The Horology Forum at the Dubai Watch Week is an intellectual space where panelists take to the Main Stage and address a diverse range of subjects.
This year, the focus has been shifted panoramically to involve industry drivers within and outside of the watch industry that will discuss controversial decisions, current events and historical moments in a meticulously arranged set of strategically curated panels. In light of the theme, Innovation and Technology will serve as an umbrella, directing the Horology Forum topics accordingly. Each panel will conclude with a 15-minute Q&A between the attendees and panelists.
Here are some of the topics from the upcoming Horology Forum at the Dubai Watch Week that have caught our attention!
- Making The Wait-List
21st November
Moderator: Robin Swithinbank (Writer, journalist and New York Times contributor)
Speakers: Mohammed Abdulmagied Seddiqi (Chief Commercial Officer, Seddiqi Holding), Adam Craniotes (Founder & President of RedBar Group; Editor-in-Chief of Revolution Magazine USA) & Hamdan Al Hudaidi (Watch Collector & Specialist)
The forum will talk about the concept of ‘The List’, the retailers practicing exclusivity, emerging collectors planting their root elsewhere, and more.jean
What are the deciding factors of the clientele that make ‘The List’ and how has its profile morphed over time? Is this mentality stifling these retailers, limiting them to depend on factors like loyalty-bound, endless bloodlines or is keeping the ‘Birkin’ Approach still an asset? When is the aura of exclusivity sustainable, and when is it not in the luxury world?
- What brings you here?
21st November
Moderator: Jeffrey Kingston (Watch enthusiast, author, and speaker)
Speakers: Aldis Hodge (Actor/Horologist/Watch Designer), Fabrizio Buonamassa (Watches Design Center Senior Director, Bvlgari), Michael Biercuk (Professor of Quantum Physics and Quantum Technology, Founder and CEO – Q-CTRL) & Pascal Raffy (Owner of BOVET 1822)
This panel will explore nepotism vs people of non-watch related backgrounds who chanced upon the industry through unforeseen series of events.
Is there a hoity toity divide categorized by ‘echelon’ mentality? How is this impacting the composition of the watch industry?
- Keeping up with the Infamy-Leverage
22nd November
Moderator: Melika Yazdjerdi (Director of Dubai Watch Week)
Speakers: Jean-Claude Biver (Non-Executive President of the LVMH Watch Division)
Veteran Jean-Claude Biver, one of the industry’s most prolific entrepreneurs, will have the panel to himself. In the words of the man who has reached the top himself, the forum will discuss how one masters the art of spinning bad publicity into gold, and Jean-Claude Biver’s eternal mission compelling him to top himself.
What are the different tried and true methods vs innovative marketing ideas that ‘saved’ certain brands and entities- back then vs now? How does a brand handle bad publicity? How do public relations and different marketing tools give subjects the opportunity to release scandalous material and become role models as a result?
- Control Freak
24th November
Moderator: Jack Forster (Editor-in-Chief, HODINKEE)
Speakers: Hind Abdul Hamied Seddiqi (Chief Marketing and Communication Officer, Seddiqi Holding), Maximilian Büsser (Owner & Creative Director, MB&F), Patrick Pruniaux (CEO, Ulysse Nardin) & Richard Stenning (Director, Charles Frodsham & Co., London)
Telling someone how to do their job is always a delicate process, especially when that someone created the product or service you are trying to sell to your people. This discussion entails why, in the face of globalization and improvements in technology, brands need to be more imaginative in their guidelines and trust the locals.
When should a brand sit back and let the local distributor/retailer/market sell to their own people? When is it imperative they don’t?
For more information, full schedule and registrations, visit dubaiwatchweek.com
