Abu Dhabi Revisited

Jovial's collection consists of some 250 different styles. The watches are branded Swiss Made, the sunglasses Jovial Italia and the pen's Jovial Germany. There are a very large number of boutiques spread around the Middle East. Some 80% being company owned. It took Jovial some 10 years to get there.


Seems familiar? A small drop in the Jovial ocean.



Every single perfume gets its own bottle. There are more than 500 differnt styles of bottles in their stores.


The overall surfaces of these perfume stores are some 300 m2 (approx. 3,300 sq. ft.) In any given mall in the mall-crazy Middle East there are up to five different perfume stores and perfume brands! All scents get mixed on the dot.


The wood is not veneer but the real stuff. The scents are just unbelievable.



One of RIVOLI's many stores. They all look more or less identical. The different brands are supported by Rivoli-controlled sub-stores and sub-counters per brand in the malls. A very hefty marketing from a cost-point of view. Inventory is second to none. There are not better stocked stores in the world.


A yes, that is the way from the corridor of our room. It's like a grand-canyon of floors. But there are only four!


That's what they call the small staircase over here. Height is some 70 meters (230 ft.) from bottom to the start of the cupole.


Nothing special there are three sections per wing leading to the rooms.



Don't worry about the palms. They are the real thing and indoors.


The view of our room.


Eve's favourite store. If there is anything more than fashion shopping it is covering the stuff of IKEA she likes. IKEA is luxury over here. Promoters enhance the value of their appartments by furnishing them with IKEA. Strange world indeed.


Just a view from our room.



Ah yes, this is the pool as seen from our room. Ah no, this is not the only one. Every wing having its own facilities. There are two spas and two gyms in here. Plus I do not know how many pools.



After a long and ardous journey we had finally arrived at 1.00 am today in Abu Dhabi.

Our flight from Bangalore to Dubai had a delay of more than 90 minutes. And yes, as is customary in India not a soul of the airport staff knew we this was so.

We arrived late at the airport as some of the roads were closed 'in honour' of the visit of the Prime Minister of Denmark. Fascinating, how the roads in India just get shut off to any other traffic. Reminded us of the times of the long-dead Soviet Union.

We slept late as we were more than tired after the last day of the fair and our long journey to Abu Dhabi.

Later in the morning we went to take a look at some of Jovial's stores here in Abu Dhabi. Jovial is the best selling Swiss brand in the Middle East. It belongs to the stable of the Syria-born businessman Mohammed S. Daban who today lives in Dubai. A few years ago we were interested in joining hands with them. Jovial is a very old brand from Bienne.

We also went to Abdul Samad Al Qurashi, one of the leading perfume traders in the Middle East. They have shops all over the region. Most of the perfumes the women here wear are made to their measure and tastes. Perfume is big business here and we were approached by some of these companies about special editions of our watches.

Rivoli, the number 1 retailer in the Middle East, the Maldives, Singapore and many other places was another stop we took today. A very special company. It was founded by the Indian businessman, Sunder Chainani one of the richest watch traders of the region. There is no Swiss Made brand's distribution that he had not controlled at one time or another. We being the exception. Rivoli is very much of a European set-up here too. Sunder, who I know personally, did the greatest job possible in the Middle East and recently sold an important stake in his company to Dubai Holdings, the government controlled holding company. So Rivoli Watches is a kind of government supervised time-keeper.

Eve had another, much more pressing goal. Enjoying the charme of the world's leading hotel, the one and only Emirates Palace. Indeed a haunt like no-other on this planet.

Tomorrow, we will have a few meetings with watch retailers from Dubai and Pakistan. And for once, I shall be able to enjoy the place as they will all travel down to the Emirates Palace. Even to them this hotel is a very special place.

The Montres Edouard Lauzières Express Arrives at Its Final Station

Security is too tight too mention. The police had arrested a home-grown, suspected terrorist named Muhammed Ghouse just days earlier. We all had to pass the metal detectors when going in and out of the hall. Mr. Ghouse had promised to strike on targets like shows and not all of associaties are behind bars yet.









