much and I'm sure we have a lot, a lot to share with your listeners. Not maybe not everything, but quite a lot of updates, especially on the new venue and the number of participating brands. And like Ruki said, you know, maybe you get excited and you book a ticket to Dubai to enjoy Dubai Watch Week, but also to enjoy the city.
- [02:12]
A
Well, last time around, you said to me, oh, bring Simona, who was not my wife at the time, now she is. Bring her along. Because we've got all these suits, we've got all these other things that if you're not 100% into watches, and she definitely is, there is so much more to enjoy. So that's something we've been trying to let people know for the past, well, couple of years since you were last on. It's not just about the watches. There is so much culture, different things to see, and the multiple times that myself, Barbara and Dave have been across, we've been able to experience lots of other cool things along the way. But maybe for the listeners that are new to the show, they've joined us within the last couple of years. Do you want to give us a bit of a background of Dubai Watch Week? What exactly is a bit of a refresher for everybody that maybe has been joining us before so we can then find out about the new things that are happening?
- [02:55]
C
Sure. So Dubai Watch Week was founded in 2015 by Ahmed Siddiqui, which is the retail arm of our family business that basically, you know, sells watches and jewelry. And we started in 2015 because we were on a mission to educate people about the watch world, about watches in general, and to sort of build a circle of collectors in Dubai specifically. And we started with the independent watch brands in 2015 with a theme of Rebels of Time. And we only had 15 brands back then, and now it's 2025, and it's our 10th anniversary, and we've had over 59,000 visitors across all of the editions that we've had from 2015 till 2023. So we like to call ourselves a movement that supports initiatives with similar values, bridges communities, and creates unique opportunities for networking and creative exchange. We like to bring people together. We like to celebrate the watchmakers and the craftsmanship behind watchmaking. But not only watchmaking, but craftsmansh. So we always have masterclasses, and in these masterclasses, we introduce people to the watch world, but also to the world of engraving, jewelry making, miniature paintings, and a lot. A lot of other things. And then another pillar of the event is the Horology Forum, where we open up discussions, we do a lot of research about what's trending, what are the topics that maybe a lot of people are curious about when no one is really talking or addressing. We also have the creative hub where we give the freedom to the brand to talk about whatever they want, introduce any concept that they have, you know, have roundtable discussions. It's a free space for them to sort of explore different areas and how they want to represent themselves. And then we have the exhibition and the booths that are outside. And ever since we started, we always wanted this event to be a non commercial event because we didn't want the visitors to sort of be, you know, pressured or feel like, you know, if I go there it means I have to buy something or I have to go there and I should already know everything about watches. I feel out of place. It was always a very close community and always people felt intimidated about watches. So we wanted to create an environment that's more welcoming and where people can just come and appreciate, just like how you go to an art fair, you know, come to Dubai Watch Week and just appreciate what, what you see. And I think we've succeeded in that because with the years we've seen that the booths of the brands have ev from only exhibiting their watches or creating a mini boutique to actually coming up with a concept. And within these concepts, the concept stores or concept booths, they want to tell a story and it's something that we haven't seen them do anywhere else and we still encourage them to do that. So I think that's how I would describe by Watch Week, we always call it the Disney World for watch enthusiasts. So you come there and you see everyone, you meet new people, you meet collectors from all around the world, you meet the watchmakers, you get to talk to each other and actually the watchmakers themselves and the brand CEOs themselves get to visit and see other booths and talk to other watchmakers and meet the young independents and the micro brands. And it just becomes a nice community place and everyone is casual and everyone is friendly. I think you will never understand it until you visit it. And this time I was in Paris a few weeks ago and I met a collector from Uruguay and he was like, oh look, look, I already booked my tickets and my hotel and I'm coming to Dubai Watch Week. Yes, and come to Dubai Water Week with a group of collectors who are flying in from London. I was like, oh my God. I immediately messaged my team, guys, we are officially global.
- [06:50]
B
Oh yeah.
- [06:50]
C
Everyone is already putting us in their calendar when before we were perceived as an original event or a very local event. But today, you know, Dubai Watch Week has become a very important event in the watch industry community.
- [07:05]
A
The Biggest and best event. We say this on the show. It begins wearing a suit, going to PAL Expo Geneva, turning up for watches and wonders. Then Geneva Watch days is a little bit more relaxed. It's more summer, summertime. You're down at Boravage and then it is, it's the Disneyland, it's the theme park event of the year. Going to Dubai Watch Week or the traveling version, which is Horology Forum. But how much does it cost if people want to come to this? How many thousands of pounds does it cost for a ticket?
- [07:30]
C
Entry to Dubai Watch Week is free. Now I thought you want like a full itinerary of your booking and all of that. But anyone can buy. And then even with hotels and with Airbnbs and Dubai is a city, you know, that's open to everyone with, with different budgets as well. So it's easy. And access to Dubai Watchwork is completely free. Access to the master classes are completely free. We will, however, I must say probably introduce one masterclass that's paid because it's going to be, it involves a little bit of. It's going to be a longer masterclass, like a five hours masterclass and then you're going to leave with something of value. So we had to budget that and we're going to test it and see if people want things like that. Because there are a lot of programs that are rich that Dubai Watch Week as a nonprofit event cannot afford to just bring for free. But if people are willing to pay for certain elements of the show or experiences, it's something that we're exploring as well because we want to always bring something new to the visitors. So other than that, everything is free. And then we have a range of F and B on site. Especially this year because we're in a bigger site. We have like variety of food and beverages throughout the day.
