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

Educational

Check out our educational articles about different types of watches

Educational Category

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

We at The Watch Collectors' Club are bringing a new kind of watch event to the world. We want to make it easier than ever to learn more about watches. We want to help you explore the watch world and learn more about the watches you are interested in. You might then ask yourself, what makes it a Club? What is a Watch Club? Are there any watch clubs near me already? What do people do at a Watch Club? This week, we will answer all these questions and more.

A Watch Club is an organisation where people come together to talk about watches and share their interest in them. Most of them are small and based in a town or city so that members can meet regularly. Some have grown to have large and diverse memberships, such as the Redbar Crew, or Time4aPint in London. Since most of these organisations are amateur run and focused on socialising, they do not market themselves (other than on Instagram: @redbarcrew @time4apint) and are not that easy to find. I only heard about them by word of mouth after I moved to London. 

A Club by definition hosts events regularly. They want to become a place people can rely on, and see the same faces at regular events. This is so that people can become comfortable with the event format, know the locations, and of course, start to make friends. The more comfortable people are the more fun they will have and the more they will want to come back. This is why Clubs are successful across so many aspects of life. It is exactly the same for Watch Clubs.

It is NOT a watch buying club. In recent years, some businesses have been established that take a subscription and send a monthly watch in the post in return. We do not think this merits the name Club, as it doesn't have any of the benefits of a normal Club. It is simply a different method of selling watches. Unfortunately, these businesses often have a poor reputation, as after a good start they struggle to maintain the same quality or consistency of watch delivery, and customers get very unhappy. In our opinion, they are best avoided and are not something that should be thought of as Watch Clubs.

They are also different to watch fairs and shows. These are held regularly so that people can buy new watches or trade second hand or vintage watches. They are good fun and a great place to see an amazing range of watches, but they are not about talking and learning, they are more about learning and buying. We often have a great time at watch events, and The Watch Collectors' Club has already given talks and taken members along, however they are not Clubs themselves, they are primarily about buying or selling watches.

We believe a Watch Club should be similar to other kinds of club, for example, sports clubs or hobby clubs like Chess Clubs. It should be a place where people come to discuss and share their passion for that topic, thing or activity. They should come together in-person and meet people interested in the same area. The beauty of watches is that they are small, easily transportable and easy to examine. Online, there are so many great pictures available or it's relatively easy to take your own watch pics.

In the case of watches, this means people bring along some of their own watches to a Meetup or Get-together organised by the Club. Over the course of the evening or event, they can see a whole range of watches and hear people's stories all about them. At online events, participants will probably listen to a short presentation on a topic and discuss that, or they can discuss recent industry news and new releases while looking at pictures of the watches they are talking about.

These sound very simple, and maybe you are thinking they wouldn't be worth the bother of going to. I can assure you however that they can be so much more interesting and fun than you imagine. If you are interested in watches then hearing someone else's passion for them will only inspire you. If you've always wondered why something is the way it is in the industry, or about a particular watch, these are the perfect places to get questions answered, however silly they seem. People are often delighted to tell you how they bought a certain piece, how they found it, and most of all, what a watch means to them. I have had more surprises and heard more entertaining stories at watch events than at almost any other type of event. It's why I'm building a Club to hold more of them.

They are also an awesome place to get your questions answered. You could spend a lot of time reading Blog Posts like ours, and hoping Google is delivering you useful answers to your queries, but when you want to learn about things like buying watches online, researching a vintage watch, or learning more about a certain brand, asking people with experience is often much more interesting. This is equally true at online and in-person events.

Unfortunately there just aren't that many watch clubs around the world. While RedBar has done a great job of establishing groups in different countries, the UK has 7 different "chapters" for example, progress has been slow as it requires people to volunteer to organise and promote the events. There have been some events organised by popular Watch Youtubers, and there are fairs and shows for the buying and selling of watches. 

The Watch Collectors' Club wants to change this. We want to become a global Club that arranges online events on a regular basis that anyone can attend, and then as many in-person events as there is demand for, wherever they might be. We are starting in London since that's where we live, and are the third watch club in London right now by our terms. In future, we hope to have events all over the UK, and then all over the world.

If you're interested in joining us, then please try one of our events. We hold at least one in-person and online event per month, every month. We recommend you join one of our online events to find out how easy it is to have fun talking about watches from the comfort of your own home. If you are close to London, then please come along to one of our Events, either our general meetups where we share our own watch stories, or a partner event where we may have some interesting new watches to look at.

We explore what happens with a watch Club, and mention some established places to go.

Many people love watches but don't think they are a watch collector. They think there are rules, standards, or levels that must be reached to become one. They think that it requires some knowledge they don't have, certain watches they can't get, or some other requirements set by a mysterious "they". None of this is true. The world is full of watch collectors quietly going about their business and enjoying their passion for watches without a single thought about whether they "qualify". This Blog Post will explore what we think makes a collector, and tell you about some of the Collectors we've met as we've been building The Watch Collectors' Club.

Who is a Watch Collector? What makes a Watch Collector?