Some impressions of what an average Sunday at an average Indian watch fair looks like.



This is what they call a booth with no visitors over here.


John being overrun by the sheer number of visitors to our booth. Our security detail had to save him more than once from being dragged to the ground. The visitors just waltz and tango mercilessly.



John, our trusted driver, handing out leaflets and brochures to the visitors enjoying a rare moment of calm. Without him we would not have survived. Thank you for everything, John.



Yours truly explaining the ins-and-outs of hand-milled cases, hand-guilloched dials, the special features of high-density rotors and temperature blued screws to an interested visitor.



The Montres Edouard Lauzières very own security details.


Titan Watches' signature lady feeling slightly overwhelmed. She later came over sitting next to me claiming that this was the only safe spot on the show. I still wonder why Eve stood her ground of not wanting to take a picture of her sitting next to me!



Here is Nazir, the proud owner of the first Montres Edouard Lauzières watch in India. He came specially to the show again right before closing on Sunday to get his new watch polished once more before we leave!



So what's that fuss about insurance for such a tiny cargo?


Speed packaging à l'indienne


Mihir Kharod, Samaya Bharati's cheeful organiser making his farewell address.


Dear Friends,

Sunday was the toughest day in my life. I never had a tougher day even during my time in the Army during survival training weeks. We had 55,000 visitors 'rolling' over our booth! The masses had to be controlled by two security guards and our trusted soldier. I never have seen such a thing in all my life and I doubt that I will ever see it again.

It started all around 11.00 am to reach its peak around 5.30 pm. John, our trusted driver was exhausted after having handed out leaflets and brochures from 10.00 am til 8.00 pm when the last visitor had happily left the venue. Oh just for the record, the show was supposed to close at 7.00 pm and there was no means of getting the people out earlier than 8.00 pm such tightly packed were the booths and alleys at 7.00 pm still.

I was forced to sit in a corner at the booth and resigned to serving two people at the same time. I do not know how many hands have touched the hand-out pieces but the special pink-colored watch polishing cloths were pitch-dark at the end of the show and I had to throw them away. I consumed four of these cloths. Two of them on Sunday alone.

As there were way too many people I sold two watches only. There was no way to take the time out to count the money in the middle of these masses of people. People here pay with wads of cash mostly bills of 100 rupies. So there is a lot of counting going at the prices our watches go for.

Today I will have the visit of the driver of the State Bank of India's local Vice President to pick up a watch at the hotel. He fell in love with a quartz watch with a yellow sunburst dial and simply got washed out of the stand by the masses. We were just able to get the name of our hotel, the venerable St. Marks Hotel across to each other and his calling out in impeccable Oxford English 'I will send my driver at 10.00 am tomorrow morning with the money to pick-up my watch. Please do not sell it to anyone else' and swept off he was. The one-way system insisted on by the local police proved to be the only thing preventing the booths from getting crushed.

At 8.00 pm we finally started disassembling the displays and packing the watches into their special transport cases to ship them back to Switzerland via Abu Dhabi. We were all more than just exhausted and it had to be completed rapidly. By 10.30 pm we were supposed to have the entire booth dismantled. Raju Agarwal from Meroform India (I can only recommend him to anyone ever wanting to have a booth done in India or the UAE) and his team worked miracles. By 10.00 pm sharp our booth was totally dismantled and stowed on the truck! No mean feat as there were hundreds and hundreds of workes dismantling booths at the same time in this small hall.

