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00:00Hi, my name is Sohail Shah. I'm a director at the Luxury Collective and we are based
00:25in the Golden Diamond Park. Pre-owned luxury watches are popular all around the world
00:30for various reasons. In my opinion, they're great investments and also the luxury watch
00:39market around the world, there's various constraints that allow customers to buy watches directly
00:45from Rolex, Patek, Richard Mille. They're very sought after, so they come to companies
00:52like us who can provide those watches very quickly and they're great birthday presents,
00:59great anniversary presents and long term they bring a lot of good memories, history and
01:06overall they're great investments. Luxury watches are a great investment. It's like
01:12buying any asset. If you buy stocks and shares, luxury bags, luxury cars, anything which is
01:18high value, depending on the marketplace, it's always going to be a good investment
01:23long term. These top three luxury brands have the highest return of investment, initially
01:29Patek Philippe, then AP, then Rolex. In our opinion, these are the best three brands to
01:37invest in. In terms of fake watches, we only sell 100% genuine watches. It wouldn't be
01:43worth our reputation, not only in Dubai, but certainly globally to be involved in the
01:50selling of fake watches. They're 100% genuine and authenticated. On the initial inspection,
01:57there's a pretty good chance because we're all experienced traders that we would know
02:0190% that the watch is fake. You can tell by the weight, you can tell by the writing. We
02:07would use a magnifying glass. The writing's not sharp. Around the dial, you could tell
02:12the printing is what we call slightly off. Even if you look at the winding of the mechanism,
02:18you can tell. But even further beyond that, if we weren't happy or not unsure, we would
02:24take it to our watchmaker. He takes the back off the watch and then inspects the mechanism.
02:30What you've got to be really careful of these days, they are super-clone copies who the
02:34watch will look good, feel good, very, very, looks real. But when you take a look at the
02:41mechanism, it's fake. So the most expensive watch that we've sold was a few weeks ago,
02:45it was an RM52. It's the black edition with a skull. And this sold for $1.2 million to
02:52a client abroad. It's one in so many few that I've made in that watch. The most sought-after
02:59branded watches, I would say the mainstream would be Rolex. A lot of clients want Rolex.
03:07It's a very popular brand. If you look at what's really clever that Rolex do to make
03:14people want them is their marketing is very clever. So the most affordable watch that
03:19we have in stock, we've got Cartier, which is around 5,000, 6,000 dirhams. We have Tudor,
03:25again, similar. And then we have Rolexes, which are older Rolexes. They also come without
03:33papers, but they are fully authenticated. And again, they're around the kind of 20,000
03:38dirhams, 25,000 dirham mark. These watches are all available and more affordable. So
03:45one of the good reasons for buying pre-owned watches rather than brand new, brand new watches
03:51in today's market can depreciate very quickly in value. It's a bit like buying a luxury
03:56car from a car showroom. If you drive the car out the showroom, the price drops. In
04:01a lot of cases, pre-owned watches are pretty much the same. There's a lot of pre-owned
04:06watches where you may want older years, maybe three years old, four years old, five years
04:12old, and they'll suit the budget of the consumer. In our boutique, we have the service of offering
04:19consumers to have their watches authenticated. Even if they've not bought the watch from
04:24us, if they're wary of the validity of their watch, they can bring it to us at a cost and
04:31we would authenticate that watch with a certificate and it would make the consumer feel more comfortable.
04:39We also, we take watches on consignment. If a consumer wants to give the watch on consignment,
04:45it's in a very secure location. We agree the value between both parties and then we agree
04:51X amount of the timeframe. So it could be four weeks, five weeks, six weeks, whatever.
04:56And then as soon as the watch is sold, the money is returned back to the client.
05:02We decided to come to Dubai personally from a personal opinion. I've always wanted to
05:07move to Dubai for the last 30 years, never really had the opportunity. We feel the way
05:13Dubai is progressing, the growth in Dubai, the economy, it's growing all the time and
05:20we believe it's a place for luxury goods to really be valuable here. And geographically
05:25where Dubai is based, I think it's a very, very unique location. It's very cosmopolitan,
05:31very multicultural and it's a beautiful place where I think it's ideal for luxury watches.
05:37My name is Khaled, Khaled El Sayed, and I'm the co-founder here at Timepiece360. So Timepiece360,
05:44we've been dealing in pre-owned luxury watches pretty much since 2016. We started with proof
05:50of concept. We raised money and really started doing it properly in 2018. And kind of fast
05:58forward to today, we are three business lines. So we're kind of TP360, which is the buying
06:05and selling of pre-owned or pre-loved luxury watches. And this is the core of our business
06:11and something we've been doing really since the onset. So we offer to buy watches from
06:16customers or consign, so sell them on their behalf. And once we've sold it, we pay them
06:21minus our commission. Demand for pre-owned luxury watches, not just in the UAE, globally
06:27has really been on the rise in particular since COVID. COVID created a sensation with
06:35luxury watches, fueled by different reasons, probably more reasons than we can go through
06:40today. But what we've seen really since then is an increase in demand for luxury watches,
06:48which is really reflected in the number of people now who buy and sell luxury watches.
