The Watch Collectors' Club runs regular events where we teach members a little about watches, watchmakers, watch

A club for everyone who likes watches.

There are many millions of watches out there that do only one thing. Tell the time. They have no date, no fancy features, they just tell the time. Their job is to do that reliably, accurately and safely. We call these time only watches.

Achieving this took a surprisingly large amount of innovation in the watch industry during the move from pocket watches to wristwatches in the early decades of the 20th century. It was not simply about making everything smaller; putting a mechanical device on the wrist exposed it to far more movement, dust, and water risk than when the watch was kept in a pocket. This meant that technology had to improve at a rapid pace and it hasn't stopped since. Accuracy and reliability in watchmaking remain the goal whether the watch costs $10 or $1 Million.

It is possible today to buy a reliable digital watch for only $10, and a reliable mechanical watch for around $40. You can also pay millions of dollars for a handmade watch that also only tells the time. Two of the most popular watches in the world, the Rolex Oyster Perpetual and the Patek Philippe Calatrava only tell the time and have long waiting lists. So how do high-end watchmakers sell their time-only watches for thousands of pounds, and why are some of them so famous?

Why are some time only watches so expensive?

The story of making watches more reliable and accurate is ongoing. Some big watch companies design and make their own mechanisms, so-called in-house movements, aiming to bring out new and improved mechanisms every decade or so. Some do it with great fanfare, such as Rolex, others do it more quietly, but the quest to make watches better continues. These brands see technological development as a core part of their offer to customers.

Continued innovation in high-end watchmaking leads to higher accuracy and reliability, and most notably in recent years, a much longer service interval. Watch companies used to recommend a mechanical watch be serviced every 2 or 3 years, but now regularly offer 5 or 7 years guarantees on a movement and expect no service need until then. This is a massive benefit to the wearer and has come about thanks to huge amounts of research and development. These improvements cost money.

The watch world is still dominated by brands made in Switzerland and Japan. Both of these companies have a very high cost of living, and thus the employees of watch manufacturers and their suppliers based in these companies are very well paid by global standards. Similarly, the costs to manufacture are much higher than in other parts of the world. For customers who want their watch to be Swiss or Japanese-made, they have to pay these higher costs.

Finally, some watch companies hand adjust and hand finish their movements. This is incredibly labour intensive, and this labour is expensive, wherever it is done. The more hand-crafted a watch is, the more expensive it will be. 

Why are some mechanical watches so cheap?

There is a very simple answer to this: Asian Manufacturing. The excellent progress of simplifying movement design made by the Japanese over the course of the 20th century was then added to the sheer scale and quality of Chinese high-volume manufacturing. Citizen Watch Group make many of their low-end movements in China, and Seiko make many of theirs in Malaysia, but using Chinese-made parts. 

This enables simple movements, including time only movements, to be made at very very low cost as they make tens of millions of them. The same is true of quartz and digital watches.

However, these movements are not particularly accurate, and can often break. They are accurate to around 45 seconds variance per day, which over a week can lead your watch to be 5 or more minutes out. When they do break it is often not worth the cost of a service to fix them, they are usually replaced entirely by the watchmaker.

The good news is that the availability of these movements, plus ones made by Chinese manufacturers, has enabled the creation of a huge number of new Microbrands, allowing enthusiasts and entrepreneurs to start their own watch brands for very small amounts of money. We wrote a whole series of articles on Microbrands last year, and we love seeing what new ideas people dream up. Low cost movements allow this, without taking anything away from the higher-priced movements sold by other watch brands.

In 1927 Rolex introduced the first wristwatch to be a proper "hit". The Rolex Oyster was the first waterproof watch to hit the big time, with the Rolex brand and watch name marketed widely, something still unusual for watches at the time. They even put the watch in fish tanks in jewellery store windows to prove its claims! In 1932 Rolex added the Perpetual automatic, or self-winding movement, and this watch was even more successful. The watch has been so successful they still sell it today, 95 years later. The current version is powered by the Rolex Reference 3230 movement, which is the culmination of a century of improvements, with the latest version having no fewer than 91% new parts compared to the previous one when it was introduced this year.

The Patek Philippe Calatrava is the simplest watch in the Patek range, and for a firm most famous for complicated timepieces with many functions, it is still a very popular watch. Its simple design was influenced by the German Bauhaus design movement in the early 20th century. In 1952 it was given a revolutionary new automatic movement, and it has featured one ever since. The relaunch of the watch in the 1980s saw it given the name Calatrava, which it has retained ever since. Remarkably, this name is now so iconic that some people are referring to time-only watches from other brands as "Calatravas", despite it being a Patek Philippe brand name.

There are many more iconic time-only watches from the great Swiss and Japanese brands, such as the Jaeger LeCoultre Reverso, and the Credor range made by Grand Seiko. They are often priced as true luxury watches, even if they don't have the most complex functions or movements, they are well regarded by collectors and very reliable for their owners.

The fact that time-only watches are the most numerous available means there are many very reasonably priced vintage watches available. This is often a great place to start if you like a watch brand but cannot afford its current range. You can buy incredibly high-quality watches for relatively little money, so long as you are very careful. See our guide to buying vintage watches for more details about how to get started.

There are so many watches in the world with interesting functions, fancy complications and crazy designs that it is easy to overlook the fantastic range of time-only watches on the market, from the youngest Microbrand to the most prestigious high-end Independent watchmaker. They are also the most accessible way to buy the big brands, whatever the price point. We at The Watch Collectors' Club don't have a favourite time-only watch but we see many in our members' collections. We hope you will join us to explore this part of the watch world. Please follow us on social media and make sure you are on our mailing list so you don't miss out on any of our events.

Why are some time-olny watches so expensive?

Exploring Time-only Watches

We explore the range of watches that simply tell the time.

Why are some time-only watches so expensive?