- [08:41]
B
Well, this is a much bigger site. But before we get into that, should we do a wrist check? Because I think we have so much we can get into. But let's, let's go ahead and do that first. Ricky, you want to lead it off?
- [08:52]
A
Well, I want to say thank you for being professional and telling everybody about the risk. Check. I should also probably tell everybody to check the show notes because in there you will find the pictures. Because this episode, because it was so last minute, we'd didn't manage to get the camera set up properly. We're going to be doing another one closer to Dubai Watch Week itself where everybody will be on camera and we can explore more, we can show more And a lot of the brands will have announced what exactly they're doing. I'm getting emails saying, come to this thing at Dubai Watch Week, we have a launch, but we can't tell you anything about it. And I've had to sign up for various different things already. But, yeah, check the show notes. All the details will be in there. There'll be links to Dubai Watch Week website where you can register. There will also be links to Airbnb, different flights from different places, because it's not as expensive as people think. And they're very surprised when I told them it was £550 return from Scotland across to Dubai, which is an absolute bargain. So, anyway, on with the show. And yes, you're right, it's wrist check time. And Hind, you're the guest of honour. What have you got on the wrist today?
- [09:45]
C
Thank you, Ricky. I have my vintage horology watch, which was gifted to the family at the last biwatch week in 2023. And it's a special edition that my cousin, who's the creator of vividrology brand, created for the female family members, because the males have a different one. And it's. The dial is made of some type of wood and it has this beautiful beige and gray veins in it. I absolutely love it. And it's my watch of the month. I change my watch once a month.
- [10:18]
B
Oh, my God. That was going to be. One of the questions I was going to ask you was how often, how frequently you change your watch. That is wonderful. That's. That's so great. Apparently we have a theme going on with the vintage horology watches for this episode. Am I right, Ricky?
- [10:32]
A
You're correct. But I would like to ask, can you tell us exactly what vintage is as a brand? Because I'm not 100% sure myself.
- [10:39]
C
So vintage is a brand that Ahmed Siddiqui has created. We've always been watch retailers, but we never had our own line of watches. So Mohammed usually works with the brands. Mohammed is the CEO of Ahmed Siddiqui and he usually works with the brands on limited editions and special editions, UAE editions. But he always felt like sometimes there's a bit of resistance from the brands, so he felt there is a gap. And he said, you know, it's about time that we, as Ahmad Siddiqui, launch a watch brand where we can. Where we can bring our taste, the taste of the collectors we have, where people can actually come to us and custom make their watches as well. You know, if they want corporate gifting and things like that. Where the vintage RG also does that and they're exploring other areas now. They're exploring table clocks, wall clocks. So a full line, a full range of watches. And, and the price range is, is, I would say, is quite affordable. And you're going to see a lot of surprises from them during the Dubai Watch Week because we're also selling. Ahmed Sadiq is also celebrating their 75th anniversary. So there's going to be a lot of limited editions and from vintage specifically.
- [11:47]
B
So I want to make clear too, to the listeners, it's not vintage spelled in the traditional spelling. It is vintage with a Y, B, Y, N. In case you're looking it up, check the show notes. It's V, Y, N, T, A, G, E. So, Ricky, I'm gonna kick it over to you.
- [12:02]
A
I'm glad you explained the spelling because Mzael, maybe that's one of his foibles. That spelling is not a strong suit of his. So, yeah, good spelling there. I'll leave him alone. I'll leave him alone. But I'm not going to do my wrist check next because ladies before gentlemen. Barbara, what have you got in the wrist?
- [12:16]
B
Oh, look at him. Isn't he a gentleman? So I am not wearing. I did briefly own my own vintage watch, but when my son graduated high school last year and I opened up my collection, I said to him, and I spoken about this on a previous podcast, you can pick any watch you want, aside from my Rolex, you can have anything that you want in the collection and pick it. And that was the watch he picked as his graduation gift was the vintage watch, which I'm very happy about. And he still wears it to this day. But I am wearing. I have two watches on today, but the first one that I'm wearing is a collaboration between one of the speakers who was at Horology Forum in New York, Eric Wind. So this is a Wind vintage by True North Company, which is a tiny microbrand out of Palm Beach, Florida. Eric Wind did this is his second collaboration he did with them. It's called the Vintage Rally Timer. So the VRT. It's a Seiko Mega Quartz movement, 37 millimeter steel case, beautiful white dial. I don't know if you could see this. My camera's terrible. Yellow, blue and orange sub dials sold out already. It was a limited edition of 300 pieces. You know, it retailed for under 400 bucks. Us so completely affordable. Anything Eric Wynn touches with regard to collaborations turns to gold. All of his collaborations sell out relatively quickly and I was happy to get this, this was what, when I turned 52 this year, this was the treat for my birthday this year. And then, you know, because look, you guys sell Breitling and you know, again, I wanted to wear some things that were associated with Siddiqui or Horology Forum or Dubai Watch Week. I'm wearing the Breitling top time. That dark green with the. The racing. It's like third. Yeah. 38 millimeter. I do love this one so much with the racing. The leather racing strap, it's really good. So that's what I'm. That's what's on my wrist, Ricky.
- [14:19]
A
Okay, well, I've taken off the wrist because I needed to double check. My memory is not the greatest. Everybody already knows that. But I remembered that the watch that I got when I was along in the last Dubai watch week coming up for two years now, I believe that the special number on the back and it is, it is 007. So it's limited edition out of 100. 007.
