Dubai, UAE, 29 November 2023: Dubai Watch Week concluded its biggest and most successful edition to date, marked by a record increase in visitor attendance, participating brands, exclusive launches and more.

The five-day event attracted over 23,000 visitors, marking a 42% increase in attendance from the previous edition, underscoring Dubai and the UAE’s vision of becoming a leading global and creative hub for culture, heritage, and the arts. The event collectively united industry brands, CEOs, watchmakers, affiliates and partners to pioneer trends and foster discussions, augmenting the event’s atmosphere and offering.

The 6th edition featured the highest participation to date with 63 exhibiting brands, including over 10 first-time participants such as Van Cleef & Arpels, CHANEL, La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton and ID Genève. The event also witnessed over 20 launches from renowned watch brands unveiling global, UAE and Ahmed Seddiqi & Sons limited editions.

Key announcements from Dubai Watch Week 2023 included Swiss Haute Horlogerie manufacturer Audemars Piguet revealing its new partnership with the Dubai Future Foundation—a long-term collaboration aimed at pushing innovation further within and beyond Haute Horlogerie. Additionally, the launch of a new brand, Vyntage Horology, led by the vision of the Seddiqi family was launched at the event, highlighting a bold stride into the creation of luxury timepieces, drawing from the family’s vast experience in the industry.

Hind Seddiqi, Director General, Dubai Watch Week, said, “Dubai Watch Week is an opportunity to explore watch culture in the most unique way – the platform showcases the depth of horology and offers our audience the opportunity to meet and interact with both new and established brands, artisans, watchmakers, media and collectors. It is incredibly humbling to observe the global and regional recognition we continue to receive with each edition. As we reflect on the success of the 6th edition, we are incredibly grateful to our partners and brands as we pioneer the luxury and horology industry and illustrate the prominence of the platform.”
Dubai Watch Week also celebrated the curious confluence and undercurrents of local craftsmanship via the programme. Through collaborations with brand partners such as Hublot, two timepieces were launched and designed with award-winning calligraphy artist Wissam Shawkat. Additionally, Reservoir unveiled its collaboration with the renowned Emirati artist Abdulla Lutfi, introducing a distinctive timepiece that seamlessly blends modern art with traditional Swiss-made horology. Through Masterclasses, the event hosted a unique Emirati Safeefah Leather Bracelet-making workshop by Irthi Contemporary Crafts Council.

This year, the Horology Forum and Creative Hub sessions gathered renowned leaders from their respective fields to dissect and dialogue; and introduced the first-ever Arabic panel, adding a new dimension to the platform. All panels were livestreamed, and recorded and are available for viewing on the Dubai Watch Week YouTube Channel.

Dubai Watch Week will return in 2024 via the travelling edition of Horology Forum, the 10th iteration of this programme to unite for a moment in time.

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Cartier, Islamic Inspiration and Modern Design is co-curated by Judith Henon-Raynaud, Chief Curator and Deputy Director of the Department of Islamic Art at the Musée du Louvre and Évelyne Possémé, Former Chief Curator of Ancient and Modern Jewellery at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, with the assistance of Fakhera Alkindi, Senior Curatorial Assistant at Louvre Abu Dhabi. This exhibition builds upon a project titled Cartier and Islamic Art: In Search of Modernity (Paris-Dallas 2021-2022), which was initially conceived and co-organised by the Dallas Museum of Art and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, with the exceptional collaboration of the Musée du Louvre and the support of Maison Cartier. The exhibition was curated by Heather Ecker, Judith Henon-Raynaud, Évelyne Possémé and Sarah Schleuning.

At the turn of the 20th century, the organisation of major exhibitions dedicated to Islamic art and the massive arrival of works, particularly Persian and Indian paintings and manuscripts, led to the development of a true Persian fashion in Paris.

