Claude Sfeir: The Time Keeper

Claude Sfeir is no businessman with a long list of magnificent boutiques adorning his portfolio, despite being a formidable entrepreneur who supplies exotic jewellery to the rich and famous. But he certainly is a globetrotting connoisseur who keeps an eagle eye on the haute horlogerie market, to pick up the rarest of them all.

Essentially, Sfeir is half salesman and half customer. The Lebanese gemologist is known to the world more for his passion for watches, or rather for being crowned the Middle East’s biggest collector of fine timepieces, than for his exquisite collection of jewellery. But the ultimate recognition came when he was appointed a jury member of this year’s Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève, considered the Oscars of the watch industry.

“I am a jeweller, dealing in high-end jewellery throughout the world — in New York, California, Tokyo, Hong Kong. We don’t have stores in all these places, but we deal with big — really big — customers in all strategic cities,” Sfeir tells Khaleej Times in an interview.

“We have just one store in Beirut — Sfeir Jewellery — because my family is based in the Lebanese capital,” he says.

For Sfeir, business and passion are a well-kept seesaw affair, wherein he spends 50 per cent of his time selling jewellery and the rest buying watches. “After all, I have to make the money to buy watches and keep my collection ticking on.”

Sfeir developed this passion when he imported his first watch from Ahmed Seddiqi & Sons in Dubai. “It was in 1979. It was my first Rolex and it came cheap — something equivalent to $80. It is a normal precision in stainless steel, reference 6694. It’s a nice watch and I still have it. My love story started there and I have been buying watches since then.”

He has never had a day in his life sans thoughts about watches. “As I have had this addiction for decades, I don’t know what would happen, how I would feel and whether I could survive if I am weaned away from the love of my life.”

Sfeir doesn’t think his collection is an investment, though worth millions. “My collection is more of a passion. It is going to be there forever. I will pass it on to my son and daughter. I am not going to sell my watches to make money, especially the vintage collection which is close to my heart.”

For that matter, he thinks a watch is part and 
parcel of everyone’s life — the only things that a man enjoys apart from his car, pen and cufflinks. “When you were a child, you started out wearing a plastic watch. Even if you didn’t know how to read the time, you still wore it. At school, we kept looking at the watch to see when the classes would get over. Now, there are mobile phones to see the time, yet we are wearing watches. So, a timepiece is a pass-ionate way of reading the time.”

Yes, everyone wears a watch, but in Sfeir’s case, one is just not enough. “I wear two watches — always and every day. On both wrists; 
white and yellow; pink and white; platinum and steel,” he says, “bec-ause I have a good number of watches and I love to wear all of them.”

The connoisseur is sharp and vocal about his preferences. “I like modern, though I feel better when I wear vintage watches,” he says. “I don’t buy limited editions anymore, but I buy prototypes. When I started my collection, I used to buy modern watches from A. Lange & Söhne, Patek Philippe, etc. I used to buy limited editions of all brands. But when you understand the market very well, your position and where you want to reach, you move up step by step. When you realise that you need to reach a higher level, you collect only unique pie-ces or prototypes or historical watches,” Sfeir says, shedding light on the basics of watch collection.

But he doesn’t see anything wrong with limited editions. “People buy limited-edition modern watches because the 
value stays in the product, especially when they are from very, very limited batches of 10, 20, 50 or even 100. Some people buy them to safe-keep the value, but some buy them for special numbers they cherish, such as your birth date, wedding date, etc. Everyone has a special day they want to celebrate, so it makes sense.”

He refuses to believe that quartz is untouchable for watch lovers, saying he also collects some beta quartz movements of the 1970s, from Patek and Rolex. Sfeir has a textbook method of choosing and buying his pieces. He buys most of his watches straight from the watchmakers in Switzerland. I buy from Rolex, I buy from Patek. In the Middle East, I only buy from Ahmed Seddiqi & Sons because there are the main franchisees for major high-end watches. I buy most of my vintages from auctions. After viewing and examining the watch, especially its working condition, the dial and the rarity, I buy the watch at any price. I check everything personally and present myself at the auction hall.”

Sfeir admits he used to make lots of mistakes when he started, but after 35 years, he is a veteran who seldom goes wrong. Talking about future purchase plans, he says he wants to buy a couple of Daytonas from the Christie’s auction held to celebrate the watch’s 50^th anniversary.

Sfeir is a bit sceptical about disclosing the volume and value of his collection, for security reasons, but says the brands he holds are very few in numbers. “I collect only Patek, Rolex, some Panerai, some Lange in stainless steel and two-three other brands. Quantity-wise, I don’t know how many there are, because I have been collecting for a few decades.”

The connoisseur admits that he doesn’t calculate his collection’s value either. “If, one day, I sit and calculate it, I may go crazy, so it’s better not to sum up. But I can tell you that most of the profit from the jewellery business goes into buying watches.”

He rejects outright the criticism that watch collecting is a rich man’s game, saying most collectors are, in fact, not wealthy. “They invariably start with a single watch, like I did. I began the journey with a small Rolex, moved on to a medium-range Rolex, after that to Patek Philippe, then on to other brands. Rich people may have the money, but they may not have the knowledge about what to buy. You can buy a high-end watch but it may not hold any value in the future. You can have a small but unique watch in stainless steel, and its value may increase a hundred times over,” argues Sfeir.

He is sure that watches, especially mechanical watches, will weather the digital onslaught. They are forever, he says. “Traditional brands like Patek and Rolex will never fade away. Never, never, never. Most companies have survived past crises. I never think the ongoing digital revolution will change the way we read time.

“Watches will survive — always.”

To up-and-coming connoisseurs, Sfeir’s word of caution is to focus on very limited quantity. Instead of buying five or six watches, he advises buying one watch for $12,000. “If you don’t want to spend lots of money, you can buy a Panerai for $5,000. You can wear it for five years and still sell it for $5,000, or even more, if the dial is California. If you don’t have money, it’s better to wait for a few years till you can save enough.”

Sfeir has no intention to hop on to serious watch business or trading. But after years of cultivating a personal relationship with watchmakers in Geneva, he has one brand on his mind that nobody has, to market in his home country. “FP Journe is an independent watchmaker who has won the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie seven times. He is the Schumacher of watches and the only guy who makes movements in pink gold. I am starting a boutique in Beirut which will open in February next year.”

Sfeir gets excited about a suggestion to start a watchmaking school. “No one has asked me this. It’s interesting. I’d love to start one, but it’s very difficult to get the right people, especially in the Middle East. Most people prefer to go to Geneva, where they all start learning watchmaking from the age 
of 14. You have to bring in the right people from Geneva to run such a school here.”

On pointing out that his friend and watch dealer Abdul Hamied Ahmed Seddiqi is keen on it, Sfeir 
is also game for it. “If he is willing, we can do it together. Of course, why not?”

suresh@khaleejtimes.com