Doha Jewellery & Watches Exhibition - Interview with Ali Al Fardan, CEO of Al Fardan Watches
How important is the Doha Jewellery and Watches Show for you from a retail perspective?
After BaselWorld this has become one of the biggest watch and jewellery shows in the world. Not by the number of brands participating but but definitely by quality. All of the big brands are here, some of whom do not exhibit in Basel, such as Cartier.
This is the 12th year that the exhibition has been held under the current name but the exhibition has actually been going for over 40 years because we first started in 1974, starting in the Doha Club and later moving to the Sheraton Hotel . At the time it was only Al Fardan, but it has grown ever bigger and we think that it will be even bigger in the future because it will move to the new exhibition centre, which has 40,000 square metres (here we only have 15,000 square metres). It will become a centre for high-end watches and jewellery in the Middle East.
Is it true that the majority of visitors to the show are local?
This is true. It is mainly Qatari people or people living in Qatar who visit the show. But I am in favour of opening up the exhibition to a wider audience across all the Gulf states and I have spoken with the Minister of the Interior about this.
We have noticed a number of brand-new timepieces on display here that will only be officially presented in Basel. How important are such talking pieces for the show?
People here appreciate quality and know the big brands. They will buy from the big brands. There are a lot of new brands coming on to the market but unfortunately they arrive with tourbillons rather than more simple and classical models. But if people here are going to buy a tourbillon they will buy it from one of the established brands such as Girard-Perregaux or Vacheron Constantin.
So what criteria would you apply if you were looking to take on a new brand in your collection?
We are very happy with the brands we have but I would not exclude taking on a new brand. If it's a good name then I would certainly consider it. But we already have a good mix. If someone is looking more for a jewellery brand then we have Chopard, if they are looking for complications there is Girard-Perregaux or Vacheron Constantin. Or if they are looking for a combination of both then we have brands like Piaget, which is a jewellery brand that also offers complications. DeWitt also have some very good complications and we are proud that they are exhibiting here.
Who is the typical customer at the exhibition Doha Jewellery and Watches Exhibition?
To be honest we sell far more ladies' watches here than men's watches, maybe even as much as 90% of our sales are for ladies' watches. Because when ladies' change their handbags now they have to change their watch as well. For men we can wear a watch for much longer. I have been wearing my watch for six or seven years, for example.
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