Who is Claude Sfeir, one of the world’s top watch collectors, who once worked in Dubai’s Gold Souk?
Sfeir, who was 18 when he began working in Dubai’s famous gold market, owns a one-of-a-kind Patek Philippe watch and made sure his father could retire early
“When I started working as a jeweller at the age of 18 in the Gold Souk in Dubai, I did not know watches – at all. The first two years we did not even have the tools to open the casebacks – so we opened the watches with a hammer, discarded the innards and sold the gold by weight.”
Claude Sfeir, today one of the world’s top collectors of vintage, modern, independent and historical watches, laughs at the memory.
The son of a cab driver, Sfeir was adamant about making a good living for himself and his family. He was not afraid of working long, hard, 16-hour shifts in the souk, or visiting clients in their homes and their palaces. The first thing he did – once the hard work paid off – was to make sure his father could retire early.