Louis Cartier, grandson of the founder of the Maison, was deeply intrigued by these artistic traditions that he discovered in the Parisian art market. In search of new sources of inspiration, he enriched the Maison’s study library with the latest publications dedicated to Islamic arts and architecture. This library would be an endless source of patterns for the Maison’s designers, possibly the original source. In the 1910s, Louis Cartier initiated a personal collection of Islamic art, which he made available to the Maison’s designers. In 1911, his brother Jacques Cartier travelled to India to reinforce ties with maharajas, and to the Arabian Gulf region to investigate the pearl market. The discovery of the patterns and shapes in architecture, artworks, and literature unlocked a new realm of modern artistic expression for the Maison, right up to the artistic direction of Jeanne Toussaint and even today.

The exhibition’s chapters explore the Maison’s sources of inspiration and its creative process through over 400 objects from the collections of Louvre Abu Dhabi, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Musée du Louvre, and Cartier Collection and Archives, as well as exceptional loans from Petit Palais, Musée des Beaux-Arts de la ville de Paris and other lenders, spanning masterpieces of Islamic art, jewellery, drawings, design sketches, miniatures, textiles, photographs and archival material.

Manuel Rabaté, Director of Louvre Abu Dhabi, said: “As the first universal museum in the Arab World, Louvre Abu Dhabi seeks to broaden our visitors’ perspectives by bringing unique art and cultural experiences to Abu Dhabi. Through this exhibition, and thanks to the precious loans from our partners – Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Musée du Louvre and many other lenders, our visitors will not only be able to discover new connections between cultures and gain a better understanding of modernity, but they will also be inspired by the rich technicalities and unique materials of Islamic art, architecture and Cartier jewellery on display. The Cartier, Islamic Inspiration and Modern Design exhibition at Louvre Abu Dhabi is also a testament to a longstanding and successful partnership between our institution and Cartier.”

Exhibition curators Judith Henon-Raynaud and Évelyne Possémé, said: “This exhibition is the result of almost five years of research in archives, drawings and photographs to discover the links between Cartier creations and Islamic art, and to identify the sources of inspiration. The result is a true immersion into the creative process and a journey through the sources that inspired some of the most innovative pieces in French jewellery. The exhibition allows us to understand the importance of the discovery of Islamic art for artists at the beginning of the 20th century, and the way in which this aesthetic influence was at the origin of many masterpieces produced in Europe, and a real fashion phenomenon. We hope that this exhibition will be the first of many to bring this history to light and pave the way for many other discoveries.”

Guilhem André, Acting Director of Curatorial, Scientific and Collection Management Department at Louvre Abu Dhabi, said: “Cross-cultural influence has always been central to the narrative of Louvre Abu Dhabi, evident in both our permanent galleries and temporary exhibitions. The exhibition Cartier, Islamic Inspiration and Modern Design is a prime example of this, showcasing how the past continues to inspire the present. We have seen our visitors deeply appreciate the craftsmanship and ornamental beauty of Islamic art over the years. With this exhibition, featuring previously unseen works, visitors will be able to delve into the creative process behind the craftsmanship that combines the rich heritage of Islamic art with the creative innovations of the 20th century Parisian workshops. It also presents an exciting opportunity to engage various audiences, particularly the growing design community in the UAE.”

Pierre Rainero, Image, Style and Heritage Director at Cartier, commented: “Islamic art has played a significant and structural impact on Cartier’s creative language since the beginning of the 20th century. This vocabulary continues to grow even today, thanks to the richness of geometric patterns and their many combinations. This exhibition underscores the living language of the Cartier style, and in turn highlights how important jewellery is to the artistic field. Cartier’s true pioneering spirit is also revealed, along with the role the Maison played in the birth of modernity at the start of the 20th century.”