We're already half way through 2022 and it's been a great year so far building momentum for The Watch Collectors' Club! We've held 12 Events, with more planned this Sunday (details here) and in July. Last Tuesday we had our general Meetup in London, and it was a fantastic success, with a great mix of watches and people from different backgrounds. When watch lovers come together it's really easy to have a good time, and we keep proving it! 

It's the biggest brand in the world and there are a lot of them, but it's always lovely to see some Rolexes. No fewer than 8 were brought along on Tuesday! There were both new and vintage models, and it was especially nice to see the two Explorer models side by side. There are definitely two of the more subtle watches in the Rolex range. With their distinctive dials and tough construction, they are great daily wearers.

On the vintage side, there were some fascinating Elgin Drivers watches, which have hinged lugs to allow you to wear it on the side of the wrist while your hands remain on the wheel. I'd never seen or heard of these before, and they are a great example of the idea that you'll almost always learn something new at a meetup. It's one of the most fun things about them.

Finally, we had a nice range of High Quality Swiss and Japanese timepieces, some rarer than others, but all remarkable to see in person! Let's hope future meetups are as blessed. If you have something you're proud of and would like to share, please do come along.

Our audience and following continue to grow, and we will hold at least one online and in-person event every month from now on. If you have any event ideas you'd like to see us create, please let us know. In the meantime keep an eye out for our event promotion on our events page. 

We are building our educational resources and hope to launch our Club Membership towards the end of the year. If there's anything you think we should cover then do let us know! What do you most want to learn about? 

We are currently hiring interns, so if you want to intern with us or know anyone who likes watches and might jump at the chance to intern for a startup (paid, of course!), please send them our way.

As part of our ongoing development, we have changed our website domain and will change our email address after this week. So please update your safe senders, as all future Blog Posts and event communications will come from: join@thewatchcollectorsclub.com

Thanks for following us and please do give us any feedback about what you'd like to see us cover, any event ideas you have, and if you like what we're doing, tell anyone else you know who likes watches. The bigger this community, the more events we can run, and the more fun we will have.

June Meetup HIghlights and Watch Collectors Club Plans for the summer

A selection of fantastic watches from our Meetup earlier this week.

The Omega Speedmaster is one of the most famous watches in the world. Since its launch in 1957, there have been many changes, improvements, case shapes, and limited editions, and the watch that was the first to land on the moon is rightly famous and popular. The one that preceded the Moonwatch is also huge in terms of popularity and importance; this watch is referred to as the "Ed White". A simple classic design, and a famous movement, or mechanism, the Calibre 321, led to great popularity among collectors. This Blog Post will explain what is so special about it and why you might want one.

The fact that the Omega Speedmaster qualified to become the official watch issued to astronauts at NASA, the US Space Agency, is well known. The toughness of the tests it had to pass is not.

They were crazily difficult and the competing watches from Rolex and Longines-Wittnauer failed at least one of them. The tests included high temperatures of 93 Degrees Celsius (200 Fahrenheit), a temperature fluctuation in a pure vacuum test to mimic space, and very aggressive acceleration, decompression and vibration tests. That any watch survived them is remarkable, but the Speedmaster came through them ticking. This model, the Reference 105.003, entered the history books and is now known as the "Ed White".

How did an Omega Speedmaster become the Moonwatch?

On March 1st 1965, the watch became the official Flight Qualified watch for all Manned Space Missions and therefore NASA ordered watches directly from Omega to give to astronauts during training for their missions. Previously, astronauts had supplied their own watches.

Ed White was an early member of the NASA Astronaut program in the 1960s.  He is remembered for being the first American to "walk" in space. This means he undertook activities outside the small spacecraft in which he was orbiting the Earth. Most excitingly of all, he used a small gas-powered gun to move through space away from the vehicle, and he timed this movement using an Omega Speedmaster strapped to the outside of his spacesuit. In fact, he wore two Speedmasters on that trip, a journey known as the Gemini IV mission. 

As the first mission after the Speedmaster had passed the NASA tests and become the official watch for astronauts (which it remains to this day), it was very successful and proved that Omega had chosen correctly. The Spacewalk was 23 minutes long and proved the equipment was good enough to survive the tough environment of space. This test directly led to the momentum for the Moon landings four years later.

A tragedy cemented Ed White's legacy as a pioneering astronaut. While conducting a test for the Apollo 1 launch an accident on the launch pad saw the crew cabin containing three astronauts burst into flames. All the men died quickly, and the Speedmaster Ed White was wearing then was destroyed. His son inherited the other, and today it survives in a watch collection in Japan. The Speedmaster worn by the other astronaut on the Gemini IV mission, James McDivitt, is now held in the collection of the Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C.

The original Ed White is called the Speedmaster Reference 105.003 and is one of the most collectable Omega watches. There are plenty of them available as they were made in great numbers to celebrate the certification by NASA. There are many good and bad examples, so it is important to be careful if looking to buy a vintage watch. The most useful reference website for all Speedmasters of this period is the Speedmaster 101 website.  

In 2019, to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Moon landing, Omega recreated the famous Calibre 321 movement by exactly copying one from an Ed White belonging to another astronaut, Gene Cernan. He flew with this watch on the final Apollo mission, Apollo 17 in  1971. The following year they released a brand new version of the Ed White model, which is an exact copy but made to modern standards. You get the 321 Calibre but made of modern materials, such as the Sedna gold coated base plates. It has modern lubricants and also the case is now 50m waterproof with a Sapphire case back. This has proven an exceptionally popular offering from Omega and is a great premium Speedmaster for those looking for something new.

The Watch Collectors' Club believes exploring the history of Speedmaster watches is worthwhile precisely because there are so many of them, and their involvement with NASA's various space programs means there are many fascinating stories. Understanding the differences in the details can be a lot of fun. The Ed White remains one of the most popular amongst collectors, and we hope we've explained why that is. For more content like this to help you learn more about the watch world, join our monthly watch events and make sure you follow us on Social Media.