- [14:40]
B
And I got 50. And it was. It was what? But hind it was. When I turned 50, it was 20, 23. And you guys get. It was 050. Like 50. And I remember I was like, oh, my God, that was so special to me. And yours was 007, which is funny because Sean Connery was Scottish, right?
- [14:57]
A
Yeah, the first bond 007. And we thought behind the scenes maybe this had been planned, But Shruti says 100%. No, it was completely random.
- [15:05]
B
Are you serious?
- [15:06]
C
It was completely random.
- [15:08]
B
That's really crazy that I got 50 on my 50th and he got 007 and he's Scottish. That is really crazy. I'm sorry.
- [15:14]
C
How much happens in Dubai Watch extinct.
- [15:16]
B
You know, it's the universe working with us.
- [15:19]
A
And I believe that Zach Blasket number six, nine. But the less said about that, the better. Anyway, this watch that I'm wearing just now is fantastic. It is ceramic, it has got a fume dial, but it's also metallic underneath. The way that it reacts to light. Not just in the studio where the light is chronic, but out in the sun, which you get a lot of over obviously in Dubai a little bit in Scotland recently. And the fact that it's got the California dial styling with the little sub registers, it is brilliant. It's fantastic. Even the strap that it comes with, and it came with a number of straps that you could change in and out. I've kept it in the one that matches best to the watch case itself, the ceramic. It's A fawn, a beige with a little hint of a rose to it, so it's almost rose gold, depending how the light hits it. It is absolutely brilliant. It was my introduction to the brand. And if you want to see pictures of it, check the show notes, because that's where everything will be. But, Barbara, should we find out what's new? Because there's a new location and that's what everybody is talking about.
- [16:12]
B
Cannot wait to hear more about this, honestly. I know where it is and it's what, double the size hinge that the. Okay, so the original, for those who don't know or haven't listened before about this, the original location of Dubai Watchic was in the difc, right? So the Dubai International Financial center, that is at. Did I get that correct? Which again, if you've seen Mission Impossible, Tom Cruise, there's the one part of I can't remember which Mission Impossible it was, but he's running through the gate, you know, like, you know, so it's like, it's very, very iconic.
- [16:46]
C
It is very iconic.
- [16:48]
B
People think Dubai and obviously they think Burj Khalifa, but the gate is also, you know, a huge part of the Dubai skyline. And that section of the city which again, I had started going in 2017, that was my first year at Dubai Watch Week, which at the time was the third year because then, because it was smaller you were doing every year once it grew and, you know, correct me if I'm wrong, it then became every other year with the smaller traveling shows, which has been brilliant. So this is now pretty much across the city and in the shadow of the Burj Khalifa. But hint, give us, give us a little backstory why you decided to. To take it to a different location and what we should expect from what you can tell us for now, because we know that some things are still under wraps.
- [17:33]
C
So basically, we've always grown organically, and we've been receiving for the past two editions a lot of requests for more standalone booths. We had a lot of brands wanting their standalone boots, but the old brands who had their space also still wanted to hold onto their space. There was a big demand when that demand grew. And also the demand for participating brands inside the exhibition hall has also grew. We always had waiting lists. So that's when we took the call of, you know, what we need to grow, because we created this event for the industry. So if they feel, you know, that they want to participate and it's been two years in a row that they're asking us for more space, we have to do something. And that's when we decided to move out of the ioc just because the space in the IFC cannot take more capacity. And if you remember the last edition, we gave up our space in terms we used to have a creative hub and a masterclass area and the horology forum area. We combined them all together just to give more space for the brands to be able to present themselves. So that's why we had to move. So now we're moving from the business district of Dubai to the downtown district, district of Dubai, which is the main shopping, FNB and entertainment part of town. In Dubai, they call it the downtown. And we're going to be specifically at the Burj park, which is the park that belongs to the Dubai Mall, which is very close to the Dubai Opera, to the Armani hotels, and then with amazing views of the Dubai fountains, which also are under renovation. So by the time Dubai Watch week starts, even the fountain show is going to be a new fountain show. And then of course, the iconic Burj Khalifa with the always, you know, they're known for the advertising and all the messaging that they put on their towers. So it's going to be another iconic space of the city, a different vibe, bigger space, very close to a shopping mall. So if you come with your significant other and she's not interested or he's not interested in best shopping in the world, you can send them into the mall, you know, and go like, you know, know what? Here's the mall, there's a cinema, there's art galleries, There are a lot of things to do. There's a ton of an fnb, there's ton of luxury shopping. So I think people are going to enjoy the fact that they can, you know, come to us and then walk into the mall, or vice versa, go to the mall, do a bit of shopping and then come and hang out with us. We always tend to look for locations where people could spend the whole day. So in Difc, we had that with the FA around us. So people were able to go and have a nice lunch or a nice dinner after they experienced by watchroot. So that's why we chose a venue that offers that and the hotels as well that are around that area. There are a number of really good hotels around that area. People can walk. It's not the business district, but there is residential, a lot of residential buildings around us. So we're going to tap into different demographics of people as well. We're very excited, to be honest, because we get to do a little Bit more. And the brands can come. More brands. We have more standalone brands and more brands inside the exhibition pavilion, where you know you're going to see more than 90 brands this year. Yeah, we're doubling the size. We're like 200,000 square feet. Now.
