A decade ago, watch collecting in the Middle East was almost uncharted territory, with little online about the subject and no visible community of collectors despite the region’s enormous wealth. But since Hassan Akhras created the Arab Watch Guide online in 2014, many watch fans say he has helped speed change in both those areas.
The guide website, in Arabic and English, is written entirely by Mr. Akhras, with news reports and his analysis of new watches, a blog and paid content from some brands. It also has a presence on Instagram, with around 153,000 followers, and on YouTube.
When he founded the guide, Mr. Akhras said, “I promoted it as a marketing platform for the watch companies to share their latest releases with their communities. At that time every brand I was speaking to didn’t know who their collectors in the Middle East were. I became a middleman.”
“I also got invited on factory visits in Europe,” he recalled. “That kind of opened a lot of doors in terms of what was happening and understanding how the world of watches works.”
And in 2015, Mr. Akhras founded the Arab Watch Club, an organization of 60 members, mostly men, from the Gulf region.
On a recent scorching afternoon, Mr. Akhras, 41, wore a sweater for an interview at the private Arts Club Dubai, where he is a member. On his wrist was a yellow gold Cartier Crash, one of the house’s cult favorites. But his version, a personal commission, had a dial and a crown cabochon in green and a soft beige leather strap.
Such commissions also have been a focus of the club, which has collaborated with brands on 20 special editions over the years, including a club watch.
In 2016, Mr. Akhras said, the club’s members approached Arnold & Son, a small Swiss luxury brand that dates to 1764, with a 20-piece order of the HM Perpetual Moon model, but with a salmon pink dial. (He declined to disclose the price.)
“Salmon is a very popular color among collectors, but Arnold & Son only had the blue and lighter blue,” he said — adding that at the time he thought: “We’ll call it the Arab Watch Club edition.”
“We numbered it,” he said. “We wrote our names on the case back to really personalize it.”
A Private Group
The club is a private group of collectors that meets occasionally, sometimes visiting manufacturers or attending brand V.I.P. events. Its founding members include Sheikh Saeed bin Obaid al-Maktoum of the Dubai royal family; Ibrahim Khouri, who works in the oil and gas industry; and Amer Alawadhi, who works for Emirates Airlines.
“The Arab Watch Guide gave me an opportunity to get into the details when I was serious about collecting and it has widened my horizons about watches,” said Bader Hareb, a real estate developer in Dubai who said he has collected more than 100 watches over the past 20 years. “And in being part of the Arab Watch Club, I’m tapping into the knowledge of the team members. We discuss anything new on the market and what makes a certain piece unique. That kind of discussion and debate gives you an edge on other collectors.”
The club does not focus on expanding its membership, so in 2022 Mr. Akhras created the Arab Watch Guide Community, opening it to about 600 people from among his social media followers and collectors he has met at events. They are invited to join some of the club’s activities and to buy any of the 10 special-edition watches he has commissioned for the community so far.
The community, he said, “gives us a chance to get to know more people and create enthusiasm for potential collectors and watch aficionados.”
It is all part of an interest that, for Mr. Akhras, began when he was a child in Syria. “I’ve been collecting watches since I was a kid,” he said. “It’s a love. It’s a passion.”
After living in Britain, France and Australia, he moved to Dubai in 2007 as a management consultant, a background that he credits with helping to shape his entrepreneurial spirit.
“In 2014, I was having coffee with a few friends who work in the media, and they said that I talked about watches all the time,” Mr. Akhras recalled. “They asked, ‘Why don’t you just create a blog and a website?’”
So, he did. He began writing about his own collection of watches, which numbered about 20 at the time.
Mr. Akhras said he owned more than 100 watches today, including a Patek Philippe World Time 5110g, an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Chronograph 38-millimeter boutique edition, a Bulgari Octo Finissimo Sketch and commissions from niche brands such as Holthinrichs and Czapek.
Creating an Identity
Some experts say that such a passion for collecting — and desire to learn more about the industry — has helped to create a horological identity for the region’s enthusiasts.
“Today the behavior of the Middle Eastern collectors is a healthy mix of the traditional European collector and the fast and aggressive collectors in Asia,” said Remy Julia, head of watches for the Middle East, India and Africa at Christie’s in Dubai. “I also think that a deeper understanding of vintage is coming. Collectors here understand both worlds. They have a great relationship with the retailers, but they turn to the auction world for things they can’t get from retailers.”
And many consider Mr. Akhras’s digital content to be a crucial link between the region’s collectors and the European brands that they buy.
“The Arab Watch Guide is one of the most credible platforms for watches in the Middle East, and Hassan has been a great eye-opener for collectors here to many of the luxury brands,” said Hamdan AlHudaidi, a co-founder and chief executive of Ashfields Consultancies, which advises buyers on luxury watches (He also owns Perpétuel Gallery in Dubai, which sells luxury watches; he is not a member of Mr. Akhras’s club). “There are a lot of Arabic platforms that would like to do the same, but the Arab Watch Guide made it possible to collaborate with significant brands directly.”
Mr. Akhras said creating such a bridge had always been his focus, especially because there were no watchmakers in the region.
“We’ve always asked ourselves why there isn’t any kind of watchmaker community here, but I think we don’t have the right infrastructure for it,” he said. “There aren’t any schools here. For a few of the ones who have an interest, they go to Europe to study, and they stay there. They get hired by the watchmakers.”
And the Middle Eastern watch brands that do exist lack authenticity, Mr. Akhras said.
“I know a lot of people who have created their own brand in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, so their brands have the Arabic name and spirit, but everything is done in Switzerland or China,” he said. “They can say that they are local watchmakers, but not Arab watchmakers. It’s still a Swiss watch.”
It’s a sentiment echoed by Mr. AlHudaidi. “We are trying to find somebody who could be tempted to become a watchmaker, and I believe we will eventually find one,” he said. “We would like to start a beautiful brand from the U.A.E.”
That next step could be part of Mr. Akhras’s original vision for both the Arab Watch Guide and the club.
“The idea is really a community of collectors who are really passionate about watches,” he said. “We’re not dealers, we’re not investors, we’re not flippers. We collect watches because we want to be part of a community.”