What is the Ed White watch? What's the Speedy Ed White? Who was Ed White?

The story of the Speedmaster "Ed White"

Exploring the origins of this classy vintage and modern Speedmaster

We are delighted to announce our next virtual event, and we are starting by keeping it simple. It's on Sunday 24th July, at 7:30pm BST

You bring the watches, we will host the discussion. Here’s how it will work:

    The Watch Collectors’ Club exists to bring people together to explore, learn and share the world of watches.

    1.) Send us a pic or pics of a Watch from one of the largest watch groups. It can be any brand as in the photo.

    4.) Each person will get two minutes to introduce the watch, what it means to them, and what they like about it

    5.) If people want to discuss it, we discuss it

    6.) We all learn a little, and see some great watches.

That’s it. A stress-free way to learn what’s out there, and hear why people wear what they wear. If you don’t want to participate, that’s fine, you can just listen in. It’s a showcase and a get together. We will be kind, considerate, and interested. We ask you be the same.

Join us on Zoom for a wider reaning chat about watches.

join us online for a wide ranging chat about watches

WCC July Virtual Showcase 2022

Our next General Meetup will be on July 12th from 6:30pm in Central London, and we will release the details early in the week of the event. It will be a relaxed evening in a private space where you can come and share your passion for watches with like-minded people. We will give two short talks to help you learn more about this fascinating space, and there will be refreshments available.

Everyone is welcome, whether you have been collecting for years or are just getting started. We are creating a place to share knowledge and help each other out, and you don't even need to own a watch.

We assure you that the venue will be COVID-compliant, and there will be plenty of sanitiser available.  Please register using the link and if you have any friends how might like to come, also ask them to register in advance.

Join us to share your watch stories and explore the watch world.

watch meetup in central London July 2022 for watch collectors

WCC July in-person Meetup

Join us on Sunday June 19th at 7:30PM UK Time, for an engaging and interactive exploration of Patek Philippe. You'll hear about the 4 men who have made it the company is today, 4 of the most important watches from the last 100 years, and learn about the 4 little numbers that denote a Patek Philippe reference, and hence the name collectors use to talk about them. We promise a short, exciting, and of course interactive experience, where you'll learn a lot more about one of the world's most famous watch companies. It's free, and it's on Zoom, and everyone is welcome. Please register using the link below.

Join us for a short introduction to what makes Patek Philippe so special.

Live introduction to Patek Philippe and what makes it special

Virtual Patek Philippe Talk

June Virtual Meetup - Patek Philippe Talk

Edward Howkins

High Horology is exactly the kind of fancy term that people outside the watch industry find baffling, but really just means fine or high-quality watchmaking. Also regularly referred to using the French words "Haute Horologie", it is used to describe watches created using the finest techniques, with the most complicated functions, and the most intricate details. Some people mix the terms up and say Haute Horology, and also People might say High-End Horology, meaning the luxury, or highest quality watches available. All of these terms refer to the same thing. 

Firstly, it's worth remembering what Horology means. It is simply the study, science and manufacture of time-keeping pieces, including clocks and watches. It is often just referred to as "The Study of Time", although this isn't really correct, as it is NOT about studying the nature of time. That is an area of Physics. Horology is about the machines we use to measure time, from the largest tower clock to the smallest wristwatch. A Horologist is someone interested in timepieces. Most people assume someone who refers to themselves as a Horologist will be more focused on clocks than watches. Confusingly, if we say someone is interested in High Horology we would assume they are interested in watches. Why these terms are used like this is a mystery. 

What is High Horology or Haute Horologie?

The markers of a watch that could be described as High Horology are not well defined. There are many aspects that go into fine watchmaking, and different brands will prioritise different aspects of quality and craftsmanship and be counted as High Horology. The following examples will demonstrate some of the key aspects of High Horology.

These two watches from Lange & Sohne have every part inside and out hand-finished in some way. They build the watch once, then take it apart and polish or finish every single part in some specific way. This gives it a very fancy look and effects when you see it in person. Surprisingly, they even do this to the parts that you can't see. This type of finishing is one of the things that set the brand apart and means that its entire range is regarded as High Horology.

Interesting, innovative and non-standard movements

The movement is the mechanism that powers the watch. Patek Philippe makes complicated movements of their own design. While they may be based on historic mechanisms, every single movement produced today by Patek Philippe, including this Perpetual Calendar watch, was designed by them and is unique to them. They will also often contain features and functions that no one else can make, and contain a very large number of different parts. Unusual and complicated movements are a sign of Haute Horologie.

This watch below from Breguet has an Equation of Time complication, or function. This is a separate hand that shows how much the actual position of the sun in the sky deviates from the time we use as noon, since our calendar is very slightly out of alignment for convenience. The small sun on the end of the hand is the indicator, and at its most different, it would be 16 minutes different to the actual minute hand.  This seems ridiculous to include in a watch but is often included precisely in order to demonstrate the ability to make a complicated watch. 

There are other functions that are almost completely unnecessary but are exclusively found in high Horology due to the expense required to design and manufacture them. Tourbillon movements, which offset the effects of gravity, Repeater movements, that sound the time using chimes, and Perpetual calendars that take leap years into account are further examples.

The cutting edge of watch movement design involves innovation in parts and functions to try things that haven't been done before, or improve parts in some way. This watch from Ressence uses magnets to move the dial and subdials around while displaying the time. Historically magnets have been the enemy of watch movements as they distort the action if the wrong parts become magnetised, and this can affect the accuracy of a watch. The whole front of the watch is also filled with oil to make it easier to read. This is also innovative and revolutionary. Experimental features like this are a key part of High Horology, attracting new customers to these technically interesting movements.

We've written extensively about watch dials and how they are made. These examples are some of the very finest available. This first watch is very special entirely because of the dial. It is made from White Gold and engine-turned by hand on a lathe to get the different patterns. This is time-consuming and hard to set up properly, so the operator must be very skilled to do it. This sort of craftsmanship in the details of the dial and case are signals of High Horology, even if the movement inside the watch is very straightforward.