- [21:02]
B
I do want to ask because one of the things that I really loved about the exhibition part of Dubai Watch week was it reminded me of and Hin, you'll remember, Ricky, I don't know. I know you were at Baselworld, but did the palace exist when you were at Baselworld? Okay, so the palace was the first place I ever met Max Busser, my First Baselworld in 2016. And Hien, you remember the palace, right. When I walked through your exhibition space, which obviously gets better with every edition and more beautiful and just incredible. The flowers two years ago was just stunning. Loved it so much. But I love that you keep it. You were keeping it very light, very like, atrium like. And that always reminded me of what the palace felt like when in the old days. I say old days of Baselworld, not the old, but my old days of Baselworld. So will you still have the exhibition part? Will that still be covered? Can we talk about that yet or is that going to be.
- [21:56]
C
Yes, yes. The exhibition space is still going to be within, like a long tent, almost a very similar format, just, just a bit longer because we have more brands, because we can, we can become bigger. But the setup inside is very similar. You know, we tweak, we tweaked a little bit inside, but we have more activation space inside. We're gonna have an FNB concept also inside because sometimes, you know, people are inside, inside the exhibition area and they, you know, want to grab a coffee, they want to sit, they want to chat. So that we're going to have that. And we always think about the press, so we're bringing them closer to the brands. So the press office is going to be closer to the exhibition area so that you guys don't have to run around following the CEOs or the watchmakers you want to interview. So we thought about all of these things and the new space allows us to do that.
- [22:48]
B
Oh, that's brilliant. That's fantastic. Ricky, did you have any follow up on that?
- [22:52]
A
I'm enjoying just listening to you glowing about the show because you've attended more than I have. You went to Baselworld well before I did. And the one thing I'm going to correct Hind on, and we shouldn't correct Hind because she is in charge of everything. It's not A tent. That makes it sound very small. It is a massive marquee. It is not a tent.
- [23:12]
B
Oh, yeah.
- [23:13]
C
Yes. It's not a tent.
- [23:14]
B
If it's a tent. It's the most luxurious tent I've ever been in my life.
- [23:18]
A
Yeah. You know what?
- [23:19]
C
I do love a flat tent structure.
- [23:22]
B
It's a structure. Yeah.
- [23:24]
C
A proper, proper structure with everything you need inside it. With lights. Ac, we're waterproofing everything this year. No one is allowed to not waterproof. Remember, in 2023, God forbid it rains again.
- [23:41]
B
Listen, you got. We have talked several times over several episodes, Ricky and me, about how quickly all of that got cleaned up. And other than the fact that the roof was stolen off the restaurant, nobody would have known that anything happened. Honestly, by the next, next day, it was like flawless, right?
- [23:59]
A
Three hours.
- [23:59]
C
It was ready by the afternoon, by three hours. Some places, because of the damage, it took longer. You have to be ready to tackle these things, especially if you're outdoors and you never know what happens with the weather. But thank God I have a very strong team and we were able to bring things together. And that's also part of the service and infrastructure element that Dubai offers that you will not find anywhere else. If something breaks, you have to fix it tomorrow. It will get done. Even if they had to work 24 hours. This is the spirit of Dubai. So we're very lucky. And the amount of support we received from the government and the uae, officials from ministers, from director generals of different government entities, calling us and saying, are you guys okay? What do you need? How can we help? And that itself gives us a lot of courage and a lot of trust that, you know, whatever happens, they have our back and we'll be able to get up and running again.
- [24:58]
B
I love that. I just want to throw in one of the other parts of the exhibition that I've always loved. Is that right in the center of the exhibition. And I hope that you guys at least continue to do this in some way, shape or form as you get to the center of it. So if you're walking from one end to the other, pretty much halfway through. Over the years, there've been something cool going on that that was sometimes involved with horology, but sometimes not. And in 2023, you had a dear friend of mine and a dear friend of yours, Amadeo, out of Capri, out of Naples, whom I've known for years through the jewelry industry, who's a cameo maker. His family were cameo makers and he was there and he had his cameo making and they were literally carving the cameos there. So you could go and see that. And the reality is, you know, there are watch brands that use cameos. Breguet being one that used, you know, a giant Barbara.
- [25:50]
A
What's that cameo?
- [25:51]
B
Oh, a cameo. So if you think about your grandmothers or your great grandmothers or your or your mothers, depending on how old you are, a cameo was often familiarized as a brooch that, you know, women Wore, like the 20s, the 30s, 40s. And it's made out of shell, so it's carved structures usually. They're usually profiles of women. I mean, that's the common cameo. Obviously. Amedeo does something very cool and very different. He does the monkeys and really funky cameos. It's an Italian tradition born, I believe, in Naples, which is where my family's from, my ancestors are from. And that's one of the reasons Amedeo and I are friends. And we can put his link in the show notes too. I can send that to Miz. It's carved and it's like, you know, these artisans, these Italian artisans will carve these seashells in a sense into these amazing, usually oval shapes, sometimes round sculptures. And they were oftentimes put into pendants or brooches. Brooches were the most common, I think. So Dubai Watch Week had this. So there, he's just an incredible jeweler. And he has a boutique on the island of Capri, just outside of Naples.
- [27:02]
C
And in New York as well.
- [27:03]
B
And in New York as well.
- [27:04]
C
It's a beautiful craft that no one gets to see, you know.
- [27:08]
B
Totally, totally.
- [27:09]
C
You'll see the end product or you'll hear of the end product, but you really don't understand the process. So we always want to bring, you know, these craftsmen to, to, to, to life for people to see what they're actually doing and how much hard work it takes to create these things.
