Armoured glass and high tech security keep Arthur Kaplan liquidators locked out of luxury watch store

For close to a week the Arthur Kaplan flagship store World’s Finest Watches, branded as the only specialist prestige watch boutique in Sandton catering for exclusive clientele both local and abroad, has stood closed with dummy displays in the window. 

The store stocks the “finest products from premier international brands” according to its website and claims to have “cemented our legacy as the destination among enthusiasts and collectors alike” since its doors opened just over 20 years ago. 

More than a week ago, collections of watches from premier Swiss brands — big names such as Rolex, Zenith, Hublot, TAG Heuer, Longines, Tudor, Mont Blanc, Frederique Constant, Rado and Hamilton — glittered behind the armoured glass display windows. 

But today the store remains locked, what stock remains inside is unknown, the spare keys are in a safe inside the store and three attempts to secure the services of locksmiths capable of opening the store have been unsuccessful. 

This is according to Laila Motala, the lead liquidator appointed by the master of the high court to handle the liquidation of the embattled jewellery chain that went insolvent last December. 

But the process has not gone smoothly and on June 1 things took a turn when Motala visited the Arthur Kaplan head office to dismiss the chain’s top staff for mismanagement. The incident ended with allegations that former Arthur Kaplan (AK) director Hoosein Mohamed had assaulted Motala and threatened her at gunpoint. He has been charged with theft and a complaint of theft has also been laid by the liquidators at the Sandton police station after the discovery that much of the valuable stock from AK stores across the country had been looted. 

Motala said the last information they had on where the keys to the opulent store were, was that they were being held by Mohamed’s personal assistant Ammaarah Ismail, who was supposed to hand them over to the store manager that Thursday evening — hours after Hoosein was taken into police custody. 

However, this allegedly did not happen, and the keys were not returned to the store manager or the liquidators. Video footage captured by CCTV cameras that evening allegedly shows two people inside the store loading up jewellery. 

Mohamed’s bail application at the Randburg’s magistrate’s court on Friday was postponed to Thursday for a ruling. During the hearing an affidavit by Motala was presented to the court. In it, she alleged that Ammaarah Ismail was Mohamed’s girlfriend and was one of the people in the CCTV footage. Motala said they have been unable to track down Ismail.

However, after a story on the missing jewellery was published in the Sunday Times, Ismail sent an email to the publication denying she had taken any jewellery and claiming she was not Mohamed’s girlfriend. 

Yashin Misra, operations manager for AK’s sister jewellery store chain Natal Wholesale Jewellers (NWJ), has been handling efforts to get the doors to World’s Finest Watches open. She told TimesLIVE Premium that massive security measures at such a high-end store were making it almost impossible to gain entry. 

The store is fronted by armoured glass plating and the entrance has two glass doors with a space in between — much like those at the secure entrances to banks — and then a third set of locked doors that are double-bolted. 

“The problem is that the glass doors are controlled with magstrip locks that have electricity running through them. So even if you are able to pick the locks, those doors won’t budge because of the magnetic seal,” Misra said.

“And you cannot even cut through the glass because it’s bullet proof. You are not talking about toughened glass like in ordinary shops, this is a premium store.” 

Motala said they were now in negotiations with Nelson Mandela Square management to try to access the store through underground means, or by having electricity to the store disconnected. 

“For now we are sitting with the dummy displays that were left in the windows, and it’s absolutely not supposed to be like that.” 

Ian Small Smith, legal representative for Motala, confirmed that a charge of theft had been laid a week ago, along with witness reports, video footage and other evidence, but that police had not yet started investigating. 

Police spokesperson Colonel Dimakatso Nevhuhulwi confirmed that the case had been opened and was to be investigated.