This second watch has a similar dial, that has been engine turned and then it has been enamelled. The combination of the two requires extremely high levels of enamelling skill, to the point that only a few people in the whole world can do it. This watch is simple, but very much an example of High Horology.

This watch has a case made from Carbon Fibre and multiple further parts in the same material. It is also an unusual shape, and has an unusual mechanism. It is not to everyone's taste but this company, Urwerk, is definitely regarded as High Horology.

To summarise, a watch that is High Horology is likely to have the following features:

Very high level of hand-finishing or decorative details on the movement, dial or case

Contain a technical innovation or technically complicated part of the movement

It should be fairly clear that High Horology watches are going to be expensive. Broadly, the more hand crafted and complicated a watch is, the more expensive it will be, and the more experimental it is, either in technology or in finishing, the more expensive it will be. There are High Horology watches today that cost over $1mn from quite a few brands. Jaeger LeCoultre releases one new watch every year of this type. However it is also possible to buy some exceptional pieces, both new and on the vintage market, with all the of the features of High Horology for around $10,000. 

A short word on Rolex; Despite being the biggest and most famous watch brand in the world and selling some very fine timepieces, people do not regard Rolexes as High Horology. The exceptions are some of their very highly jewelled pieces, as the gem setting is incredibly complicated and time-consuming.

Which are the High Horology Watch Brands?

There are so many watch brands that it is impossible to list them all. Of the largest and most famous watch brands, especially from Switzerland, brands such as Patek Philippe, Breguet, Blancpain and Audemars Piguet are famous for their complicated High Horology pieces and have been for many years. Companies such as Grand Seiko and Credor from Japan and Lange & Sohne from Germany also are regarded as High Horology brands. There are also many smaller, younger brands as mentioned above, and many Independent watchmakers that make very complicated and expensive timepieces.


As a rule of thumb, you can access watches regarded as High Horology once you start paying more than $10,000 if you are buying new, and over $5000 in the vintage market. You should also be aware that High horology watches are often very difficult to get repaired or serviced due to their complexity and unusual features. Our guides to watch servicing and buying vintage watches help clear up what you need to consider when buying this type of watch.

High Horology watches lead the world of watches in technical innovation and design mastery. Many of the features and designs found in the very finest and most complicated timepieces are later copied into more affordable and mass-market pieces. The brands that focus on High Horology are famous for their craftsmanship and excellence and are standard-bearers for the industry. We at The Watch Collectors' Club do not think there are best watches or best brands, we appreciate all the different watches that the industry has to offer, and love to explore both new and vintage models. If you want to do the same, join our mailing list to hear about our online and in-person events, and follow us on Social Media.

What is High Horology? What is Haute Horologie?

What is High Horology?

We explore which watches are counted as High Horology, or Haute Horologie

The Watch Collectors’ Club exists to help our members to learn more about the world of watches. Like us, you may not want to keep your watches forever. You might want or need to sell a watch. This short guide will help you find the best place to sell your watch, and will help make the process as simple as possible for you. 

The first thing you should do when you decide to sell a watch is to assess what type of watch you are selling. The questions you need to answer are: 

Do you have the box and authenticity papers?

What condition is it in? Does it have scratches on the case or the glass?

These factors all contribute to the price you can expect to receive for your watch. Once you have established these things, it is worth researching the price of similar watches. You can do this by using online marketplaces, such as Chrono24. 

Once you’ve worked out what you are selling and how much you might be able to sell the watch for, you need to decide where to sell the watch. The following sections explain the types of watches that you could sell via each channel, and what to expect when using them. 

Sometimes called grey-market dealers, these companies typically specialise in selling nearly new watches. If your watch is a current model from one of the big Swiss brands, a second-hand dealer might be interested in your watch. People buy watches from these dealers because they will often guarantee the authenticity of the watch, they might provide a warranty, and they will often be able to source watches that have long waiting lists (such as the Rolex sports models). 

You can sell your watch directly to them, or you can sell it on consignment. This means that they will advertise your watch in their store, and will pay you when someone buys it from them. Bear in mind the price you see a second-hand dealer sell a watch for is not what you will get by selling a watch to them. Typically, you would expect to pay a 10-20% commission to the dealer when you sell on commission. If the dealer buys your watch straight from you to sell onto their customers, they will aim to make a margin of between 5% and 30% of the value of the watch. This will depend on how quickly they expect to sell your watch. 

You will get the best price from a second-hand dealer if your watch has box and papers, have recently been serviced, and is in good condition.

If your watch is old, unusual or rare, you might find that a specialist dealer is able to pay you the highest price. This is because their customers will trust them to verify the provenance of a watch. This means that they will investigate the watch’s history, particularly whether parts have been replaced. This can drastically affect the value of the watch. These dealers are often experts in particular brands or ages of watch. 

Somlo in London’s Burlington arcade is a great example of a specialist vintage dealer. They are world-leading experts in vintage Omega watches and are the only vintage dealer with an official relationship with Omega. They are also renowned dealers of other high-end vintage watches. Like other dealers, they will sell on commission, or buy directly from you. 

You can also use an online platform or forum to sell your watch directly to a buyer. Some of the most popular are Chrono24, collectingwatches and eBay. These often provide a verification service to give buyers piece of mind that they are buying an authentic watch. Whilst the watch might not sell for the same price that a second-hand dealer would charge, you might end up making more money selling a watch this way, as the sales commission is typically lower. Ed, our Co-Founder, has sold multiple watches on Chrono24, and has found the process very simple. You can also sell directly to a collector using one of the specific watch collector online forums. 