- [27:25]
B
Yeah, and there have been, like I said, there have been watch brands over the years that have used cameos in their dials. And I am going to throw out Breguet as being one in the last five, six years. I believe that they did their reign to Naples Watch Breguet. So it's their sort of egg shaped ladies watch. And I'll use that in quotes. But I remember at one of the last Baselworlds I attended when Swatch Group was still showing there, Breguet had a master cameo maker there showcasing. And I thought like, this is so brilliant because people don't know about this. And I love the fact that you guys Brought him in and then you had a woman who was doing art on a typewriter.
- [28:02]
C
A typewriter, yes.
- [28:03]
B
Oh my God.
- [28:04]
C
And the sounds of the typewriter going cool. It's really smoothing, mesmerizing.
- [28:09]
B
And in previous years you've had things like that. I love that, I love that you've always made part of the exhibition not just about watches necessarily, but still slightly associated with mechanics. I, I like that, you know, or with, or with aesthetics, with art. So I'm, I, I hope that you guys, I'm sure you we're doing that.
- [28:25]
C
We have actually more activation areas this year. We haven't finalized the list of, of the activities we're going to bring or activations we're going to bring, but we already have a lot of, of inquiries. A lot of brands want to bring certain elements of their craft into this area, not only to the masterclass because the masterclasses are only limited to nine seats per class. So having this inside the exhibition space allows more people to experience it.
- [28:54]
A
Well, I remember previous editions there was all kinds of stuff. Barbara pipped me at the poster by mentioning the typewriter because the typewriter art was amazing. But I remember Max Busser had Mad Galleries the last edition. So you could actually see the fantastic non watch related products and art pieces that he puts together. Not him personally, but his team put together and his artist. And then I believe there were strap makers maybe in a previous edition of Dubai Watch Week where you could see the makers creating a watch strap. And there's a lot more that goes in behind the scenes than maybe you or I would think normally. So there is something for everybody. Plus those, the watch brands there are, we said many times, the CEO of AP walking around. You've got Max Busser walking around, you've got Ed Milan walking around, you got.
- [29:37]
B
FB Journes, you got Francois Paul.
- [29:39]
C
Yeah. Philippe Dufour.
- [29:43]
A
Everyone's there, everybody is there and there is no entourage. You do not have security elbowing you out of the way. If the person is walking around or enjoying life, you are able to just approach and express your gratitude for the crazy designs. The forward thinking that some of these people have introduced in horology over the past years, decades and beyond is absolutely fantastic. Sometimes you even get, I don't know, an A list celebrity from Hollywood like Aldous Hodge just kicking around in the hotel and maybe your fiance at the time wanders over for a selfie. Maybe you've got Will. I am in previous incarnations of Dubai Watch Week. Kevin o' Leary from Shark Tank you don't know who you're going to bump into, who you're going to see just walking around. Because it's open to everybody.
- [30:26]
C
The most important collectors from around the world. They're always very humble, you know, and nobody knows them until you say their name. You know, they're also there. They're walking around. If you, if you know them, you know them. If you don't, you know, they're there, they're free and they're enjoying their time. They get to meet other collectors. There are a lot of watch clubs who are also doing activations in the evenings, bringing their, their watch clubs members together to meet other watch clubs. So it's, it's. We have a lot of requests, you know, of a watch club from, from, from London Watch come from Italy. They want to come. They want to know what can they do and how can they activate and if there's any space for them to, to do things.
- [31:06]
B
Casa, you're gonna have Andrea. Andrea's gonna definitely do something. He'll do a dinner. I am Casa. You know Ricky. I am Casa Andre. We've, we've had him on the show too. Yeah, he's, he's. I'm sure he's gonna have something together. He's so adorable.
- [31:18]
C
They're more than. It's for, you know, it's for them. It's for them to have fun. It's for them to make new people. So whatever we can do, you know, with the, with the program that we have lined up, any open, open, open space that we can offer, we're happy to do so.
- [31:33]
B
Well, I always look forward to the collaborations, obviously, that your cousin is largely responsible for and getting together with the brand collaborations. And we kind of loosely touched on this earlier in the episode, but I, I have a question for you, Hind, because I feel like this term that I'm going to mention is seen ever so slightly differently in different parts of the world. So I want to ask you why, what your true definition is of a micro brand? What you, what do you deem a microbrand is for us?
- [32:04]
C
We first look at the price point, to be honest, because that's the place where whenever we mention microbrands, that's the first thing that comes to people's mind. They want a good brand that they can wear when they're traveling, feel safe wearing it, but knowing that it is of good quality, there's a story behind it and it's new. It's probably going to grow one day to become something more important. Usually they often start as micro brands, but then slowly, slowly grow to become even more important, bring more movement and more creations and innovations. So for us, we look at Pricepoint first and this time we have a dedicated space inside the exhibition pavilion only for micro brands. And this is going to be the first for us because we also have to cater to their budgets. We cannot. We have to create spaces for different brands of different budgets. And microbrands are the ones who really don't have the biggest budgets in the world, whether it's for marketing or for communications. So we've created a specific space within the exhibition booth which is only related to micro brands and then another one related to very new and niche independent brands as well.
- [33:15]
B
So new and niche independent brands in terms of, like, slightly higher price range, where they're making, you know, 10 watches a year.
- [33:23]
C
Yeah. You're Roger Smith, for example.
- [33:25]
B
You're Roger Smith, right? Oh, I love that. Oh, it makes me so happy. I just. My heart just actually, like.