06:52We've seen a big growth in that in the last two years. What's maybe changed also is the
06:57profile of people that have been buying luxury watches. So when I look back maybe at 2016 and
07:02look back today, the demographic, let's say, of people buying luxury watches has really
07:10evolved and that's been fueled by the demand, that's been fueled by social media, and it's
07:15been fueled by many things, which obviously is a good thing for us. I think overall, even the
07:20primary market for luxury watches has grown over the last few years. So ultimately, yes,
07:25I think demand has been growing. It will continue to grow. What may change over time is the level
07:32of growth. Having said that, if you look at the trend of watches over the last 20, 30, 40 years,
07:40there's an upwards trend, which had a blip over the last few years. If you look at brands like
07:45Rolex, just because it's popular, Rolex has a tendency to increase their prices every year,
07:515% to 7%. So in theory, if you buy a watch and you keep it for four to five years and you look
07:56to sell it, in theory, after five years, you should look to make close to your money back.
08:02But that's never a rule of thumb. It depends on the demand of the watch. It depends whether it's
08:06in production, whether it's been discontinued. It depends on whether you looked after the watch.
08:11Does it still have the box and papers? So there are many, many factors. So with anything,
08:15there's always challenges with any industry, and the pre-owned industry has its fair share
08:22of challenges. I think the biggest challenge facing the pre-owned industry today is authentication,
08:27authenticity of a watch because of the demand. So there are certain brands and models which are
08:32high in demand, which opens up then this notion of authenticity and playing with the watches.
08:39How to spot real from fake watches? Okay, I'll give you the straight and honest answer.
08:44You have to get an expert to check it. Our home is the UAE, and UAE provides us with what we
08:49believe is to be an exciting and a fantastic opportunity. First and foremost, the UAE probably
08:56as a destination, let's say take tourism, is up there amongst the top in the world. So you
09:04have a steady flow of people coming and leaving all the time, which is for us as a business,
09:10it's fantastic. And people always link Dubai for shopping, right? So when people come to Dubai,
09:16they want to come and they want to shop. So attaching ourselves to that is fantastic, right?
09:21So for us, tourism is a great contributor to the growth of our business, the growth of the UAE
09:29itself. My name is Kamil Sophia. I'm the General Manager of Watch Trade. It's a specialized
09:38company in pre-owned watches in the UAE. We have different kind of demand on watches, on pre-owned
09:49watches in the market. It is first collecting the rare watches that are rarely available in
09:57retail store or produced in a very limited capacity or quantity. And then you get other
10:05special watches that are linked to occasions such as, for example, the Moonwatch that went to the
10:15space or the Rolex Submariner that's used in the missions in the deep water, etc. And then
10:27there is the third kind, which is the investment watches that are, again, for a certain reason,
10:34they are not available. The production capacity is very low. These watches grow in value. So
10:45if a person gets his hand on one of those watches, it is considered to be a good investment for him.
10:52Watches collectors, they don't obtain these watches to sell it and make money.
10:57Mostly they obtain it because of a hobby. It's something that they like dearly. And the investment
11:05part is true. They want to keep value of their money. Before COVID, the industry had, I would
11:15say, very stable demand on watches being an accessory that they like to buy. But then during
11:24COVID, because in my opinion and based on some readings I did, the purchase power of people
11:33get a bit higher because of maybe them not being able to spend on traveling or
11:41on the usual activity they spend on. Popular brands are mostly the high value brands.
11:50We have a trinity. We call it the Holy Trinity of watches in the industry. I would say Patek Philippe
11:59is one of the best brands. Of course, the ranking is subjective. It's not based on statistic or
12:08I would say Vacheron Constantin also is one of the best performing brands.
12:14I would say Rolex is one of the most stable brands. I want to add Omega. Omega is a great
12:21brand also that competes. Now, each of these brands has high performance models and the
12:29slow performing models. Mostly in watches, we always try to buy watches in good condition,
12:38I would say, because there's many watches that has a lot of scratches or dents. It's very hard
12:45to acquire. We look for watches that has a certain history. So if, for example, the purchase
12:53invoice is available, that will be better. It will make us feel more comfortable to take
12:59the watch off. We have a good way to spot a fake watch through the examination we do,
13:05the test we do on the watch. Basically, you got serial numbers all over the watch,
13:11on the bracelet, on the parts of the movement, on the casing itself. With experience,
13:16you develop your own skills that shows you, for example, how to spot a fake Rolex. Rolex has
13:24already some areas that they focus on when producing the watch. Those areas, that's something
13:30you can directly check on the watch itself. The watch itself is an object for people to enjoy.
13:37It is something that related to their personality, their activities, something they like,
13:43something they love, and it is something for people to use. Now, I would say if you want to
13:52treat the watch as an asset, yes, it keeps a certain value, of course. Dubai is one of the
13:58main hubs of watch industry for many reasons. Being Dubai, as we all know it, the safest place
14:07on earth, the healthy economy, the constant development of the city, the charm of Dubai
14:16plays a big role. So many people come to Dubai, not only to buy a watch. Dubai gets
14:23people who are interested in tourism, or in investment, or even in lifestyle,
14:33and that for sure will benefit every single industry in Dubai.