Highlights from Louvre Abu Dhabi’s collection displayed in the exhibition include a wooden Carved ivory panel with scrolls (1334 – 1339, Cairo, Egypt); a Dish with a blue Saz leaf, dotted tulips and roses (ca. 1580, Iznik, Turkey); a Glass vessel in the shape of a mosque lamp by Joseph Brocard (1871, Paris, France). Masterpieces from Musée des Arts Décoratifs include a Basin by Théodore Deck (1863, Paris, France) and a binding and title page of the Rubaiyat by Omar Khayyam (1912, Paris, France). Highlights of loans from Musée du Louvre include a Fragment of a mosaic panel with geometric decoration (14 – 15th century), Three tiles from a wall panel (1550 – 1600, Damascus, Syria), a Pen box said to have belonged to Mirza Muhammad Munshi and a Pen box in the name of Shah Abbas (late 16th – early 17th century, Deccan, India) and a Casket (19th century, Iran). The Cartier Collection is lending special works including a cigarette case (Cartier Paris, 1930), a vanity case with decoration inspired by Iznik ceramics (Cartier Paris, 1927), a Hindu necklace (Cartier Paris, 1936) and a tiara (Cartier London, 1937). Le Petit Palais – Musée des Beaux-arts de la Ville de Paris is lending an exceptional collection of design sketches by Charles Jacqueau, a pivotal designer to Maison Cartier.

Lenders to the exhibition include Louvre Abu Dhabi; Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, France; Musée du Louvre, Paris, France; Cartier and Cartier Archives; Aga Khan Museum, Toronto, Canada; The al-Sabah Collection, Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyah, Kuwait; Al Shindagha Museum, Dubai, UAE; The Al Thani Collection; H.E. Sheikha Nouf Bint Khalifa Al-Thani; Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris, France; Galerie Ary-Jan, Paris, France; Fabrice Gros, Antwerp, Belgium; Collection of Businesswoman Pansy Ho; Mengdiexuan Collection, Hong Kong; Monaco Princely Palace Collection, Monaco; Musée du quai Branly, Paris, France; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, USA; Museum of Islamic Art, Doha, Qatar; Museum of Islamic Civilization, Sharjah, UAE; Petit Palais – musée des Beaux-arts de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France; The Private Collection of Tina Vidal-Duart; The Royal Collection / Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, USA; in addition to numerous private lenders.

A few feet from the main exhibition galleries, the temporary exhibit features an immersive digital space, where large digital animations show artistic interpretations of the physical assembly of Cartier key pieces and their source of inspiration. Two “infinity rooms” will immerse visitors in animated patterns, offering a captivating 180-degree visual experience within this digital realm. The exhibition scenography and the digital space are designed by the New York-based design studio Diller Scofidio + Renfro. On the museum’s façade, projections of artworks and photographs will take visitors on the journey of Jacques Cartier’s travels – from Marseille to Agra, Bombay to Muscat, and Dubai to Muharraq.

Alongside Cartier, Islamic Inspiration and Modern Design exhibition, Louvre Abu Dhabi will offer a diverse cultural and educational programme, featuring an in-depth talk with the exhibition curators, a documentary film screening followed by a community discussion, guided tours, masterclasses, a family weekend and an activity booklet.

Cartier has been a longstanding supporter of Louvre Abu Dhabi. In 2019, the 10,000 Years of Luxury exhibition featured iconic pieces on loan from the Cartier Collection. Also, Louvre Abu Dhabi presented USO, The Perfumed Cloud (USO = Unidentified Scented Object), an olfactory art installation, created by Maison Cartier’s in-house perfumer Mathilde Laurent and Transsolar Klima Engineering. This art installation offered an immersive sensory journey, inviting visitors to climb a spiral staircase to immerse themselves in a cloud of perfume.

The public will get the chance to explore the exhibition through different channels, all available in Arabic, English and French. Visitors can enjoy an audio tour through the exhibition podcast, which will be available on streaming platforms (including Spotify, Anghami, Apple podcast, Google podcast and Deezer), as well as Louvre Abu Dhabi’s website and mobile application. A catalogue highlighting the various themes, sections and objects in the exhibition will be available in three languages.