Whether you use a platform or a forum, is vital to provide high-quality pictures – we’ve written about how to take pictures of watches. You must also write accurate descriptions of the watch that you are selling, including highlighting anything that might affect the price of the watch. This might include damage or replacement parts. Follow any guidelines for the platform to reduce the risk of being scammed and make sure that when you do sell a watch, that you package it very securely before posting it – you don’t want it to arrive damaged! Most platforms will now use an escrow service to reduce the risk of fraud from either the buyer or seller. If you are selling an expensive watch it might be worth the security of using a platform to provide marketing, verification and escrow services. 

Selling a watch is easier than many people think. There are plenty of resources to help you understand the value of your watch, and a wide variety of dealers who can sell it for you. You can also use platforms to connect directly with buyers, however, it might take you longer to get a sale. We’ve sold watches using all of the different channels that we’ve explored in this blog. There is no single best way to do it, as it depends on the watch you are selling. It’s important to explore the options specific to your watch and to work out what is best for you. Don’t forget to check out our latest series of watch events. Come and join us to learn more about the world of watches. 

When you look at a modern watch, there is a good chance that it has one of the calendar functions. There are a variety of calendar functions, but they all serve the same purpose: to tell you the date, the day of the week, the month, or the year. This blog will provide you with a brief overview of five of the calendar functions you can find on a watch, in order of how complicated they are, and therefore, how expensive they are likely to be.  

Date watches are the simplest, and most common type of calendar watch. The date function tells you which date of the month it is. The first date watch was patented by a watchmaker called Hammerly in 1915. The date was displayed in the outer-ring of the watch, where the minute and hour indices were. The date was pointed at by an additional hand. This is called a “pointer-date”. However, the date did not adjust automatically. It needed to be adjusted every day by the wearer. 

The next evolution of the date watch was the introduction of a little window to show the date. This is unsurprisingly called the date-window. The first watch to use the date-window was a watch by a now-defunct brand called Mimo, in the 1930’s. It wasn’t until Rolex released the Datejust watch in 1945 that a watch with a date-window automatically updated the date every day. The Datejust is Rolex’s biggest selling watch to this day. Now, you can find the date displayed in a variety of ways on a watch dial; however, the most common methods are the pointer-date, the date-window, and a sub-dial. 

The day-date function is also very popular and widespread on watches. It combines a date display, with an additional window or sub-dial that displays the day of the week. The first watch with a day-function was released by Hammerly, at the same time as they released a watch with a date function. This was the first day-date watch. The most famous day-date watch is the Rolex day-date, which was released in 1956, and has been worn by a string of US Presidents. If you want to read more about day-date watches and how they work, we’ve written a blog, which you can find here. 

A triple-calendar combines a day-date function with a month indicator, which means the watch will display the date, the day of the week, and the month. A triple calendar needs to be adjusted five times a year, as it displays every month as having 31 days. That means that every month with fewer than 30 days needs to be manually adjusted for: February, April, June, September and November. It is believed that the first triple calendar wristwatches were released by Rolex and Vacheron Constantin in the 1920’s. Vacheron Constantin is still know for making beautiful triple calendar watches, based upon a model they released in the 1940’s during a period of great popularity for triple calendar watches. 

Some triple calendar watches also include a moonphase indicator, which displays where the moon is within its monthly cycle. When a moonphase is included, then the triple calendar watch is often called a complete calendar. Hamish, our CEO, has a beautiful Jaeger-LeCoultre Complete Calendar watch. 

Like a triple calendar, an annual calendar watch displays the date, the day of the week and the month. However, unlike the triple calendar watch, and annual calendar will automatically adjust between displaying 30 or 31 days in the month, without the need for adjustment. This means that an annual calendar watch will adjust from the 30th of April to the 1st of May automatically, and then from the 31st May to 1st June, again, without the need for human intervention. An annual calendar watch will need to be adjusted on the 28th of February to either the 1st of March, or the 29th of February during a leap-year.  

The annual calendar watch is relatively new compared to the other types of calendar watch. It was invented in 1996 by Patek Philippe. The watch was the Ref: 5035, and was actually designed by a Swiss University student as a year-end project. The student went on to work for Patek, who released the watch commercially. You can read more about annual calendars and that particular watch here. 

The most complicated calendar watch that we’ll briefly explore in this blog is the perpetual calendar. Like the annual calendar, they display the date, the day of the week and the month. In addition, they also display the year, which means a perpetual calendar can also adjust for leap-years by automatically displaying the 29th February once every four years. This is an incredibly challenging mechanical feat, which means perpetual calendars are usually very expensive watches. 

Patek Philippe also created the first perpetual calendars in wristwatch form. A one-off special order was created for a client in the 1920’s, and then the first serially produced perpetual calendar watch was released in 1941. This was the Patek Philippe Ref: 1526, and is considered by many collectors to be a holy grail watch due to is limited production run of 210 pieces and historical importance.

We at The Watch Collectors Club are here to help you learn more about different types of watches. Calendar watches are very useful, and often beautiful. If you want to see some in real-life, make sure to sign up to our next in-person event. You can find the details here of all of our upcoming events. 

If you’ve enjoyed this blog, please send it on to anyone you know who likes watches. This is a club for everyone who likes watches. 

What are they, and how do they work?

Introduction: A Guide to Calendar Watches 

Chronographs are probably the most common complication, or additional function, found on modern wristwatches. Almost every watch brand will make a few different chronographs. 

If you want to see some of the wide range of chronographs available from the big luxury brands, then make sure to sign up to our latest event, which is taking place at Watches of Switzerland in London on April 12th. You can sign up here.

A chronograph is a watch with a stop-watch function. It can be used to measure how much time has elapsed. It is usually started and stopped by pressing a button near the 2 o’clock position on a watch. You then reset the chronograph by pressing a button at the 4 o’clock position. If you want to learn more about how they work, here’s a quick blog post. 

