Mouawad

Mouawad

Type	Private
Industry	Retail
Founded	1890
Headquarters	Dubai and Geneva
Key people	Fred Mouawad, Alain Mouawad and Pascal Mouawad
Products	Jewelry, watches
Employees	500+ (2013)
Website	Mouawad

Mouawad is a privately held multinational jewelry and timepiece company that designs, manufacturers, and sells jewelry collections, haute joaillerie, objects of art, and luxury watches. Mouawad is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland and has its Middle East headquarters at Jumeirah Lakes Towers in Dubai. Mouawad was founded in 1891 in Beirut, Lebanon by David Mouawad and is led by 4th generation co-guardians Fred Mouawad, Alain Mouawad and Pascal Mouawad.^[1]

Mouawad's jewelry and watch design and manufacturing divisions are located in Switzerland and Asia Pacific.^[2]

History

David Mouawad first learned the jewelry trade in New York and Mexico before opening a small jewelry shop in Beirut in 1908.^[3] Following in David's footsteps, his sons, grandsons and great grandsons have continued to carry on and grow the company into an international brand.

First generation

The Mouawad Company and brand began with David Mouawad (1865–1951) in the last decade of the 19th century. He spent more than two decades abroad learning the craft of watchmaker, goldsmith, and jeweler before returning to Beirut in 1891. He opened a small shop in Beirut in 1908 where he combined his day-to-day trade of watch and jewelry repairs, with his deeper passion of creating intricate clocks as well as fashioning one-of-a-kind pieces commissioned by wealthy clients.^[4]

Second generation

David Mouawad's son Fayez Mouawad (1917–1990) expanded the business in the 1950s when he boarded a boat from the port of Beirut and moved to Saudi Arabia.^[5] Fayez was able to capitalize on the Middle East's increased oil wealth by making personalized jewelry for people in the area.^[6]

His work earned the patronage of the upper echelons of society. As jeweler to kings and the aristocracy, Fayez fashioned outstanding pieces and unique creations, often commemorating important state events. Subsequently the name Mouawad became well known in the region.

Third generation

Mouawad moved into the European and worldwide market with the help of Fayez's son Robert Mouawad. Robert studied in Europe to become a doctor but returned after being convinced by his father to join the family business. He refused to be given anything and started as a salesman with Mouawad in order to learn the business from the ground up. Robert entered into an agreement with his father to take over the business as the sole president. In the early 1970s, Robert expanded Mouawad by moving the headquarters to Geneva, Switzerland.^[7]

Robert took many risks with Mouawad throughout the years by purchasing some of the world's largest diamonds. He expanded the Mouawad brand into Europe, Asia, and North America and began producing watches in the early 1990s. Robert has also contributed to the jewelry education and research, especially through support of the Gemological Institute of America whose campus in Carlsbad, California is named in his honor.^[8]

Robert Mouawad acquired a historical residence in Beirut, Lebanon to host his collections of fine arts and antique pieces and in 2006 established the Robert Mouawad Private Museum to offer a cultural legacy and reference for collections of books, ceramics, architectural elements, pottery, ancient weapons, carpets, jewelry, objets d'art and rare precious stones. .^[9]

Fourth generation

In 2010, Robert Mouawad left Mouawad to focus on his real estate group, the Robert Mouawad Foundation, and the Robert Mouawad Museum and on January 1, 2010, Robert officially retired and the company was then assumed by his sons Fred Mouawad and Pascal Mouawad.^[10][11] Alain Mouawad came on board to head up the watch division in January 2013. Under Fred, Alain and Pascal, the vision is to continue the company's growth and focus on haute joaillerie, masterpieces, boutique jewelry and the Mouawad watch line.

Four Generations of the Mouawad Family
David Mouawad  Fayez Mouawad  Robert Mouawad  Fred,Alain & Pascal Mouawad

Jewelry collections

Mouawad Boutique Collections are conceived and created in a wide variety of styles, gemstones and price points. For well over a century Mouawad has been creating and producing jewelry of unsurpassed artistic excellence and craftsmanship ranging from haute joaillerie, luxury timepieces and objects of art—to boutique jewelry of classic and contemporary motifs. Over the years, Mouawad haute joaillerie, masterpieces and collections have been worn by celebrities, royalty and models such as Heidi Klum,^[12]Jennifer Lopez, Angelina Jolie and Paris Hilton.^[13]

Diamond collection

Over the years the Mouawad family has acquired a collection of diamonds that is one of the world's finest in private hands. A good number of the largest diamonds in existence take their place among the gems in the collection. These diamonds include the Ahmedabad which is a pear shaped diamond that weighs 78.86 carats with a D-VS1 Grade.^[14]

Mouawad is the owner of the Indore Pears which are linked to the Malabar Hill Murder. In January 1925, armed men attacked a car in Bombay which was being driven by an official of the Bombay Corporation. The passenger in the vehicle was a young Muslim woman who was the subject of the attack. The official was killed and four British officers came to the aid of the woman. Robbery was not the motive for this crime as the young woman was believed to be a dancer at the Court of Tukoji Rao III. The woman escaped from being a concubine and the murder was believed to be retaliation. It was agreed that the crime on Malabar Hill could not be ignored: Mumtaz Begum had recognized her assailants as an aide-de-camp of the Maharajah and members of the Indore army and mounted police. The Maharajah's involvement in the crime was never made public but he was asked either to appear at the subsequent official inquiry or abdicate in favor of his son. In the following year he chose the latter course. While traveling in Switzerland after his abdication, he met Nancy Ann Miller, a rich young American. Amid much publicity the couple married in 1928. The bride embraced the Hindu religion and subsequently became known as the Maharanee Shamista Davi Holkar. In 1946 Harry Winston bought the two pear-shaped diamonds, weighing 46.95 and 46.70 carats, which the Maharanee had worn on many occasions. The diamonds were purchased several times throughout the years until they were purchased by Robert Mouawad in 1987.^[15][16]

The Queen of Holland is another diamond in the Mouawad collection. Its origin is unknown; however, it was believed to have been brought from South Africa to the Netherlands. It was first cut in 1904 by F. Freidman & Co. who made it a cushion-cut and named it after Queen Wihelmina of the Netherlands, which is incorrectly referred to as Holland. The diamond was re-cut sometime after the 1960s into its current weight of 135.92 carats. It is judged to be internally flawless and 'D' color by the Gemological Institute of America.^[17] This diamond was also formerly owned by William Goldberg.

Mouawad is the owner of the Jubilee Diamond. The Jubilee Diamond was known as the Reitz Diamond and is a colourless, cushion-shaped diamond weighing 245.35 carats (49.07 grams). It is the sixth largest diamond in the world and originally named after Francis William Reitz who was the president of the Orange Free State at the time the diamond was discovered in the area. ^[18] The Jubilee is the largest diamond in the Mouawad collection.^[19]

The Mouawad Liliac is considered one of the top ten pink diamonds in the world and is owned by Mouawad.^[20] The Mouawad Lilac is estimated to be worth $20M (USD) and weighs 24.44 carat. It is an emerald cut pink diamond that is so saturated with color that it gives off a purplish, almost maroon, hue.^[21]

Boutiques

Mouawad operates fourteen stores in ten countries the Asia, and a store in the United States. ^[2]

References

External links

• Company Website
• Robert Mouawad Homepage
• Roberge
• GIA Website