- [33:30]
C
I know he's a really nice watchmaker.
- [33:32]
B
No, he's. He is.
- [33:33]
C
We had a great time with him in London when you were with us as well.
- [33:37]
B
Yes, he was. Oh, God, that. That talk gets to me. I know that. Ricky, you've always Talked about Steve McDonald. Steve McDonald talked, yeah. But for the London edition of Horology Forum, when he was on the panel and talking about his mentor. His mentor, I think it was Andrew Hildreth who maybe moderated that panel and getting to talk about his mentor and he got a little choked up and I remember that being like, oh, like just, you know, that gets you. Yeah, but that was an amazing. And just, that was the first time I met him and he was just a humble human being and I got to see him again when I flew out for Ricky's wedding, I. I went directly to British Watchmakers Day after my visit to Glasgow and wait, my memory came back.
- [34:20]
C
It was John Reddin. Not even oral bax.
- [34:23]
B
You're right, it was John. It was John.
- [34:26]
A
Look at you guys, name dropping all these people.
- [34:29]
C
No, just for you to know, who comes to Dubai Watch Week and who talks in Dubai Watch Week?
- [34:34]
B
It was John Reardon. Well, because I think one of the things I love about when you go to Horology Forum, like when we were in Hong Kong, Ricky, you notice, you know, you had talking, talking about a brand that was a mic starting out as a micro brand that now has blown up Ming. And you had Ming Tian on. On a panel. But, you know, a lot of times these. I love the fact that where you go like when you were in New York, you had Americans on panels and you had Americans as moderators. When you were in, in Asia, you had Asian moderators, Asians on panels, Asian, you know, watch brands on panels. When you were in England, same thing you had. You Hildreth did moderate a panel. I know, I did as well, but, but on my panel was Fiona Kruger Scott, you know, Peter Speake like, you know, again, an Englishman. So I like that when you do move around for hrology forum, you're tending to take in the brands and the people who are the faces of that necess that, that region. In a sense, I, I've always been very just in all of that. I think that that's a really cool thing that you guys do.
- [35:36]
C
Our objective is to go to the city and to, to awaken the watch community there. And we can only do it through the people who are in the, in the watch industry from that, from that city or from that region. And we've been very successful so far with New York, with London and with Hong Kong. I don't know where we're going next, if that's what you're trying to, to ask.
- [35:55]
B
No, I wasn't, no, I wasn't asking. We always, we always place our bets, right? Don't we Ricky? We're like, okay, where do you think it's going to be next?
- [36:02]
C
Where do you want us to go now? We' to hear if there's any watch community somewhere, you know, where they feel like we need to be there. They can just write us an email and we're there.
- [36:13]
B
I don't know. I hear Uruguay is a, is a hot spot right now. South park, baby.
- [36:18]
C
We have to check with the collector who's coming from there.
- [36:21]
B
Right? Well, Brazil I think you've had. I've met people from Brazil in the past that have been to my watch week. So that was. And I've been to Uruguay. I love. It's one of my favorite countries in the world. So, so when you said that that made my. I was like, oh, that's really cool.
- [36:36]
C
Because make sure you meet him. Then when you come to Dubai, Ponte.
- [36:40]
B
Del Este is sort of like, like a rodeo drive of South America. I mean they have incredible boutiques and you know, high end Chanel and Dior and Hermes and, and Dolce and so there is a, there probably is a huge watch collecting community down there that oftentimes gets, you know, I don't know. That's fine. I'll keep going. Ricky, you go.
- [37:02]
A
One of the Reasons we jumped in very quickly and asked your team if we could do an episode early is because a press release went out and it mentions some of the things, some of the exciting additions, some of the brands, the things you're allowed to tell us and tell the audience. Do you want to run through some of the attractions so we can pique people's interest and get them booking early?
- [37:23]
C
Yeah. First of all, we have Van Cleef coming back and they were one of the boys booth that was, that gave the best experience and showed the world that watchmaking is romantic.
- [37:35]
A
Stop, stop, stop. I'm going to correct hind again. It wasn't a booth, it was a theme park.
- [37:40]
B
Whoa. It was incredible. It was incredible. It was an experience. It was an experience. Experience.
- [37:48]
C
The Van Gree booth was a true experience. So they're coming back with a different experience. We're all excited to see what they're coming with because their storytelling is impeccable. We have Rolex coming back with a brand new booth. We have AP celebrating their anniversary with an amazing booth as well. One of the biggest booths after Van cleef would be AP's booth. And they have a very unique location in the Birch Park. If people are familiar with the Birch park, they could guess where AP is going to be. And then we have Hublot coming back. We have Chopard coming back. We have Breitling coming back with a very, very interesting booth as well. So this time, especially in this venue we're in the booths can have two stories. So you're going to see, so you're going to see booths that are, that have two stories and not just one. One ground level booth. We have Gerard Perregaux, we have Bulgari, we have Tag Heuer with a standalone booth, we have Chanel. And then obviously in the participating brands, we have Lange Hoy who is coming for the first time. We have a few Arab brands as well, or Middle Eastern brands coming into the exhibition for the first time. We also have Le Fabrique du Temps, the LVMH group with Daniel Roth and Gerald Genta. We have Ming. We have MBNF coming back. We have a lot of, of activations happening. Like we said, some are from the brands themselves. We're coming with special editions. Some of the brands are going to show how they make their watches. So they're. So they're going to, instead of taking a regular booth, they're taking an activation space to be able to within the exhibition space inside to show you a little bit or tell you their story in A different way. We have clocks. We have a section for clock clocks. Only for clocks. We had that in 2021 inside the Ahmad Siddiqi's collector lounge and in 2023. But in 2021 it was bigger and we felt it was missing in 2023. So we're bringing back clocks and clock makers, actually, not only wristwatches. And then we have the master classes and we're bringing back because the space allows us. We're going back to the 2019 model where we have 2021, where we had two master classes. We've always had two master classes. So we had to give up our space in 2023 to the brands. So we had only one masterclass. So we're bringing back two masterclasses. We have amazing takeovers of the masterclasses by certain brands who are not participating inside the exhibition, but they're only coming and presenting something through the master classes. So the beauty of Dubai Watchwick is the flexibility of how you would like to present yourself as a brand. You can come for two days and leave, you know, you can come only for the masterclass. You can say, you know, I only want to have a creative hub, or you want to exhibit and have all of the benefits. So we're very flexible. So there are brands who opted to only come and offer a master class. And so we have takeovers of the masterclasses as well. And Ahmed Siddiqi is coming with their Collectors Lounge, again, a two story structure as well.