The first chronograph pocket watch was designed by Louis Moinet in 1815. Its purpose was to serve as a pocket stopwatch for astronomers. It is remarkable in a few ways; firstly, it was largely unknown until 2012; secondly, it operated at a ridiculously high frequency (216,000 vibrations a minute), which is approximately 8 times faster than a modern chronograph. This meant that it was a fantastically accurate recorder of time and could record time to 1/60th of a second. A remarkable achievement. 

However, until the 2012 auction of Louis Moinet’s pocket stopwatch, the honour of “world’s first chronograph” bestowed upon a French watchmaker called Nicolas Mathieu Rieussec. He had created and named a device called a “chronograph” in 1821 to accurate time horse races. The chronograph was housed in a wooden box and allowed the user to accurately time multiple horses. The chronograph had two dials to facilitate the timing of multiple horses. 

What Was The First Chronograph Wristwatch? 

By the early 20th Century, pocket watches were being replaced by the more convenient wristwatch. As demand for wristwatches grew, particularly driven by military and professional users, so did the demand for chronograph wristwatches. 

The first wristwatch with a chronograph was released by Longines in 1913. It was the 13.33z, and was what is called a “monopusher” chronograph. This just means that a single button is used to start, stop and reset the chronograph, as well as set the time of the watch, and wind it. Breitling were hot on the heels of Longines, and released their own chronograph wristwatch in 1915. The Breitling chronograph was the first to have a separate button for operating the chronograph function. 

What Was The First Automatic Chronograph Wristwatch? 

Over the next five decades, many watch makers released their own versions of the chronograph wristwatch. Anywhere that it was important to accurately keep time, a chronograph could, and often was, used. Chronographs continued to be used in aviation and the military, but the 1960’s saw the start of the connection between chronographs and motor racing. This was spurred by Heuer. The brand had been putting tachymeters, a tool used in conjunction with a stop-watch to calculate speed, on racing car and aircraft dashboards during the 1960’s. In 1967, Heuer released a wristwatch with a tachymeter and a chronograph, called the Autavia, which became very popular. You can read more about Heuer, the tachymeter, and racing here.

The first watch to feature a chronograph and an automatic, self-winding, movement, was the Zenith El Primero. Before then, all chronograph wristwatches were hand-wound. The Zenith El Primero has a fascinating story, which we’ve written about here. The watch was almost lost to the quartz crisis, but an engineer hid the tools in an attic of the factory, where they were found decades later, and used to revive the model, and the watch brand itself. 

A few months after the release of the prototype of the Zenith El Primero, a collaborative group of watchmakers, which included Breitling, Hamilton and Heuer, released their own automatic chronograph, called the “Project 99”. These brands had pooled expertise and resources to design an automatic chronograph movement that all of the contributing brands could use. At roughly the same time, the Japanese brand Seiko also released an automatic chronograph, called the 6139. 

The past hundred years have seen a constant stream of new chronographs released; however, some of the older models quickly established as classics have remained so, and are some of the most coveted watches today. The Rolex Daytona, the Omega Speedmaster, the Breitling Top Time and the Tag Heuer Monaco, are all old designs that have not only stood the test of time, but are thriving in the modern watch market. 

How do brands, which need to release new models every few years, compete in a market-place that seems to know what it wants? They tend to try to make small innovations. Either in the materials used, the accuracy of the movement, and sometimes even the way that the counting of time is displayed. My favourite example of this is a watch that was released this week. The new Patek Philippe 5470p typifies the modern chronograph, albeit in a very expensive and exclusive way. Hodinkee have written a very detailed article explaining how it works, which you can read here. 

Compare Chronographs With The Watch Collectors Club

If you want to try on and compare chronographs, come and join our event on Tuesady 12th April. We are hosting it in a Watches Of Switzerland Boutique in London. We are focusing on watches made by Breitling and Tudor, two brands with a long history of making excellent chronographs. Make sure to sign up here.

As we grow our community, we need help from our members to find like-minded watch collectors. Please send this blog on to anyone you know who likes watches. 

From the 1800's to the modern day

The Watch Collectors Club exists to help our members explore the wonderful, but occasionally intimidating world of watches. One of the most important aspects of collecting watches is actually buying them. You can buy watches from lots of places, including: physical stores, auctions, websites, and other collectors.  

This guide will help you navigate buying a watch in a store. We are excited to be running our first partner event with one of the biggest watch retailers, Watches of Switzerland, on April 12th in Central London. Places are limited at this exclusive event, so make sure to sign-up here so that you don’t miss out.  It’ll be a great chance to experience a welcoming watch store experience, with staff on-hand to answer questions and show-off the watches in the store.   

Watch stores can be a great place to buy a new, second-hand and vintage watches.

Stores can be intimidating, but with a few easy tips, you will have the confidence to explore buying a watch in a store.  

Remember, stores exist to sell watches to customers. You are a potential customer of the store, and will be treated as such. The salesperson will answer questions for you and will happily show you what they have for sale. If they don’t the shop doesn’t deserve your custom. 

Different stores sell different types of watches. Single-brand boutiques should be authorised dealers for a brand. This means they sell watches on behalf of a brand and should offer expert advice to customers. The watches are authentic and will be supplied with a warranty from the brand. This is a promise to fix the watch if anything happens to it in the first few years of ownership. Remember: warranties don’t cover damage caused by clumsiness!

Multi-brand boutiques should be authorised dealers for many watch brands, and whilst the staff might not be experts in all of them, they should be willing to help find the right watch for you. These stores will also offer a warranty on the watch you buy. Multi-brand boutiques are a great place to shop for a watch, as you can compare multiple styles of watches from different brands, at different price points – all in one shop! 

Second-hand watch stores will often sell watches from multiple brands, but are not affiliated with the brands themselves. They should have made sure that the watches they sell are authentic and in good working order. 

Vintage watch stores sell old watches; many are experts in a particular brand of watch. They will be able to tell you about the history of the watches they sell, and the provenance. 

Make sure you ask any questions that you want to. No question is stupid, and staff are there specifically to answer any questions you might have. If you want to know why one watch costs more than another, ask the sales staff. They should be able to tell you.   

