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Let's not beat around the bush – building a watch collection is an intimidating feat. Hell, securing your first watch is hard enough in itself. Walk into most of the major watch retailers, anywhere in the world, and odds are the coveted items from the hot brands (you know, Rolex, Audemars Piguet, Patek Philippe) are “for exhibition only.” In other words, feel free to touch, but you can’t have. Low supply and high demand lead to watches being purchased before they even hit the shelves, and if you’re lucky enough to get yourself on a waitlist, actually receiving anything is a whole other matter.
This leaves many fledgling collectors to look at the secondary market. Whether you’re shopping at auction, online or find yourself connected to a plug, it can be quite overwhelming. First, you gotta figure out what you even want. The sheer variety is daunting. And then… do you want pre-owned? Vintage? What’s the difference? How come the same watch you’re looking at online has a million different results with a million different prices? Who can you trust, damn it?!
These are all perfectly legit questions/concerns/qualms. We’ve tapped some trusted minds in the industry for their top tips on how best to build a watch collection. Whether you’re a total amateur or a seasoned collector, there’s plenty of good wisdom in here.
To a lot of us, wearing a timepiece is all a bit foreign. Whereas everyone used to wear one (you may recall this from memory or, if you’re Gen Z, via the amazing watch spotting in any movies or TV shows pre-2005), the advent of the smartphone rendered wristwatches all but obsolete. But everything is cyclical, and watches are making a huge comeback. Hot off the heels of the pandemic, 2021-22 were boom years for the industry, with watches breaking records at auction and beloved models such as the steel Patek Philippe Nautilus 5711 (now discontinued, previously retailing for $30K USD), trading for almost $200K.
The market has cooled a bit, but even so, if you’re gunning for that Nautilus, you’re still looking at around six figures. If you’re in a lower tax bracket, even a classic, pre-owned or vintage Rolex Datejust will set you back the price of a month’s rent times two (depending on where you live). This is an expensive hobby, or to put it more gracefully… it’s aspirational.
In that spirit, you have to start somewhere! Go for something you can afford. Merely putting a watch on your wrist, acclimating your body to the feel of it and activating your soul to the “manifestation” of it all. “It’s easy to believe that you have to have heavy hitters in order to be a watch collector,” says Perri Dash, founder of Wrist Check Podcast. “But that isn’t the case. My initial advice would be to start some place practical, a watch that’s an everyday piece.”
This could mean a £60 Swatch watch, a £600 Hamilton Khaki or the no-name (yet sentimental) watch passed down to you by a family member. Dash continues to suggest that, once you have your all day, every day piece, you can look into other categories – something for the weekend, something sporty, a dive watch that won’t break the bank so you can still afford that trip to Greece and wear it while swimming in the Med.
Even if you find yourself rubbing elbows with the hot shots and the snobs, have confidence in whatever it is you do start with and buy within your means. Lorenzo Maillard, vintage watch expert and co-founder of the outcast watch magazine Heist-Out understands how tempting it can be to keep up with the Joneses, but stay strong. “Avoid succumbing to the culture of watch snobbery,” says Maillard. “Resist the temptation to mimic the actions of other watch collectors.”
Plus, even billionaires wear Swatches! And Tony Blair has been known to wear one. No matter your politics, if it’s good enough for a former prime minister…
If you’re reading this, you’re already doing a bit of research. But if you’re like me, and you’re more of a “learn by doing” kind of person, articles can only take you so far. Zoe Abelson, luxury watch dealer and adviser, suggests talking it out. “Ask for advice,” she says. “Watch collecting is more fun (and easier to navigate) when you look to experts and the watch collecting community.” But where do these watch experts hide? The good thing about this community is people love to talk. We’re all nerds at heart. So, odds are you may have a friend, a relative, a co-worker who knows a bit about watches. Strike up a conversation, and you’ll be surprised where it leads you. You could walk off with an enlightened perspective on building your collection, or you could walk off with a headache because this person nerded out on you too hard, Either way, listening = learning, and there really is so much to learn.
Another thing: “Get your hands on as many watches as possible,” Abelson continues. “Try them on. See what fits, see what speaks to you. Pictures typically won’t tell you how you’ll feel about it in the flesh.” Indeed, white background photos or those blurry iPhone photos on the eBay listing you’ve been stalking will only get you so far. Even if your local watch boutiques may not have exactly what you want, it helps to try on similar pieces to get a feel for the sizing, the metal, the vibe. You may find yourself changing your mind completely having tried the watch that was once at the top of your wishlist. And don’t be shy about walking into the Cartier store – you may be a potential client, and these places will be happy to serve you.
“Prioritise your personal preferences over blindly following market trends,” says Lorenzo Maillard. “Follow your heart.” This is potentially a huge purchase, and it can be pretty sad if you buy a watch that you never actually wear.
