Articles and News
In Memoriam: Joe Sindt, Watch Industry Veteran | July 08, 2020 (1 comment)
Wayne, NJ--It is with a sad and heavy heart that I am writing this because I have lost a dear long-time friend, and the watch industry has lost a great veteran, Joseph Sindt. One of the first friends I made in this industry when I joined in the mid-1980’s, Joe—then at Seiko Corporation – was honest, direct, fun-loving and super smart.
He may have exited the watch industry a good 15 years ago (although he remained tied to it), but Joe, 71 and taken too soon by congestive heart failure, was a well-known executive in the watch industry throughout the 1980’s and ‘90’s. He was not only an astute businessman, but also a gentleman.
My first memories of Joe are from when he held executive positions with Seiko Corporation of America, working with marketing, distribution and a multitude of aspects of the business. From there, he went on to head up Lorus Watches (a Seiko sister brand) in America. Under his guidance, the brand created an affiliation with Disney and began making the Lorus Disney Mickey Mouse watches that were all the rage for years. Following a successful run with Lorus, Joe joined the Hirsch Watch Strap brand in America. He spent years growing that business, as well.
He was an incredibly dedicated person who worked tirelessly to grow the brands he was responsible for, to hire the right people, and do the right thing. In fact, he had a great sense of right and wrong, of ethics and fair business practices. Still, he had a no-nonsense, almost head-strong way about him that made him incredibly genuine.