Some are said to be born with a silver spoon in their mouths. Not so Mohammed Abdulmagied Seddiqi. “Instead of a spoon, I had a watch,” he laughs.

The Seddiqi family has become synonymous with horology in the region, so we jumped at the opportunity when the SVP of sales and retail at Ahmed Seddiqi & Sons offered to open the vault to family’s private watch collection for Watch1010.

His grandfather started the business in the late-1940s as a personal hobby. “We grew up with watches,” Seddiqi says. “My generation’s love of horology came from my father and my uncles, from being involved in the business from an early age. More than nine of us are involved in the family business — not because we’re obliged to, but because we love it.”

Seddiqi started collecting Swatch watches as a child and still has many of the watches his father got him when he was a young man. “When Swatch launched in the early ’80s, it spelled a revolution,” he says. “The story of how Swatch saved the watch industry is an intriguing one. Looking back, we must appreciate [cofounder Nicolas] Hayek’s role. 

“Of course, for me that was off less importance than the fact that they were colourful and beautiful timepieces!”

While Seddiqi claims to have no idea of the size of the family’s collection [“We never count them”], his passion is almost palpable. He is genuinely excited as he reaches for a vintage TAG Heuer and praises Jack Heuer’s designs.

“It’s interesting to see new launches that feature a similar design and colour combinations. This dates from the ’70s, and I love how eye-catching it is with the striking blue against the fluorescent orange. Even today, many companies wouldn’t even dare to do these crazy colours.”  This is a private collection in the true sense; there is an emotional connection with each. Seddiqi holds up a platinum Rolex Day-Date with a salmon dial in near perfect condition. One quickly notices that many of the timepieces have never been worn — their tags and protective casings are a dead giveaway. “We do wear the watches,” he laughs, “just not often.

“The main reason for having a collection is not to showcase it, but because of the love we have for the pieces.” That love is clear when he handles a jumbo gold Patek Philippe Beta 21 with a gorgeous woven bracelet.  “For Patek to have the courage to produce a quartz watch in the ’70s, amidst the quartz crisis — and in this size — was significant. Now many manufactures are going back to bigger watches, but it was unusual back then.”

One of Chopard’s earliest L.U.C pieces, which also formed the basis for the minute repeater that was just crowned the best luxury watch of the year by the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG), features Seddiqi’s initials on the movement as opposed to the case, as is standard. “I fell in love with the concept of urushi, and because this [Japanese lacquer art] is only applied on white and rose gold watches, I requested Karl-Frederick Scheufele to create one for me in a steel case. 

“This is my favourite dial, called Secret Garden. I love how the light plays across it, and how it animates the insects.”

There’s a bronze Tudor from Bucherer, which he bought for the striking colour combination. One of Gérald Genta’s final designs, a double jumping hour with a funky blue dial and orange disks is more than 15 years old but feels like it could have been designed today. It lies next to an IWC Deep One. He proudly shows off a super-light F.P. Journe [“one of our favourite independent watchmakers”] in a discontinued aluminium case and titanium movement, and another created for Byblos, featuring a hand-decorated blue dial, Arabic numerals, gold movement and tantalum case.