At 10.00 pm Mihir Kharod the chief organiser of Samaya Bharati (That's Hindi for Watch Fair as far as I have understood) gave a rousing farewell speach outside of the hall in open air. As is customary in India and the Middle East there were other speakers too and the closing ceremony took nearly as long as the opening one that took close to 90 minutes. I have never seen such a happy and merry closing like the one of the 14th Samaya Bharati. Exhibitors who are after all competitors to what amounts to the world's biggest and most cut-throat market for watches and clocks falling into each others arms and wishing each other farewell and all the best. It had more of a happy family's saying good bye after a merry get-together than of the saying good-bye amongst friends at a trade show. Mihir Kharod is indeed the knitting-factor number one in this industry. He succeeded in commercial foes turning into life-long friends marching for the common goal: bringing affordable and well-designed watches to the Indian consumers.

The outcome for us is a positive one too. We have not only made many friends in the industry in India but learned that our watches are simply loved by the Indian consumers. I was right in insisting on brighter colors and shiny hues for the dials. Nicola's insistence on quartz watches in the same cases as the mechanical ones proved to be the right one too. Now the 'real' work starts. Bringing the many discussions with potentail distributors we had to a good end. Most of them we will meet with during Baselworld in April again. And I am confident that we will be able to appoint a distributor for India by the end of June 2008 and that we will be at the 15th Samaya Bharati in 2010 in Bombay as a member of the Indian watch family spawned of Mihir Kharod's and his son Hemal Kharods' never tireing efforts.

Later in the day we shall catch our plane back to Dubai and from there on a driver will take us to Abu Dhabi to the Emirates Palace where we will have meetings with our retailers and a few days of rest. Rest that is above all well-earned by Eve.

Montres Edouard Lauzières Becomes Indian

That's what our booth looks like constantly.


Eve's picture taken against her will.


Eve's getting upset because we continue to take her picture.


Our 'personal' soldier. We do not know Hindi and he does not know a word of English. But his stare puts visitors at bay and from breaking our glass displays.


Yours truly in an animated discussion with a potential distributor.


Eve and John next to our car. Getting about town without John being in the driver's seat would simply be impossible. The car in the background is my Indian favourite, the Hindustan Ambassador.



Today I experienced something I simply did not believe possible till now. 36,000 visitors in a single day at a watch show. There were so many people in the hall that the army officers and the police chief decreed that all visitors could only move in one direction. A makeshift exit was opened in no-time as the hall could no longer cope with the influx of people.

All 36,000 visitors walked plain over the carpet of our booth and gaped at our watches. The Indian way is moving in a zig-zag style from booth to booth. No booth is 'spared' their visit.

Our soldier was decidedly unhappy about the crowds milling around him. He finally succumbed to Eve's charm and allowed her to take a picture of him. Without his and the security guards help it would have been unbearable today. A bribe with Swiss chocolate did the job and we got two guards in addition to our soldier assigned to keep the crowds from crushing the showcases.

We had many interesting discussions with potential partners in India. Mihir proved a treat in introducing us to all the industry leaders personally. They come and go as much to our booth as we are wellcomed at their booths. I never ever in my 32 years of business life have come across such a helpful and friendly athmosphere as here in Bangalore at the fair. We all are competitors but we all are roving at the same speed in the same boat. You have no drinking water anymore. Titan will lend you a helping hand. Time Jet needs some notepads off they get them from us. Someone needs someone picked-up in town and his driver is busy no problem, the driver of someone else is dispatched to pick-up the party of the competitor!

Today we sold another two watches. One of them was bought off my wrist! People simply love our new fancy dials (Wait till you see Aaron's pictures of them). The green one I had pushed my designer to do captivates people every time they see it.

Tonight we had two dos to attend. Luckily for us it was at the same hotel. First there was the pre-inauguration of Cony Bands' new manufacturing unit in a far flung place in India. They make the metal bracelets for many watches made in India. Just for the record, they manufacture some 7,000,000 pieces of these bracelets and at a quality that is second to none. Mr. Pranay Gandhi, the owner of Cony Bands insisted on our coming to the event. We obliged with pleasure. At the same hotel we had the dinner party hosted by Titan Industry's boss, Sri Bhaskar Bhat (I learned today that his name is written with one 't' only). We had gorgeous Indian food and together with Mihir I finally tasted Indian red wine. It was quite tasty and a not the plonk I feared it would be, on the contrary. A perfectly balanced Merlot.

