Dubai Is Becoming an Important Hub for Serious Watch Collectors. Here’s Why.
Tucked away in a corner of the Dubai International Financial Centre, near the Ritz-Carlton, is Perpétuel Gallery, an unassuming 1,200-square-foot boutique displaying some of the world’s most important independent watchmaking. During Dubai Watch Week—a biannual event run by the Seddiqi family, the most prominent watch retailers in the U.A.E.—the shop, just a few minutes’ walk from the fair in the DIFC, held its own exhibition that was filled to the brim with the watchmakers themselves, from Roger W. Smith to Simon Brette to Rémi Maillat of Krayon. There, holding court, was Hamdan Bin Humaid Al Hudaidi, a distinguished collector who founded Perpétuel in 2021, in the middle of the Covid pandemic.
“I never thought I would take my passion professionally, ever,” he tells Robb Report. “Everyone was against the idea because they were very certain this would fail.” How wrong they were. Instead, Perpétuel has become one of the most significant global players in connecting and brokering deals between collectors and their indie idols. As a serious client himself, Al Hudaidi has unique relationships that allow him to create limited editions exclusive to the gallery—quite a feat when you consider the waiting lists for some of the watchmakers in question are a decade or more long. A recent collaboration of 15 limited-edition Krayon Anywhere watches with desert-orange accents sold out to clients—not just in the Middle East, but also in Australia, the U.S., and South Africa.
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It’s proof positive of the area’s booming and influential watch scene. Many credit Dubai Watch Week—and by extension the Seddiqi family—for the fervent local interest in watch collecting. When the event launched in 2015, it was small, hosting just 15 brands, mostly independents. “It was really a project to give back to the industry,” says Hind Abdul Hamied Seddiqi, director general of the event and CMO and communications officer for Ahmed Seddiqi & Sons, “but also to educate the general public that the watch industry is not as intimidating as you think.” It’s a strategy that has paid off. Last year’s edition ballooned to 60 brands, including big-name players such as Rolex, Audemars Piguet, and Van Cleef & Arpels, along with nearly 24,000 attendees, the largest crowd to date.
Despite the draw, the five-day-long public event has an easygoing appeal that other watch fairs often lack. One can spot Philippe Dufour perched outside a pavilion smoking a pipe, Kari Voutilainen enjoying an alfresco lunch, or Rexhep Rexhepi in line for an espresso. It’s an exceedingly rare chance for collectors to mingle with the masters in a relaxed space where everyone is in a jovial mood thanks to the casual atmosphere and balmy weather—and Seddiqi plans to keep it that way. “I worry if we go bigger, we’ll lose this feeling of intimacy,” she says. “I have a lot of people asking me to commercialize the show, but it’s just going to ruin the whole vibe.”
The explosion of interest isn’t just for new timepieces: Vintage is also having its moment. Historically, the Middle East hasn’t been receptive to “used” goods, but recent years have reflected a shift in perspective. Tariq Malik, cofounder and managing partner of Momentum, also located in the DIFC just a three-minute walk from Perpétuel, was an early pioneer in the area when he opened up shop in 2011. In the beginning, he says, it would be common for someone to look at his wares and ask if he was selling “used” watches. “I said, ‘It’s vintage,’ and they said, ‘Oh, wow!’” he recalls. “When I would say ‘vintage,’ they would start pulling out their camera and taking photos. We brought vintage to Dubai, so it was a new thing.” He’s now sought-after by clients both in the U.A.E. and internationally for his allotment of rare Rolexes, with a specialization in Day-Dates and hard-to-find Stella and stone dials.
Al Hudaidi also dabbles in vintage, predominantly ultrarare Pateks—one might walk into Perpétuel and find him casually pulling a full-set Ref. 2499 third series from a coffee-table drawer. Naturally, that watch has sold along with two other full-set 2499s, but a unique Patek Philippe Ref. 1491J chronograph from the ’40s is still up for grabs (at press time, anyway). It was made by the Stern family for Jimmy Powers, NBC’s main boxing commentator during the era. “I got goose bumps when I heard his voice on YouTube,” says Al Hudaidi. “I was like, ‘Oh, my God—that timepiece was his. And his name is engraved on the back!’”
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Despite his roster of the world’s most in-demand independents, Al Hudaidi is always looking to showcase fresh talent, though his high standards mean that most hopefuls never make the cut. “I can show you timepieces by independent watchmakers that sell for $10,000, $20,000, or $30,000, and when you look at the quality, you would not pay $2,000,” he says. Philippe Narbel, on the other hand, caught the proprietor’s discerning eye. Narbel, an Audemars Piguet alum, has only two pieces to his name so far—but what pieces they are. Consider his most recent, the Skel-1, a skeletonized watch executed entirely by hand, with a total of 211 internal angles. “When he asked if I would like to have one of his pieces, I said, ‘No—I would like to have seven,’ ” says Al Hudaidi, who currently offers both of Narbel’s at Perpétuel.
The 40 mm by 40 mm by 11 mm TV-shaped watch is framed in either steel (pictured) or a white-gold bezel and rose-gold case band and caseback. The movement is made of 5N rose-gold- or black-gold-treated German silver. But the main talking point, however, is the incredible finishing—nearly all the components are skeletonized to the hilt, an extraordinarily difficult procedure that only those with years of expertise could accomplish.
As for what’s next? “I love regular and historic complications in a contemporary setup,” Narbel says, adding: “I could imagine a jumping-hour stealing my heart.”
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