Leigh Safar, VP and Global Head of Important Collections at Sotheby’s Watches, is careful to point out the difference between buying a hoodie versus a high-end timepiece. “Buying a $10K watch is obviously different from buying a $200 shirt or a $500 pair of sneakers,” says Zagoory. “You might not feel bad about ditching those shoes after a year of wear, but you definitely want to be more intentional with your watch purchase, so pick something that you love and don’t settle for something because it’s in style now.”
“The most common mistake in collecting watches is viewing them solely as investment opportunities,” says Lorenzo Maillard. Indeed, the big question I get from a lot of future collectors is whether it's possible to make money on watches. Save the speculation for the stock markets.
“People who jump off the deep end into prominent and expensive brands often end up regretting the purchase because it isn’t yielding the results they wanted,” says Perri Dash. “Perhaps the secondary market price has fallen below retail, and it’s no longer a viable investment.” Should this put a damper on your watch? On your life? No! If you buy a watch because you love it, you will wear it, and that wrist-time will be worth its value alone. Then, if you happen to notice your watch’s price descending on Chrono24, you’ll only be mildly impacted. To quote the great David Byrne (who wore a Casio in the '80s): “never for money, always for love.”
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When buying vintage watches, it is especially important to prioritise quality over everything. You don’t want a watch with aftermarket parts, you don’t want something polished to death, you don’t want something that will fall apart within a week of wear. But this is a fickle category – a lot of these watches are over 30, 40, 50 years old. So be forgiving, and liken the purchase to a classic car that requires tender loving maintenance every so often.
If you’re not completely ballin’, “start with affordable vintage watches,” says Maillard. “You’ll make mistakes throughout your collecting journey, and that’s perfectly normal and part of the learning experience.”
And don’t make the mistake of arbitrarily prioritising something as seductive as the “box and papers” element you heard your amateur watch enthusiast friend talking about. “It is rare to find watches from 20–30 years ago with papers,” says Alan Bedwell, aka Foundwell, a vintage watch and antiques dealer. “The retaining of papers back then was not something that most people were concerned with. The ‘papers’ are an original one year warranty from the manufacturer. Once that year had expired, they held little value and were, most of the time, discarded.
“We work very hard on finding watches that are rare, in excellent condition and beautiful,” adds Bedwell, stressing the importance of quality over everything.
The emergence of social media as the primary platform on which watch news is shared has predictably led to a lot of flexing. If you follow accounts like @insaneluxurylife, you may see LeBron James wearing that new blue ceramic Audemars Piguet Royal Oak that’s now trading for $500K. Or maybe you caught the fact that part-time singer, full-time watch guy John Mayer got an allocation on the new Rolex ‘Jigsaw’ Day-Date. But what to do if you want that watch and you’re not LeBron (he has the Jigsaw, too) or John Mayer.
I spoke with the guys who actually sold Mayer the Jigsaw and here’s what they have to say: “To get to the Jigsaw, you might have to start with a different Day-Date,” says Russell Kelly, the Chief Operations Officer at Fourtané Jewelers, an American, West-coast based authorised retailer of Rolex and Patek Philippe.
“You might have to start with, say, a malachite Day-Date, which leads you to discover more about the rarity of stone dials within the Rolex collection,” continues Kelly. “Learning about those pieces and starting a relationship with your authorised dealer is important. A Jigsaw may become available years down the line, and you’ll be the person they think of because they know you have such a deep connection with stone-dial Rolexes.”
This pro-tip definitely is more aimed at the big picture collectors who have the capital to “discover” in this way (aka buy). But, again, it’s not just about the money. “We’re retailers, but we’re humans too,” says Josh Bonifas, the owner of Fourtané. “We want to get the watches to the clients who are going to most appreciate them.
“That’s honestly what makes our business fun,” adds Kelly. “We get to make those connections with people. We get to lead them down this collecting journey and help them determine what's going to be a meaningful pathway for them. And then eventually getting them to their ‘grail watch’ and achieve that dream purchase is what it’s all about.”
If you are lucky enough to spend money for these fancy watches, don’t walk into a retailer completely honed in on the one. As you’ve learned by now, it may not be available, and you shouldn’t let this hinder your collecting journey.
“Never get high on your own supply is a key one for me, says Nicholas Biebuyck, TAG Heuer heritage director. “There are too many people who get obsessed with one category or brand – it’s important to have a diverse taste and collection.”
It all goes back to the community. “Don't hesitate to connect with individuals who pique your interest or offer unique insights into collecting,” says Maillard. You may have your mind set on something specific, but talking to someone knowledgeable about your collection and the watch world in general may have a significant impact.
“Learn to appreciate everything,” continues Biebuyck. “Seek out the opinion of those who you initially might feel are focused in a very different area to you. It’s highly possible to learn something new and interesting and explore a vertical you had not previously considered.”
With that, we send you off like Jacques Cousteau (who wore a Rolex Submariner), diving off the edge into the deep blue sea of watch collecting.
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