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A brand new horology-focussed luxurious consultancy has opened in Dubai

Ashfield's consulting firm

Consumers are not customers and customers are not consumers, ”says Melika Yazdjerdi, co-founder of the new luxury consultancy Ashfields Consultancies, based in Dubai. Understanding the difference between the two and distilling on the brands they work with is at the heart of what Ashfields does.

Ashfields was founded last July by Emirati Hamdan Al Hudaidi, who worked with the United Arab Emirates’ government for 17 years. Most recently, he was director of procurement, marketing and overseas contracts at Sharjah Seaports & Customs until he left in February to work full time at Ashfields.

Co-founder Yazdjerdi worked for Seddiqi Holding for 12 years, most recently as Senior Marketing and Communications Director. She quit last October to work full-time at Ashfields and said the idea of ​​a luxury consultancy was one that she and Al Hudaidi had been thinking about for some time, despite the Covid-19 pandemic and the explosion of brands being the Wanted to focus and focus Reshaping their strategies for the region was why they finally took the plunge and started the company.

The timing was just right, as a recent study by Bain & Company found that while the GCC luxury market grew 6 percent in 2019, it contracted 17 percent last year. In markets like the United Arab Emirates, the luxury industry took a heavy blow, declining around 23 percent overall, forcing many brands to rethink their strategies and plans for the region.

Ashfields was founded primarily as a watch consultancy with an emphasis on fine independent watchmaking. “It is the first watch consultancy in the Middle East that not only advises collectors but also companies in order to diagnose their problems and to position or reposition them both regionally and internationally,” says Al Hudaidi.

Al Hudaidi is considered one of the most prolific collectors of vintage Patek Philippe in the region, to whom he dedicated almost two decades. His personal collection of good independent watchmakers includes Philippe Dufour, Roger W. Smith, Greubel Forsey and FP Journe, among others. Being a collector adds to his credibility with the region’s close-knit watch community and also with brands who turn to his advice for advice. “Any name we represent, I am the collector of these pieces before I represent them.”

While Al Hudaidi is focused on building communities among luxury customers in the area, Yazdjerdi is focused on business development and communication. “Ashfields is building strategy and experience – B2B and B2C. We do this for the watch industry, but we also advise customers from the larger luxury sector, for example from the leather industry. We don’t limit ourselves to product-related industries, but also advise customers from the F&B and hospitality industry who want to set up restaurants or offices here, ”explains Yazdjerdi.

The B2C component of Ashfields’ business model is reinforced by the Perpétuel Gallery, an offshoot of Ashfields, which opens this month by appointment within the DIFC, where some of the creations of independent watchmakers can be found. “All products sold at Perpétuel will always be exclusive collaborations with Ashfields. We launched Perpétuel with a Baltic collaboration, a strategic decision in which we wanted to focus on a product that was accessible to many people because [many] People have the misunderstanding that exclusive, collectible and limited editions have to be very expensive, ”says Yazdjerdi.

Al Hudaidi adds that some of the watches sold at Perpétuel are between $ 800 and $ 2,000 but are very difficult to come by as manufacturers in some cases only make about 10 pieces of this collection in a total of a year.

Yazdjerdi’s strategy for Perpétuel has spawned other brand names known only to the rarest orbits of the watchmaking community. “We work with Krayon, Hoffman, Atelier de Chronométrie and Théo Auffret. One of the most important projects we have been involved in this year is a watchmaker named Luca Soprana who has the right to reproduce Derek Pratt watches. We have received all of the allocation for these watches for the next five years. Every watch produced during this period is sold exclusively by Perpétuel, ”says Yazdjerdi.

In addition to independent watchmakers, the gallery also exhibits vintage watches and other products such as those from the luxury leather brand Charles Simon. “We have another collaboration with Charles Simon for a product that is being developed exclusively [for Perpétuel]. ”

But at Perpétuel, it’s definitely impossible to sell hard. The main focus is on harnessing the mindset of the luxury consumer and expanding the customer network. “Buying or buying is the least of the activity that we focus on [at Perpétuel]. We are not there to sell them anything. We are here to understand who our customers are so that we can tailor our services and products to their needs. And that’s really the deeper distinction between customers and consumers. “

In order to maintain and refine this customer base even further, the consulting firm Ashfields Experiences will be launching this year. Groups of no more than 10 customers are taken on a trip to an international location, where they are offered curated experiences that money cannot buy. “We’re doing our first in Milos in September. We have planned trips to Budapest, Scandinavia, Italy, UK and Isle of Man. Our UK trip begins with our arrival in London, where customers meet different people, whether artists or chefs, watchmakers or other collectors. We mix collectors from here and around the world to share their knowledge and information and enable them to learn and collect data and information that they can use to make informed decisions, ”says Yazdjerdi, who is still the Lips closed about the exact itinerary of these trips only by invitation or their expense.

While bespoke terms are often used carelessly by luxury brands, a thorough understanding will give brands an edge over their competitors in the region. It is precisely this competitive advantage that Ashfields wants to provide its customers with.

“You hear the terminology ‘customization’, ‘bespoke’ and ‘bespoke’ from a lot of people in the luxury industry. But there are very few of them who actually understand and apply it. How can you tailor or adapt something to my needs when you don’t even know who I am? That’s where we want to focus at Ashfields, to know every single person who walks through the door, ”adds Yazdjerdi.