01Who we are
The responsible party (in POPIA terms: the entity that determines the purpose and means of processing your personal information) is Optima Time (Pty) Ltd, a private company incorporated in the Republic of South Africa.
- – Company registration number: 2026/209546/07
- – Customs code: CU25817839
- – Registered address: 749 Rubenstein Drive, Section 1, Building 2, Delta Office Park, Pretoria, 0181
Our Information Officer is Roland Rodrigues, the founder and director, who is registered with the Information Regulator of South Africa as required by POPIA section 55. Contact details for the Information Officer are at the end of this notice.
02What personal information we collect
We collect personal information in three ways:
From you, directly. When you fill out a contact form, send us an enquiry, request a valuation, book a viewing, register an account, send us a WhatsApp message, or appoint us to sell or trade in a watch, we collect: your name, email address, telephone number, postal address (when delivery is involved), the watches you are interested in, any messages you send us, and (where the transaction value requires it under FICA) a copy of an identity document and proof of address for verification.
Automatically, as you use the site. Standard server logs (your IP address, the browser and device you used, the pages you visited, the date and time), and a small amount of data stored in your browser’s local storage to remember what you have saved to your wishlist and cart between visits.
From service providers acting on our instructions. When you message us on WhatsApp, Meta Platforms Inc. (which operates WhatsApp) handles the conversation in their normal course of business. When we make a sale, the payment processor handles the transaction. We receive only what we need from each of those processors to complete the action you have asked us to complete.
03Why we collect it
We process your personal information for the following lawful purposes, in line with POPIA section 11:
- – To respond to your enquiries, valuation requests, viewing bookings and purchase enquiries.
- – To carry out a transaction you have asked us to carry out (purchase, sale, trade-in, consignment) and to provide the warranty and after-sales service that comes with it.
- – To comply with the Financial Intelligence Centre Act (FICA) and related obligations on identity verification, transaction reporting and record-keeping.
- – To send you transactional messages relating to your enquiry, order, viewing or service appointment.
- – To send you marketing communications about new arrivals, services and events, but only if you have explicitly opted in.
- – To maintain accurate business records, defend ourselves in disputes, and respond to lawful regulatory or law-enforcement requests.
- – To protect against fraud and to authenticate the watches that pass through our workshop.
We do not sell your personal information to anyone for their own purposes.
04How long we keep it
We keep personal information only for as long as we have a lawful reason to do so:
- – Enquiry and lead data: 24 months from your last interaction with us, after which we anonymise or delete it.
- – Customer transaction records: 5 years from the date of the transaction, in line with the South African Revenue Service’s record-keeping requirement.
- – FICA verification documents: 5 years from the date of the last transaction with you, as required by section 22 of the Financial Intelligence Centre Act.
- – Marketing opt-in records: until you withdraw consent. We also keep a record of when you opted in and when you opted out for compliance.
- – Browser local storage (wishlist, cart): until you clear it from your own browser, or until you sign out of your account.
After these periods we securely delete the data or, where it is useful for our own analysis, irreversibly anonymise it so that it can no longer be linked to you.
05Who we share it with
We share personal information only with the service providers who help us run Optima Time, and only what each of them needs to do their job for us. Our current and planned processors are:
- – Database and application hosting (Hetzner Online GmbH, Germany): to store your account, enquiries, order history and the watches we have sold to you.
- – Website delivery (Vercel Inc., United States): to serve the public-facing site.
- – Email service provider: to send you transactional email and opted-in marketing email.
- – WhatsApp service provider (Meta Platforms Inc. and our WhatsApp Business provider): to deliver messages between you and us.
- – Payment service providers: to process payments you have authorised.
- – Courier and delivery services: to deliver watches you have purchased.
- – Authentication and watchmaking specialists: where we engage an external expert to authenticate or service a watch for you.
- – SARS, the Financial Intelligence Centre, the Information Regulator, and law enforcement: where we are required by law to disclose information.
Every service provider we use is contractually required to handle your data only on our instructions, to keep it secure, and to delete it when it is no longer needed for the service they provide to us.
06Cross-border transfers
Some of the processors above operate outside South Africa. Under POPIA section 72 we may transfer personal information to a foreign country only if certain conditions are met. We rely on the following:
- – European Union (where Hetzner is based): the EU provides a level of data protection that is substantially similar to POPIA, so this transfer is permitted under section 72(1)(a).
- – United States (where Vercel and some communication providers are based): we rely on standard contractual clauses that bind the receiving processor to a level of protection equivalent to POPIA, and on your consent where you have explicitly given it.
By using this website you understand that your data may be processed in these jurisdictions. If you would prefer your data not to leave South Africa, contact our Information Officer and we will discuss the options.
07How we protect it
We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to keep your personal information safe:
- – All communication between your browser and our site is encrypted (HTTPS).
- – Sensitive personal information, including FICA documents, is encrypted at rest.
- – Access to your data is restricted to Roland and any team member who genuinely needs it for the job in front of them.
- – We run regular backups and we periodically review the security posture of every third-party processor we use.
- – FICA documents are stored in encrypted object storage that is separate from the customer database, with stricter access control than ordinary customer data.
No system is perfectly secure. In the unlikely event of a data breach that compromises your personal information, we will notify you and the Information Regulator as soon as reasonably possible, in line with POPIA section 22.
08Your rights under POPIA
POPIA gives you the following rights over your personal information held by Optima Time:
- – The right to access the personal information we hold about you. We will respond to a written request within 30 days, free of charge.
- – The right to correction of anything inaccurate, incomplete, irrelevant, misleading or unlawfully obtained.
- – The right to deletion of personal information we no longer have a lawful reason to keep (subject to retention requirements under FICA, SARS and other applicable laws).
- – The right to object to processing, including to withdraw consent for direct marketing at any time.
- – The right to data portability, where we hold your data in a structured format.
- – The right to complain to the Information Regulator if you believe we have processed your personal information unlawfully.
To exercise any of these rights, email our Information Officer at RDR@optimatime.com.
09Direct marketing
We will only send you marketing email or WhatsApp messages if you have explicitly opted in. POPIA section 69 prohibits unsolicited electronic direct marketing without consent, and we take this seriously.
Every marketing message we send carries a clear instruction on how to opt out. If you opt out, we stop, and we keep a record of your opt-out so that you are not contacted again in error.
10Cookies and local storage
We use a small amount of browser local storage to remember what you have saved to your wishlist and your cart between visits, and to keep you signed in once you have an account.
We do not currently use third-party tracking cookies, advertising pixels, or analytics scripts that share data with third parties. If we add analytics or advertising tools in future, we will update this notice and, where required, give you the option to opt in.
11Children
Our services are intended for adults aged 18 and over. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe we have collected personal information from a child, contact our Information Officer and we will delete it.
12Changes to this notice
We may update this notice from time to time. The “Last updated” date at the top shows when. Material changes will be communicated to registered account holders by email at the address you registered with.
13Contact and complaints
Information Officer. Roland Rodrigues, Director, Optima Time (Pty) Ltd. Email: RDR@optimatime.com. Telephone: +27 82 304 9919.
If you are not satisfied with how we have handled your personal information, you can lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator (South Africa):
- – Website: inforegulator.org.za
- – Email: complaints.IR@justice.gov.za
- – Post: PO Box 31533, Braamfontein, Johannesburg, 2017