For more information about the exhibition and to book tickets, please visit www.louvreabudhabi.ae or call Louvre Abu Dhabi at +971 600 56 55 66. Entrance to the exhibition is free with the museum’s general admission tickets. Admission to the museum is free for children under the age of 18.

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The Chronomat Automatic GMT 40 is Breitling’s tribute to travel, not only for its dual time zone display, but also because of its easygoing aesthetics and practical size. As an all-purpose sports watch, the Chronomat Automatic  GMT 40 can cross over between Breitling’s air, land and sea universes, and appeal to anyone as a “watch for every pursuit”.

Managing Director, Breitling Middle East, India and Africa, Aed Adwan commented: “We chose to develop two watches from the all-purpose Chronomat Automatic GMT 40 in a special series exclusively for the dynamic and diverse UAE market. To celebrate the UAE’s world-class cities, we designed an Abu Dhabi Mean Time (ADMT) version in ice blue that pays tribute to the capital city Abu Dhabi and a Dubai Mean Time (DMT) version in bright blue that pays tribute to the city of Dubai.”

“We are delighted to announce the two special edition watches exclusively for the UAE created in partnership with Breitling. The two new timepieces feature a unique aesthetic and provide practical and purposeful functionality. We look forward to our continued partnership with Breitling and are certain the timepieces will appeal to audiences in the UAE,” Mohammed Abdulmagied Seddiqi, Chief Commercial Officer, Ahmed Seddiqi &  Sons.

The Chronomat Automatic GMT 40 ADMT Special Edition is designed with an ice blue dial with a satin sunray finish, while the Chronomat Automatic GMT 40 DMT Special Edition features a bright blue dial. Both special editions feature 18 k red gold plated large Indian numerals on the dial as well as 18 k red gold-plated hour and minute hands coated with Super-LumiNova®, whose luminescence makes them easy to read wherever your adventures might take you. The Breitling Caliber 32 powers the GMT complication. Its 24-hour scale lets the user track a second time zone and know at a glance whether it’s day or night, while the “onion” crown (a classic Chronomat feature named for its fluted-dome shape) allows for easy adjustments. Presented on an all-steel case, these two COSC-certified chronometers have an impressive 200m water resistance and a power reserve of approximately 42 hours.

The Chronomat Automatic GMT 40 ADMT and DMT Special Editions will be showcased at Dubai Watch Week, one of the region’s biggest horological events organized by Ahmed Seddiqi & Sons starting from November 16th, 2023.

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It has been an amazing journey since we started in 2015 and today we hit the 10th edition mark – the club with the most special editions to-date. For this release we have decided to collaborate with a very special brand that has been quiet forgotten for sometime and revived few years ago.

Of course, I am talking about Angelus watches and more specifically the U50 Diver Tourbillon they released in Baselworld 2018. It was whilst we were visiting their booth this March , that we discovered the beautifully executed diver watch model and decided that this should be our next edition; first it’s our first TOurbillon, and also first Diver. Great way to end 2018!!

What is exactly the U50 Diver Tourbillon Desert Mint AWC all about !!! Well, first it is crafted in a 45mm-wide lightweight Titanium case – It features two large screw-down crowns. The two-position crown at 4 o’clock is used for winding and setting the time, while the crown at 2 o’clock is used to rotate the uni-directional 60-minute flange ring

Opposite the crowns on the left side of the case at the 9 o’clock position, a helium escape valve is placed to ensure the watch’s water-resistance of 300 meters (1’000 feet).

With its core functions – hours, minutes, small seconds and one-minute flying tourbillon – the A-300 caliber has 23 jewels, a Swiss lever escapement and measures just 4.3 millimetres in thickness and 32.8 millimetres in diameter. The 4 Hz / 28,800 vph frequency is a guarantee for high performance and precision

Even though the A-300 caliber in the U50 Diver Tourbillon is intended as a high-performance movement ready to take on more extreme situations, the ultra-slim movement has painstakingly executed contemporary haute horlogerie finishing with snailed black ADLC coating and chamfered edges. The design is enhanced by a skeletonized ratchet and barrel in the exclusive Angelus six-spoke design.

