Family Time: Amir and Shabeena Meghani

Though they grew up working in their father’s watch shop in Dallas, neither Amir nor Shabeena Meghani set out to build their careers around a family business–let alone start a brand in that same space. JBW was the result of a shared passion for design, a harmonious working dynamic between the siblings, and, of course, good timing.

“I feel like our parents were very typical immigrant parents, they wanted us to get an education, to get a college degree,” says Shabeena. “So, it almost felt like we came here to do that. They saw their business as more of a means to an end. But as we grew up, and as my dad started a new business around 2005, we realized that this could be something interesting to come and help out for a little bit. You know, it was never even meant to be anything permanent. And it naturally took a path of its own.”

The siblings launched JBW with a single timepiece in 2008, fulfilling a need for affordable diamond watches that had become apparent to them while working in the family watch shop.

“It was really a test. We weren’t setting out to start a brand,” says Amir. “It was based more on a gut feeling than, I know for sure that this is going to work.”

They ordered 500 units of the watch, a tonneau-shaped piece with a bubbled face that was very 2008. The first shipment took longer to arrive than it did to sell out. That’s when they realized their hunch could really work.

“I still remember thinking, this is something cool we're doing that actually there's a need in the market,” says Amir.

From there, the company continued growing, eventually making the leap from “Just Bling Watches” to JBW. As the brand evolved, so did the siblings’ working dynamic.

“Learning to work with your sibling in those early days is definitely a challenge. We were a lot younger. We were fresh out of college, we had a lot of egos, a lot of dreams,” Amir says. “We've always been really close knit as a family. Even if there were disagreements or different opinions, at the end of the day, we both knew that we were here because we wanted to create something out of this. The end goal was always the same, and that guiding light always kept us going.”

Thirteen years in, JBW has grown beyond its roots as a small, family operation, but the heart of the business remains the same. The siblings say that being a family-based company still drives many of their day-to-day decisions. At the same time, they make it clear that everyone who has joined the company since its start has been invited to be a part of the vision.

“I feel that the brand is really at a crossroads, and is at a place where we've spent the last three years growing up as a brand, and learning a lot. We are doing a lot of internal work to figure out what is the future for the brand,” says Shabeena. “We want to push our vision out to the world. Making unique, bold statement timepieces is always something that we're going to stand for. Right now, we're going through a transition where we're pushing into the next phase of the brand’s future.”

Shabeena wears the Mink Platinum Series, and Amir wears the Phantom.

Amir and Shabeena with their father, Akber Meghani, who brought the family watch business to Dallas in 1990.