Gibraltar has a rather multifarious history that I’m going to regale you with in as few lines as is politely possible …
Once upon a time when the world was in the throes of creation and the Swatch Group had yet to be formed, Gibraltar suddenly appeared at the end of the Iberian peninsular: the Mediterranean Sea to the left (that’s if you’re looking out at the emerging north-western tip of Africa just a few kilometres away), the Atlantic Ocean to the right and the Strait of Gibraltar between the two (in those days English didn’t exist, consequently their names were unpronounceable).
At some later date, the Phoenicians popped in on a walkabout to sell their wares and quickly moved on once they realized the Rock was unpopulated and local supermarkets had yet to be invented. The Greeks and Romans couldn’t find a reason to settle down there either, but the 1,400 foot high peak (426 metres) impressed them so much they added it to their mythology as one of the Pillars of Hercules – the other being Mount Abyla across the Strait in Morocco.
In 711AD Tariq ibn Ziyad took control of the Rock, or Calpe as it had been dubbed, changing its name to Jabal Tariq in his own honour. Over time the iq in Tariq became muffled and the name Jabal Tar slowly emerged as Gibraltar and remained under Muslim control for the following eight centuries until the Castilians conquered it in 1309. But the Moors took it back 24 years later and kept it until 1462 when, guess what, it changed hands yet again when the King of Castile became the resident landlord. Queen Isabella put paid to his tenure when she raised the Spanish flag on it in 1501 and it remained Spanish until, give or take a day or two, 1704 when an Anglo-Dutch fleet under the command of Admiral Rooke occupied it without so much as pointing a musket at a Spanish omelette. For purely consolatory reasons the British took care of Gibraltar until 1713 when under the terms of the Treaty of Utrecht their ownership was made official. It was declared a British colony in 1830 ... which it resolutely remains. In 1969, General Franco, in a moment of entente not very cordiale, closed the border with the Rock and for 13 years anyone in Spain with an addiction for those things English had to take a boat from Algeciras to Ceuta or Tangier then sail into Gibraltar, returning via the same route with less money in their pockets and more sausages and beer in their bellies than flotsam and jetsam bobbing around in the surrounding seas.
The Rock remains British and the Spanish Government has regular powwows about getting its foot in the door, but the Gibraltarians, who legally have the last word, like their tax haven, the English pubs, duty-free cigarettes and alcohol, their bustling Main Street and the macaque monkeys that inhabit the upper rock and entertain visitors by jumping on screaming blondes and making gestures that would put them in a psychiatric ward if they were human.
Gibraltar has a population of 27,928 (monkeys are counted separately), one of whom is an old friend of Europa Star, watch retailer Sunder Khiani, President of the Khiani Group. The Group has three retail outlets on Main Street and one in Gibraltar’s airport. As it happens, the Group’s shops were the only ones of the dozen or so in Gibraltar open when I visited it on a recent Saturday afternoon. It appears that for some reason better known to the Visigoths who dropped in around 4 A.D., Gibraltarians reserve Saturday afternoons for watching English Premiership football or cricket matches on satellite television in a pub rather than replenishing their wardrobe or refrigerator.
Sunder’s father, Valiram, started the business in 1967 and together with his late brother Prekash, Sunder built it up to carry leading Swiss brands such as Baume & Mercier, Blancpain, Breitling, Corum, Maurice Lacroix, Movado, Piaget, Pilo, and Raymond Weil just to mention a few.
Khiani is a very friendly and open-minded man and his family business is based on offering an unbiased presentation of watches to his clients, whom he tends to treat as old friends. After discussing who and what is making life difficult for watch retailers on the Rock, Sunder took me for tea and scones in The Rock Hotel, Gibraltar’s finest. This was followed by a brief tour of the island that included a stop-off at the largest Safeway’s supermarket I’ve ever seen so that I could buy some malt vinegar - essential for fish and chips à l’anglaise and Golden Syrup – just as essential for spreading on pancakes on Shrove Tuesday.
I left Sunder and the Rock by crossing the mile-long runway that separ-ates Gibraltar from Spain. As I deftly managed to avoid the incoming Boeing 747s and Airbus 380s, I couldn’t help reflecting on how man in his infinite wisdom has left the Rock in a sort of time warp where life is lived in a laid-back manner … and one in which the macaque monkeys play a more important role in the Gibraltarians’ lives than the Swatch Group’s watches.


Source: Europa Star April-May 2007 Magazine Issue