Some questions you should ask when buying new watches: how long is the warranty? Is the brand likely to replace to model soon? What could I buy instead of this? 

Some questions you should ask when buying a used watch: how have you made sure this is an authentic watch? Does it come with a warranty, and the boxes and papers that were supplied when it was sold as a new watch? Has the watch been serviced by an accredited watch maker? 

Some questions you should ask when buying a vintage watch: have any parts been replaced? This should be reflected in the price. Has the watch been serviced and authenticated? For a more in-depth guide to buying vintage, check out our blog post here.

Whatever type of watch store you go into, compare the watches that they have for sale. Try them on, ask what the differences are between models, and why the prices are different, if they are. If you go into a store that sells multiple brands, try on watches from different brands to see which you prefer. 

Don’t feel the need to buy on the same day  

Staff in watch stores are used to customers needing a few visits to buy a watch. It is normal to take time over any purchase, especially one as potentially expensive and emotive as a watch. 

You can’t always buy the watches that you see in stores

Sometimes, the watches you see in a store are not actually available for you to purchase there and then. This is the case with particularly popular models, where demand far outweighs supply. Many watches from Rolex, Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin and Audemars Piguet are only available to potential customers who put their name on a waiting list. In many instances, it can take years for your turn to buy a watch when you’re on a waitlist. Some brands and watch stores will also restrict new watch releases to existing customers of the brand, who will have already bought multiple watches from them. These long waiting lists are a great opportunity for watch collectors to instead explore the rest of the watch market. 

Visit a store with The Watch Collectors Club

We are hosting our first partner event with the Watches of Switzerland Group on April 12th, in Central London. The store will be kept open especially for us, and staff will be on hand to answer your questions, as well as show you all of the watches that they have in the store. You must sign up to be able to attend, and places are limited. 

This blog is a continuation of our “How to Buy a Watch” series. Check out the rest of the series here: 

•      How to buy a watch at auction

•      How to buy a watch online

•      How to choose a good watch brand

•      How to buy a vintage watch

All you need to know

The diving watch, which is arguably the most popular type of modern watch, has a fascinating history, involving spies, underwater explosives, and sabotage. This is part of that story. 

The first watch that was built for diving was the Omega Marine, which was commercially produced  from 1932. It had a rectangular case and was capable of remaining waterproof up to 135m below the surface. 

Around the same time, Panerai was commissioned by the Italian navy to design a watch for its special underwater diving force, called the Regia Marina. These watches were built for Panerai by Rolex, using a cushion case, and a new type of “lume” to make it easier to tell the time in murky water. Over the next 30 years, these watches would be refined and come to be known as the Radiomir. This is now one of the two models that Panerai is now known for. 

The Italian Regia Marina wasn’t the only European military diving force. France also established an elite underwater fighting unit. 

One of its two initial leaders was Captain Robert Maloubier who has a particularly interesting story. During the second world war, he worked for a secret British espionage unit called the Special Operations Executive. This unit was tasked by Winston Churchill with sabotaging and spying on Nazi forces in occupied Europe. Maloubier was a particularly effective agent, destroying a German-captured power station and steel plant. During one mission he was shot in the lung and intestines yet managed to evade capture and trek 9 miles to an allied hospital. Six months later he parachuted into France again to undertake another mission. After the war, Maloubier helped to set up the Nageurs de Combat, or “combat swimmers”. This is the French version of the US Navy Seals, and they have been involved in a long list of daring missions over their history, including saving lots of ships from pirates. 

When Captain Maloubier was ordering equipment for his new force of underwater soldiers he had everything he needed, except a watch with which to time missions. Alongside Lieutenant Claude Riffaud, he sketched out the features and functions the watch needed. This included a bezel that could turn clockwise and anti-clockwise and lock, and a clear, large, easy-to-read dial with very bright luminous hands and indices to make it easy to read underwater. 

The French watchmakers he approached did not see a commercial future for the watch, so they approached Jean-Jacques Fiechter who was the CEO of Blancpain, and a keen diver. Blancpain set about turning the designs into a watch, which would eventually be issued to the Nageurs de Combat. This model was called the Fifty Fathoms, which was the depth to which the watch would remain waterproof. This is a little over 91 meters. 

 The model would prove so successful that a US-made version was commissioned by the US Navy Seals, built by Tornek-Rayville. Models were also issued to Spanish, German and Israeli military divers. 

The Lasting Legacy of The Fifty Fathoms 

Unlike many Swiss watches, the Fifty Fathoms was not initially sold in fancy jewellery shops. Instead it was sold in specialist diving equipment stores, cementing the watch as a diving tool first, and a wristwatch second. Within a few years of its release, almost every major swiss brand, including Rolex, had released a diving watch with a similar set of characteristics to the military-spec Blancpain Fifty Fathoms. 

Despite diving becoming an increasingly civilian activity, the functionality required by Bob Maloubier and Claude Riffaud made diving watches an incredibly useful tool for the modern diver. If you want to find out more about why diving watches are so popular now you can read a blog here. 

If you’re interested in finding out more about the history of the Fifty Fathoms, there is a great video documentary that you can watch here. Or, if you want to see an original Blancpain Fifty Fathoms in its natural habitat, you can watch Jacques Cousteau’s most famous film: Le Monde du silence. All of the divers wore a fifty fathoms watch during filming. 

If you found this story interesting, and want to learn more – let us know by signing up to our mailing list and coming to one of our in-person or virtual events. Details of those can be found here. 

We need people to build this community. If you know of anyone who likes watches, of any kind, please let them know about us, and tell them about our events. It'd be great to have them along.