We have created 16 of this beautiful masterpieces for the club members and released them in a private event at PDL shop in Dubai where the team from Angelus flew from Switzerland to hand deliver the watches to all the collectors.

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1 month later, we had our first draft renderings of our 26 watches representing 6 countries and 12 cities – of which almost 10 piece uniques

When we saw the rendering we were ecstatic – I couldn’t believe that this project was going to happen and Nomos really did it for us. I went to Baselworld to meet with the team and to see their first prototype of the watch – I still remember them asking me: ” Hassan, are you sure this is the Green you want? everyone in the manufacture was starring at this dial, they have never thought Nomos would push its boundaries this far” – it was perfect: the right shade of green that pops, you cannot Not notice it, with a very light yellow font for the cities and the strong Red color for the HomeTown city. The watch was exactly what I have envisioned it in my head 3 months earlier.

When we saw the rendering we were ecstatic – I couldn’t believe that this project was going to happen and Nomos really did it for us. I went to Baselworld to meet with the team and to see their first prototype of the watch – I still remember them asking me: ” Hassan, are you sure this is the Green you want? everyone in the manufacture was starring at this dial, they have never thought Nomos would push its boundaries this far” – it was perfect: the right shade of green that pops, you cannot Not notice it, with a very light yellow font for the cities and the strong Red color for the HomeTown city. The watch was exactly what I have envisioned it in my head 3 months earlier.

6 more months passed by and the watches were ready – I decided to pay Nomos a visit in Glashutte with some of the collectors from the AWC to have a tour of their facilities and finally get to see our watches being assembled and completed.

I won’t tell you the details of how we made it to Glashutte!! just because it was an utter nightmare flying from London on British Airways to reach Berlin only with 6 hours delay and drive to Dresden for another 2.5 hours.

However, we made it , did a tour around the factory, met the watchmaker who assembled all our watches and even had the chance to witness the assembly of the last piece of AWC Nomos.

The post Unveiling Arab Watch Club 8th Special Edition: Nomos Zurich Mint Green appeared first on Arab Watch Guide.

The idea of this collaboration imitated when we first saw the release of the Sinn 556 Anniversary piece and we decided it is a perfect fit for our next summer edition. The watch size is perfect, small and classy; the MOP dial we have worked on is very unique as every watch would have its own shade.

So the adventure began early 2018, when we got in touch with the Sinn team with our proposed idea- initially we had a totally different dial colors in mind – an MOP more tending towards a pinkish shade then the one with settled for after over a month of back and forth with the manufacture designing the dial.

The aim was to produce a Limited edition of 50 watches for all club members with a very minimalistic design that is wearable in all occasions but also subtle and unique as most MOP dials ares. However , we decided to add a small twist to the dial at 6 o’clock where we wrote the name of our club in arabic as it appears on our logo – same font, same writing and same size.

The movement on this 556 is impressively finished and well taken care of by the brand; it is an ETA 2824-2, self winding mechanism with a special engraving of “Arab Watch Club” and the number of each watch out of 50 – the movement has also the second stop function , shock resistance and Anti-magnetism.

The case is a stainless steel case in 38.5mm with a satinized finishing – the dial is covered by a sapphire crystal glass with anti reflective coating on both sides. The transparent case back has also anti reflective coating on the interior. The pressure resistances is up to 20 bar.

The indices on the dial are coated with luminescent color and hour the hour and minute hands coated also. The case thickness is only 11mm and the watch weights 65 grammes without straps

As for the straps, we have had several options so we decided to let every collector decide on his own choice of colors and materials that fit his own taste.

The watches have been released in July 2018, however their delivery will be around September once everyone is back from summer break and factories operational again.

We are very thrilled of this collaboration as it has opened our eyes to many possibilities in the future in the non-swiss watchmaking world and the uniqueness and precision of these underrated brands.

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