- [41:05]
B
You've done in the past small talks in the Collectors Lounge, which will then be doing that as well.
- [41:10]
C
They will be doing that, yes. So they manage the program inside their booth, basically.
- [41:16]
A
Okay, well, I suppose the biggest question our audience want to know is what are you going to have Barbara doing this time on stage?
- [41:22]
B
Stop. Don't put that pressure on her. Don't put that pressure.
- [41:25]
C
No, that's pressure. We authorize you in.
- [41:30]
B
Can I toot my own horn really quickly? I do hold the record. I do hold the record. Seven times I have moderated something, whether it's been a debate or a panel. I do. By watching seven times.
- [41:41]
C
Because you're open to exploring and, you know, and joining us and all of the crazy ideas we sometimes, you know, sometimes succeed with, maybe don't succeed with, but you're always open to moderating, especially the debate. I mean, you did. You did amazing with the debate.
- [41:58]
B
I love that. I love doing it. But get people to argue. I live for that. Him. Come on after. At least I try. I try.
- [42:05]
C
What she wants to do again. Again. We'll let you know once we. It has to be something super exciting. You know, it's Barbara.
- [42:12]
A
And for the people that are maybe still trying to convince their significant other or their family that this is a good idea, even though you're not into watches, last time around, two years ago, you gave us an explanation of the other attractions. So for people that maybe don't know anything about Dubai and what else it can offer to folks, for the normal people that aren't quite the watch enthusiast, what can the family get up to? What things can they be attracted to? Look at.
- [42:35]
C
Oh my God. Dubai has everything for everyone. Like if you're into arts and culture, we have a lot of things to do with arts and cultures. We have galleries, we have museums. You can even drive to the Emirates, you know, to Sharjah, to Abu Dhabi, to other Emirates. It's like very short drives, two hours maximum. And you get to enjoy the cultural scene in the other Emirates as well. The old town, you know, the old souk and the creek and crossing the creek, you know, in the old. We call them the abra. The boats that cross, cross the, that they used long time ago in the old days to cross the creek. That is an experience of itself. And then you get to view Dubai from both ends, from the Dubai side and the Deira side, we call it Deira. And then it's a haven for foodies. You know, we have the best food in Dubai, so you can just come and have a full itinerary of like what you want to have for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack and pastries. And so the culinary experience is amazing in Dubai.
- [43:32]
B
Really quickly, off the top of your head. Head. How many Michelin star restaurants are in Dubai, do you know, off the top of your head?
- [43:39]
C
I don't know how many. We have quite, we have quite a few. Not a lot, but we have quite a few. And one of them is my favorite and it's called Moonslice. And if anybody wants to go, they have to pre book and we're gonna put the, we're gonna put the, the details for that place. It's a, it's only 12 seats. That's all you get. Wow, 12 seats. And that's it. So the experiences. And it's a Michelin star, so you have to try these places. The culinary scene is quite big. We're going to be sharing actually some of these attractions on the Dubai Watch Week website as well to sort of help people plan their trip, book their restaurants and explore the city. And then because It's November and the weather is amazing. The desert is a must. You know, the desert experience in the UAE is just very unique and just being in the desert is extremely peaceful. So that's something they can do with kids. Oh my God. We have theme parks, indoor theme parks. We have a lot, a lot of activities for kids. And then for the adventures, you know, we have skydiving, we have diving, indoor diving. We have, we have a lot of things to do for adventures or. And if you're a shopaholic, let me tell you one of the best places to shop in, to be honest, because tourists also get their tax back when they shop, when they shop in Dubai. And we have everything. And under the roof of Dubai Mall, anything you have in mind, you'll find it under the roof of Dubai Mall. I mean, you know how everyone is crazy about the Lebubus. The. If you, if you're looking for a Labubu, go to Dubai Mall. You will find it. Anything you desire, you will find there. So there's a lot to do. We have the opera as well, that always has a lot of interesting shows happening. We have concerts that go on. So there's a lot for everyone.
- [45:31]
B
I want to know Hin and you may or may not tell me because you're right, the Burj Khalifa is known for having their light shows and they'll advertise different things on there. Are we going to see Dubai Watch Week maybe on the, on the Burj maybe?
- [45:46]
C
Of course you're going to see Dubai Watch Week on the Birch. What are you talking about?
- [45:49]
B
Because we had the, we had the buses, we had the dark double decker buses in Hong Kong, in Hong Kong, where they were just driving by. We were like, I'm gonna do my.
