Has the luxury watch market been affected by the global financial crisis?
Seddiqi: Everyone’s been affected, including everyone in the watch industry. The boom we saw last year will never come back. It was an exceptional year, and everyone made a lot of money, but it’s over, and now everyone needs to take a step back and concentrate on other things, like services. Kipp: Are customers being more careful about their purchases? Seddiqi: Yes, previously a client would walk into a store, see a watch he likes and buy it in all the colors available. It was a bit over-exaggerated. People were making and spending a lot of money. Today people are still buying watches, but they’re being more careful. They’re looking at watches as investments, as something that they’ll keep for a long time, rather than just seasonal products. They’ve been opting for more classical choices, which stay in fashion longer. We’ve also noticed that collectors have remained active; they haven’t slowed down their purchases because of the financial crisis. If a collector wants a watch, he will g
