I’m a big watch fan. Mainly I focus on vintage, and primarily on iconic watches (very similar to my love of bikes). As with bikes the thing I love is the hunt & chase, finding the perfect watch in barn find or NOS condition.
I have high end and low end and love them the same. The value of the watch is immaterial, it’s the design I love. I have Jellyfish swatches, 70s digital, one of the first Rolex sports watches from the 50s, McQueen Heuer Monaco from the 60s, loads of Omegas from the 70s, Rolex Explorers from the 60s to 90s, Quartz watches (including a funky Rolex quartz) from the 70s, the same omega from the same year that Neil Armstrong wore on the moon….
I’ve got somewhere in the region of 50 watches and, until 10 years ago, the hobby used to be filled with strange men with chunky jumpers and beards all sharing stories about beat rates, service cycles, cape cod cloth and the like. Wait lists were reserved for the rarest watches like the Daytona (mine took 2 years), you never paid full retail, in fact you assumed a 10% discount on any watch you bought new including Rolex.
But then Instagram happened and the sockless, shaved arm, white trouser-wearing, rented-car driving, crypto-promoting, dubai-holidaying fake-ass wankers took over. Suddenly the hobby was all about returns on investment, on grey market dealers, on stupid cartoon nicknames for watches, on preventing ‘micro scratches‘ and just focusing on a brand not the movement, the history or design.
Doesn’t stop me collecting though, I still focus on vintage, which most watch wankers wouldnt appreciate.
I have high end and low end and love them the same. The value of the watch is immaterial, it’s the design I love. I have Jellyfish swatches, 70s digital, one of the first Rolex sports watches from the 50s, McQueen Heuer Monaco from the 60s, loads of Omegas from the 70s, Rolex Explorers from the 60s to 90s, Quartz watches (including a funky Rolex quartz) from the 70s, the same omega from the same year that Neil Armstrong wore on the moon….
I’ve got somewhere in the region of 50 watches and, until 10 years ago, the hobby used to be filled with strange men with chunky jumpers and beards all sharing stories about beat rates, service cycles, cape cod cloth and the like. Wait lists were reserved for the rarest watches like the Daytona (mine took 2 years), you never paid full retail, in fact you assumed a 10% discount on any watch you bought new including Rolex.
But then Instagram happened and the sockless, shaved arm, white trouser-wearing, rented-car driving, crypto-promoting, dubai-holidaying fake-ass wankers took over. Suddenly the hobby was all about returns on investment, on grey market dealers, on stupid cartoon nicknames for watches, on preventing ‘micro scratches‘ and just focusing on a brand not the movement, the history or design.
Doesn’t stop me collecting though, I still focus on vintage, which most watch wankers wouldnt appreciate.