- [45:56]
C
Tours and we're gonna give you all the time, you know, and maybe we're gonna ring the bell and go like, you know, like watch the board or something. I have to talk to my team about that.
- [46:06]
B
I want to go see the Dubai.
- [46:08]
C
Clock, the, the one of the Dubai Clock roundabout. And we have the biggest indoor aquarium in, in Dubai in Dubai, inside Dubai Mall. And how far is the. That depends on what time of the day you're going to go, but maybe 30 minutes, 30 to.
- [46:25]
B
I would like to see that. I've never seen that.
- [46:26]
C
I would like to see because of the traffic. Now this is one thing I cannot help and, and, and, and do anything about. Dubai's traffic is crazy. But it's a beautiful city and you'll still love it. You can tune into the best radio stations you know, and listen to music while you're stuck in traffic. That's fine. And podcast and podcast and tune into into ra.
- [46:47]
A
I just want to say that for people that are listening, if you're not already convinced, maybe you're thinking, it's not for me. I'm too young. One of the biggest stories we ever had was Curtis listens to the show age 17, booked a flight, went to Dubai Watch Week, loved it so much. He came back two years later. We've got people all ages from 17 right through to 70 plus listeners to the show that come across every couple of years or they come to the traveling version Horology Forum. And it doesn't matter if you collect G shocks and Timex or if it's FP Journe and Roger W. Smith, it does not matter. Anybody that's into horology clocks or just has an enthusiasm for the collector community itself. This is for you. We say this all the time and it's not just because we've been before. I remember how excited I was coming to my first event. Barbara told me how great it was. She connected the dots. We had Hinda on the show explaining all about it numerous times. And every single time I just get so enthused, so happy about it because it is laid back, back. It is nonprofit, there is no entry fee, it's not a money making exercise. And we've also said the guys over at Dubai Watch Week, they bring brands along, they do not sell, so they're almost taking money out of their own pocket. For the enthusiast and the collector like you, super inexpensive to get across, get your Airbnb booked up well in advance and don't worry even if you have got pale skin like myself and you're from Scotland, you're allergic to the sun. It is not that bad. Do not be put off. It is.
- [48:09]
C
The quiet part of November is perfect.
- [48:12]
B
It's really good.
- [48:13]
C
Listen, we even curated for kids from ages 6 to 8 as well every weekend. So because we fall during the weekend, we always make sure we have things for the kids in the afternoon so that their parents can sit and enjoy the exhibitions and the booths and then their kids are having an activity taking place. So we make sure we have that and we even have master classes catering to this age group because they are very interested. The amount of youth who are interested in watches and watchmaking is just really mind blowing, especially in the GCC region.
- [48:48]
A
Well, this is great because it means we've got something of Dave's mental age to do for him?
- [48:53]
B
No. In the past you guys have done the mock auctions, which I always found so endearing, like, so cute Ricky. Terrible. So before this ends, I wanted to ask you hin, if you're going to continue to do what you've done in the past with the GPHG and actually showcase those watches.
- [49:08]
C
Yes, 100%. We started and actually we started in 2014 with GPIG and we started with their touring watches. But because we fall in November, we only bring the winning watches now. So they're definitely going to have their space. They're going to bring the winning watches. And we're also discussing how we can bring people from our retail team, from the Ahmad Stiki retail team to sort of be at the booth and maybe explain a little bit more about the winning watches and not just play them, have it displayed. Yeah, we're trying to find ways of doing that, but definitely they're coming.
- [49:41]
A
Well, I think that kind of rounds out the show. We've covered absolutely everything. I am so looking forward to this one. I always get G'd up ahead of time and then hind comes on and just blows the doors off it by giving us all this information and rekindling some of the memories, the latent memories from previous events. So if you're interested, come along. Myself, Dave, Barbara, the whole team will be across there enjoying it, lapping it up and getting content because this is the most relaxed part of the year. This is the part where all the brands, the creators, the founders, sometimes they have loose lips because they're so relaxed. They can tell us things that maybe they shouldn't do. And there will be a lot of unique pieces, a lot of new releases. I remember in the past Moser have done drops, Hublot have done drops around about Dubai. It is Bell and Rock. Everybody, everybody gets involved in this thing. So it's definitely something to look at. And yeah, we can't say enough good things about it. So anything else you want to tell us before you leave or is that about it?
- [50:36]
C
No, I just want to say please come, come join us. Any questions you have, write to us. We're ready to answer. We're ready to assist with anything you may need and just come and have fun.
- [50:46]
A
Nothing more needs to be said. Just check out the show notes. That's where you'll find all the information for the lazy folks that don't want to type stuff in. You can click the links, jump across, register your interest and sign up. It's super easy. Once you get there, you have got an app on your phone. It shows you what you're booked in for. You just scan a QR code when you enter. Nothing could be simpler. And that is about it. So we're looking forward to the next episode, a few months down the road where we can be talk more about the brands, maybe some of the collaborations, more on the master classes, the creative hubs and the things that you can actually look forward to doing instead of the overall overview that we've given you just now. But no, it's absolutely fantastic. A pleasure to have you on the show yet again, and we can't wait for you coming back. So thanks for tuning in, thanks for listening, and we'll catch you guys again soon.
- [51:28]
C
Thank you, Ricky.
- [51:29]
B
Thank you. Thank you, Hyen. Thank you. Thanks, Ricky.
- [51:31]
C
Take care.