We decided to call it a day quite early today. Fatigue sets in slowly and tomorrow we have the toughest day of all four days. The expectations are on 50,000 visitors!

Montres Edouard Lauzières Starts To Take Off In India

All of us Swiss are together on the same billboard.


Who do you think is the person being told to water Eve's Indian lucky charm plant?


Friday brought a completly new tack to the show. We now all have to pass security checks when we want to enter or leave the hall. The presence of police and above all of the military has been increased dramatically. Our booth is now shadowed by a soldier as we are the first one next to the main entrance. The soldiers are tight-lipped, don't like to be photographed and the policemen are frightened.

The number of visitors is just mind-boggling. In one single day we had some 30,000 visitors and they all passed through our booth! It is just breathtaking with how much love and passion the Indians go about watches. They keep on asking and asking about the history and the future, the different watches and on, and on.

The highlight of the day were 200 pupils that visited the show with their teachers. Neatly pressed school uniforms, polite youngster of between 12 to 15 years. What a change to the youth we have in Switzerland. And they all speak excellent English.

All day long we get visits from our fellow exhibitors. They inquire about the possibility of importing to and distribute our watches in India. According to the spokesman of the Indian Watch Industry Federation our booth and Titan's are the most visited ones. They keep tap about these things here. Indians simply love numbers in all forms and shapes. No wonder, modern mathematics was invented here.

In the afternoon our friends at Titan's launched their new Octane line. For this purpose their entire booth was redecorated and a press conference was held. Imagine some 450 journalists all of them working and writing for dailies covering the launch of a watch collection. Staggering. In Switzerland not more than 50 journalists will show up for a posh press do even at Swatch's. Here they had to stand in line to get their questions answered. And they patiently did. Unlike their unruly behaviour in traffic, Indians are the embodied patience when it comes to waiting for their turn.

Eve and I were invited to the special do Titan Watches had for their dealers in the evening. Their best dealers from all over the country were there and we had shared many a laughs with them. Watch people in India are indeed a merry folk. And they can stomach a fair amount of whiskey, too. Today, I learned that in India there are more than 400 distilleries specialising in perfectioning this particularly charming British legacy. And of course I could not resist checking out on the progresses they had made.

Some booths are still not fully built up yet. But the initial anger of those affected has given way to happy smiles as the visitors simply do not mind as long as they find someone sharing their love for watches. These visitors come from all corners and far-flung pockets of the country. Many of them had to spend more than three days aboard trains or overland buses to come to Bangalore. They often stay a few hours only before having to catch a train or bus back to where they came from. How does this count for having a soft spot about watches?

Our brand has received a special attention on the outside of the hall. The logo points directly to that part of the road where all vehicles have to stop at the traffic lights. Perfect.

As a token of appreciation Eve has received two lucky charm plants from Mihir and Hemal. She has taken to wear the local women's outfits and her radiating smile became a coveted feature of the show in no time. I guess quite a few visits and inquiries come thanks to her presence. Maybe I should have taken her to Hong Kong instead of Niocla ...........

And oh, before I forget, we sold three watches today out of the show cases. People were so charmingly pressing for them being sold a watch that I simply could not resist asking Eve to re-arrange the displays in the show cases.

Tomorrow will be the busiest day of the show. Mihir told me that we can expect up to 35,000 visitors. As the show is open in the afternoon to the general public, I shall start oiling my voice and get myself one of those really tasty Kingfishers's before I go to bed.

Tomorrow night, Mihir wants me to try Indian red wine. Eve and I are invited to a dinner party given by Sri Bhaskar Bhatt, the Managing Director of Titan Industry. Well, I guess I am invited 'cause I happen to be the guy travelling alongside of Eve.