Chopard regional sales buck trend

Muscat: Swiss-based Chopard group recently held an exhibition of jewellery and watch collections at the newly opened lounge-style Khimji Watches showroom in the Al Khuwair district of Muscat.

"This [Middle East] market has always fared better than the rest of the world," Karl-Friedrich Scheufele, co-president of the Chopard group, told Gulf News on the sidelines of the exhibition opening.

"This place [Oman] is amazing and I am coming back after 15 years... I like the way tradition is maintained here even in infrastructure development," said Scheufele, who is here on a family holiday.

Chopard employs more than 1,700 people and has a presence in over 150 countries.

Talking about the impact of the global recession on the Chopard brand, Scheufele said that the Middle East saw the minimum impact.

"We had record growth in the Middle East during 2005-07 (15-20 per cent) and this year we have seen the growth rate return to the normal level," he said.

At the same time, he said, eastern European countries like Russia saw a sharp decline in Chopard's business due to the recession. "Business was affected in the US also."

The pragmatic Swiss business tycoon sounded less affected by the recession. "We are back to normal levels so I would not like to complain too much," he said with a smile.

Chopard's annual revenue was 800 million Swiss francs (Dh2.9 billion) and the Middle East region, including Oman, contributed nearly 20 per cent of this business, he said.

"This region is very important for us and we see it growing further," he said.

The Swiss company manufactures 750,000 watches and 75,000 pieces of jewellery every year.

Scheufele said the Swiss company, celebrating 150 years next year, has plans to bring out special collections. "We have plans to bring out a collection of 150 animals to mark our 150 years," he said.

"Like Chopard, Khimji Ramdas is also a family-owned company and we are honoured to be partners with them here," said the Swiss entrepreneur.

Pankaj Khimji, of the Khimji Ramdas group, said that it was a great pleasure to have Scheufele in Oman during the exhibition.