SME profile: Timing now ripe for Dubai retailer of vintage watches

Trading Swatch watches as a teenager led Tariq Malik to develop a deep interest in out-of-circulation timepieces. Today, he and two friends own a thriving watch business in Dubai, where he found their competitive edge.

Emiratis have grown to make up 20 per cent of the clientele of German expatriate Tariq Malik’s vintage watch shop, Momentum Dubai, since it opened in 2011. Victor Besa for The National

There is a difference between vintage and second-hand watches, and explaining that difference has been the biggest hurdle for Tariq Malik, a co-owner of Momentum Dubai, a vintage watch shop.

“In Dubai, everyone wants the latest, newest thing,” he says in describing the challenge he was facing when he opened the shop four years ago.

He says a second-hand watch is one that has been used but a new model is still available for purchase, whereas new models cannot be found in retail outlets for vintage watches. “And many people just don’t understand that,” he says.

Mr Malik has been successful in conveying this message, as shop sales have doubled since the shop’s inception in October 2011. “We sell a story with each watch,” he says.

Rolex is the best-selling brand at the shop and stories come into play – such as the origin of the Rolex GMT-Master II’s unique colours. The red-and-blue bezel spawned the name “Pepsi”, in reference to the soft drink’s brand colours.

The first version was designed and released in the 1950s and the colours were actually in line with Pan American World Airways, a partner with Rolex that helped to launch the watchmaker’s dual time zone watch.

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“And every vintage watch owner has a story,” says Mr Malik. He recalls purchasing his first Rolex, a 1961 Oyster Precision.

A fellow dealer in Mr Malik’s homeland of Germany showed him his collection. All but one watch – the Precision, with a simple design – was for sale. The dealer finally gave in to Mr Malik’s repeated offers, but under one condition. “He said that if I ever decided to sell it, that he had the first right of refusal.”

Mr Malik paid the equivalent of Dh1,600 in today’s money, but the value of the watch today is worth about Dh12,000. “I’m never going to sell it,” he says.

Mr Malik’s love for vintage watches actually harks back to 1991, when he started trading Swatch watches during a collection boom. He was 16, and his brother convinced him to buy a Swatch watch as an investment.

He eventually sold that watch to a collector through a newspaper advertisement for a sum that was triple his purchase price.

He went to trade shows and sold his collection at hotels once a month, later striking a deal with a local jewelry shop to sell his merchandise for a commission. The shop later offered Mr Malik and his brother work each day after school. “Don’t ask me how, but after five years I bought the shop,” he says.

In 2003, with a job in telecommunications, Mr Malik found himself travelling often to the UAE. He began looking for vintage watch shops in the area, but none existed. He moved to Dubai in 2011 and started working with two friends, Anas Halabi and Adam Roan, to put together a business plan.

Each of them invested their own money, and Mr Malik began a tour of Dubai to various shop owners for market research. He found that customers were limited in transactions with these shops.

“I took a watch where I knew that there was no retailer in Dubai, and I went to another watch manufacturer,” he says. “I knew the size of the band would fit, but the shop refused to sell it to me.”

He was grateful to discover this because he knew what it meant he had to offer – client flexibility. “And now we have the biggest strap offering throughout the Middle East, with 5,000 straps in stock permanently,” he says, adding that Momentum Dubai sells about 300 pairs of watch straps a month for between Dh100 and Dh1,500 each.

His investigation also pointed to many existing watch shops only focusing on selling watches, ignoring other related products such as winders. As a result, last year Momentum Dubai introduced its own line of accessories.

From its humble beginnings of having merely 60 watches, the store now showcases about 250 timepieces, with a monthly average of 150 customers and 150 visitors.

The value of the shop’s watches on offer has also increased. The most expensive item in 2011 was the Rolex Sea-Dweller, a diver’s watch from the 1990s, which sold for Dh25,000. Today’s priciest watch, the Rolex Daytona, which was inspired by the famous car race, retails at Dh200,000.

The shop’s customers have changed with time as well. “In the beginning, Emiratis were very hesitant, thinking we did second-hand watches, so we had approximately 90 per cent expatriates as customers and only 10 per cent Emiratis,” says Mr Malik, adding that Emiratis now make up 20 per cent of the shop’s clientele.

He says that he finds many of his contacts who venture to Switzerland and New York are now coming to Dubai to see Momentum’s selection. “We want to place Dubai on the global map when it comes to vintage watches, and I think we’ve managed to do that this year,” says Mr Malik. “We are where we want to be.”

Top 5 most expensive vintage watches sold by Momentum Dubai

1 Rolex GMT Master, stainless steel, 1978, with the signature of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum on the dial, sold for Dh450,000 in 2013

2 Rolex GMT Master, stainless steel, 1957, sold for Dh400,000 last year

3 Rolex Daytona, stainless steel, 1982, sold for Dh200,000 this year

4 Rolex Day Date, 1981, yellow gold with Stella dial, sold for Dh100,000 this year

5 Audemars Piguet, Royal Oak, 18ct gold, 1982, with the signature of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid on the dial, sold for Dh100,000 in 2012

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