For a man who sells around 300 odd watches in a month, he does not wear one. Ask him why and he smiles with suitable modesty, “I cannot offend any of my manufacturers.” Meet the man behind The Helvetica, the one-of-a-kind watch boutique that has redefined the watch-buying experience. For those who have not been in touch with Time, The Helvetica at The Spencer’s Plaza stocks world brands like Rolex, Longines, Chopard, Citizen, Rado, Tag Huer and more.
But Time wasn’t always so perfect for Doshi who was born in Rangoon, Burma. His family was forced to migrate back to Bombay when the military regime took over the country that is now known as Myanmar. Bombay became base for the family. Frequent trips to hometown Morvi in Gujarat, then the centre of the clock-making industry in India, exposed them to the potential of the horological industry – for there was little representation down South. Madras beckoned and soon became home. The Doshis began to retail and distribute watches in the region under the Doshi and Doshi name and the family has not looked back since.
Ashok remembers, “After school I would race home to join my father at the shop. I would beg him to allow me to help behind the counter, between 4 and 6pm.” Doshi senior thought it would be a good experience for his son and a target of two watches per day was set. The incentive? 50 paise! “That was a big amount for me those days,” laughs Doshi, “It helped me buy a dosa every evening!” The experience was to stand him in good stead. “That was my first brush with handling customers,” he recalls, “I learnt to listen to the customer and understand what he wanted out of a watch…” It also invested in Doshi, the need to know more than the customer about a watch.
The next step then, was to get to know what went on inside the mechanism of a watch. Doshi persuaded a watch-maker who worked at the shop to show him how to repair various brands and learn the various skills behind watch maintenance. “I wanted to go deep, right into the heart of the watch,” says Doshi, “I wanted to know all that I needed to, about watches.” Even as the school boy fed his passion, it helped him set standards for himself. It also taught him, what may seem to us like a cliché, `Where there is a will there is a way’.
A few years later, the young Doshi, in a bid to expand his world, began to explore the possibility of selling world-class watches. To his dismay, he found that watches could not be imported under existing rules. “I thought, why not import parts, assemble Swiss watches and sell them,” says Doshi. The Swiss watch Elma was his first endeavour, but the brand did not do well. “Nevertheless,” he says, “It was a learning experience.”
It was then that Swiss watch-makers who were looking for franchisees to set up service centers offered him recourse and provided him avenues to hone his skills. His first state-of-the-art center for Citizen threw open the floodgates for more. As import restrictions relaxed, Doshi soon found hope for his dream – of selling world-class watches in his showroom Time House on Blackers Road. A counter selling five famous brands that included Cartier, Omega and Rado was set up in the showroom, alongside the various Indian brands. “I didn’t sell a single watch that year,” Doshi declares ruefully, “It proved to be a very difficult time for me.” It was only after some deep introspection that realization dawned. “I had made the mistake of selling Indian watches and international brands in the same showroom,” he tells us.
That spawned the idea of setting up an exclusive showroom for the various famous Swiss brands. A friend from the country of watches suggested that he name the showroom after the Swiss region, also known as Helvetia. Thus, The Helvetica was born three years ago at Spencer’s Plaza – a one-stop shop selling more than 18 well-known brands, with Rolex leading the way.
Time and his passion for it have paid off with The Helvetica gaining recognition among watch connoisseurs. “Customers from up North sometimes fly down to buy a watch from me,” he tells us. But Time had also invested Doshi with caution, for as he says, “I want to go step by step.” The first steps outside Chennai have been taken in Bangalore and Cochin, and one more showroom is slated to open within the city itself, at the Ispahani Centre.
Now it’s another dream that Ashok Doshi nurtures – that of a state-of-the-art world class after sales service center for the brands that he sells. The dream, says Doshi is close to fruition, at the Isphani Centre space. Till then, the man who has learnt from Time, has also learnt to savour his experiences. For Doshi and Doshi remains, so does Time House even as The Helvetica remains his flagship endeavour. “I will not close down any of my ventures,” says he, “They are the links to my beginnings, and they trace my development… from a little boy to what I am today.”
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