The Frogmen and the Birth of Military Diving Watches

Yesterday, we held an in-person event in Central London. Attending events in person is a great way to learn more about watches. You get to see a huge variety of watches, and talk to passionate, interesting people. We also do a few educational talks during the evening. We’ll be holding in-person events every month as we start to build the club. To ensure that you don’t miss out, sign up to our mailing list here. You can also see all our upcoming events here. If you can’t join us in person you can attend our monthly virtual events. We have one this Sunday, 13th February. The link to sign-up is here. Read on to see some of the amazing watches that our members brought along. 

Watch designs don’t change much over time. You can see that here, with two Rolex watches, built 70 years apart. One is the new Rolex Explorer, with a steel and gold case and bracelet. The Explorer was one of the watches that Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay took to the top of Everest. When this model was released in 2021, it met with mixed reviews; however, in person the watch is stunning. Interestingly, it’s the only Rolex time-only tool watch that they make with a precious metal. 

The watch it’s compared to is a Rolex Oyster Royal. The Oyster Royal was released in 1933, and Rolex marketed it heavily towards doctors. Unlike the other Rolex Oyster models, the Oyster Royal has the seconds-hand centrally-located, rather than on a sub-dial. Rolex thought it would be easier for Doctor’s to read the seconds this way. Despite being very different looking watches, of different sizes, you can see just how similar the case design is on both. 

Rolex is the most famous watch company in the world; however, they are not the only brand that makes great watches. Our in-person events are a great way to see watches with amazing stories from a wide variety of different brands. I wanted to highlight two in particular. The first is a vintage Zenith El Primero Chronograph from 1969. This watch has a fascinating story, which you can read about in detail over here. The tools to make the movement for this watch were hidden in the attic of Zenith during the quartz crisis, and were rediscovered during the 1980’s. I’ve never seen one of these in person. This particular model is in perfect condition, and I was surprised at how comfortable it was to wear. 

The second watch is a Oris Big Crown Pointer Date. However, this is quite a special version of the standard watch. Oris have been running a “Change for the better” campaign, to find more sustainable materials for watch making. They’ve made watch dials from recycled plastic from the ocean, and have been donating some of their profits to protect coral reefs. This model is a collaboration with Cervo Volante, a Swiss company focused on creating sustainable materials. For this watch, they have provided a sustainably sourced deer-hide strap, which offsets the unique blue dial perfectly. Whilst the model is not a limited edition, due to manufacturing constraints, we think this might be the only version of this watch in the UK at the moment. 

The craziest watch we saw was this Orient multi-year calendar. Despite having lots of watch lovers in the room, no one could work out what this watch actually does. Luckily, I found a blog this morning that explains it. A multi-year calendar allows you to work out, using a variety of moveable disks, what day of the week any date of the year will fall on for any year. For example, if you want to know what day of the week your birthday is in 2024, the watch can work it out. Amazing, particularly considering the watch costs less than £200

We are excited to be able to hold more regular events and are looking forward to meeting more of you in person over the coming months. Make sure to sign-up to our weekly email, which not only provides a short educational blog exploring an aspect of the watch world, but also flags any upcoming events. 

Finally, we are building a community for all watch lovers. Please send this email on to your friends and family and help us make this the place to come and learn about watches. 

This week we tried to organise a visit to the Audemars Piguet Townhouse in London to have a look at the new range of Royal Oak watches and were told that there wasn’t a free appointment at any time in February. It may seem odd to new collectors, but you often can’t walk into a boutique and buy the watch you want. This is because some watches have become so hyped-up that they are unobtainable.  

You may have heard of some of those watches: Rolex Daytona, Patek Philippe Nautilus, Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, Vacheron Constantin Overseas... The list goes on, growing as more and more watches become nearly impossible to buy new.

The rumour is that to buy a Nautilus, you have to buy at least 5 complicated watches from Patek Philippe before they even consider selling you a Nautilus. The cheapest complicated watch Patek sell is £30,000. Even then, you’ll likely have to wait for many years to be allocated a Nautilus by the brand, or one of the retailers. Because it’s so difficult to buy The Nautilus, and any of the “hype” watches, they are sold on the second-hand market for a huge mark-up to their new price. 

There are a variety of reasons, but it is usually down to a combination of some of the reasons below. 

The first is fashion. Many of these watches are popular because they are fashionable. They are fashionable for all sorts of reasons, such as: design, price, covet-ability. The rise of social media has driven this. It is now incredibly easy to see watches on your phone that 5 years ago were almost totally unknown, and with a bigger audience to see these watches, there is a bigger audience to buy these watches. 

The second is scarcity. There is much more demand for these watches than can be met by supply. Luxury watches are built in factories by very skilled watch makers. The only way a watch brand can make more watches is to build more factories, which are very expensive, or train new watch makers, which takes many years. Because demand is greater than supply prices go up. 

The third is price itself. Some watches have become Veblen goods. This is a term used in economics to highlight when demand for something increases because it is an expensive item. Because prices are going up, watches are increasingly being seen as an investment by some people, which increases demand, which increases prices, which increases demand. You can see how mania can quickly grip the watch industry. 

The Ultimate Hype Watch – Patek Philippe Nautilus 5711 – Tiffany 170th Anniversary Edition 

What is High Horology?

How To Sell A Watch

Introduction: A Guide to Calendar Watches

A Short History of the Chronograph

How To Buy A Watch In A Store

The Frogmen and the Birth of Military Diving Watches

Event Round-up - The Watches We Saw

The Rise of Hype Watches – and What It Means for You

My Collection in 2022

A Quick Guide To Annual and Perpetual Calendar Watches

Patek Philippe: 4 Men, 4 Watches, and 4 Little Numbers

Independent Watchmakers – The Modern Trailblazers

An Introduction to High-End Independent Watchmaking – The Original Independents

A Return to Regular Events – The Watches We Saw

Our First In-Person Event

A Brief Introduction to James Bond’s Watches

Large Watch Group Brands Showcase Event Round-Up

A Short Exploration of The World’s Largest Watch Groups - Seiko

A Short Exploration Of The World’s Largest Watch Groups – LVMH

Watch Microbrand Showcase Event Round-Up