We at The Watch Collectors' Club say that anyone with more than one watch is a collector. Many immediately disagree, so let's explain. Collecting is about choosing, it's about assembling a deliberate set of items using your own choice. It doesn't matter how many items that is. If you have one watch for the office, one for the gym, and one for special occasions, that's a collection. You've carefully assembled it for different uses. It suits you, it could have more for other occasions, and maybe you get a new one for one of those purposes every now and again, e.g. a new fitness watch, but broadly, it's a set of watches that is very practical. 

This reasoning does not take anything away from it being a collection. It is the most natural type of collection in the watch world, and anyone who takes an increased interest in watches finds it very easy to add to. Celebrating something special? Get another watch for the occasion. See something you like that will work on an everyday basis? Add to your day-to-day watch and hey, you now have two to choose from each morning. Like something fun, robust and unbreakable? You can now wear something different to the gym or when doing some DIY or Home improvement.

It also does not take anything away from anyone else with a larger or more specialised collection. One person's collecting habit is entirely exclusive to another's. There are no rules. Everyone has different tastes, and everyone can be a collector.

Once you get past the most natural form of collecting, for use, there are a few more common reasons people collect. The first is because they like the brand. Some of you will feel this is superficial, or for status, or because people like showing off. In fact, it is much more complicated than that. Some people do collect a certain brand because of the status they attribute to them, especially Swiss luxury brands like Rolex or Patek Philippe, and that's OK. If that's important to them, great! It doesn't take anything away from people who collect for other reasons. 

Many people collect brands simply because they love what the brand does. Consistent design language and high-quality finishing? People love that. Long history of dive watches and incremental improvements to the characteristic Bezel? People love that. Expertise in case materials and colour? People love that. Low price points and endless variations? People love that. These are aspects of the brands Rolex, Omega, Rado and Swatch, four Swiss brands that have many dedicated collectors around the world.

Some people love to collect a certain type of watch.  We've covered Dive Watches, Pilots Watches, Motor Racing related watches, Dress Watches and many more here on our Blog, and there is no denying that some people just fall head over heels for one of these categories. While each category is clearly quite different, there are a huge range of companies making watches across these types. There are both old, established companies like Omega, the large conglomerates and of course Microbrands making fantastic watches in all these categories. Including vintage, the choices for a collector can be as wide or as broad as they like. There are also many many niches to fall down that are even more specific, such as Military Watches, Field Watches, or watches with interesting and rare complications, like these two:

My favourite reason to collect watches is the reason I collect them. I buy the watches I love. I have a broad collection and it has a few themes, but I'm not that focused on it. It's led to a wonderful adventure building The Watch Collectors' Club, but I don't spend much time on the collection itself. 

If you like watches and start buying them, you'll often find yourself buying more. This is a collection that develops purely from passion. As you explore, you learn a bit more, see watches you didn't know existed, and add to your collection. Again, this is a very simple way of collecting, and it's a great one. It doesn't matter that this is very simple, just that you like them.

The question of how focussed a collector or collection may be is always hard to answer. Is it focused to collect one brand? One type? One style of watch? We've met people who do all of this, and we've met some people who take it even further. In only the last six months, I've met someone with a collection of Royal Navy Diving Watches that were issued to service members in the UK. And no other watches! A very very focused selection of watches, even within the Military Watch area, and the passion and enthusiasm that Collector displayed were astonishing. Another guy came along to one of our Meetups who has over 500 examples from one brand of one type of watch from only the 1950s, 60s and 70s. Here's one of his: 

Another set of collectors seem to enjoy small areas of the watch world for a few years and then move on. This is surprisingly common. Right now I know a few people obsessed with rare mechanical Seiko watches from the 1970s. They are delighted with dial details, serial numbers, and movements. They are taking a very deep dive into a small part of the watch world where the watches cost minimal amounts of money. It is all about the joy of discovery, comparison, and sharing that passion with the (small) number of people interested in the same area. 

These guys have ranged around the world of watches over years, with their intense focus falling on different watches as their passions move. They buy and sell watches to facilitate this ever-changing focus. They are not stuck in a certain area, they don't care what others think of their collections and they know what they enjoy most - the hunt for pieces they are focussed on.

One of the world's most famous collectors, widely interviewed and very active on Instagram, collects fancy watches from famous makers, but all with interesting and unusual case shapes. He also collects round watches with so-called double-signed dials, where the dial has both the watch brand and the name of the jeweller it was sold at printed visibly. With these two areas of focus, he's built a staggeringly beautiful and varied collection. He has travelled the world to make purchases and meet other collectors of similar models. He is kind, helpful to others, and comes across very well as a pillar of the online watch community. You can read about Roni Madhavani and his collection here, or watch and learn about the pieces here. 

He is an example of how some of the most famous collectors in the watch world are very focused. Some, but by no means all. For one of our events this May, we are visiting a superb collection showing the highlights of an enthusiastic rich collector from Singapore. It has ten different sections, and that's just the highlights! It's in London at The Design Museum and you can come along with us. Find all the details on our Events page.

The final type of collector we want to highlight today are the enthusiasts who want to support upcoming brands and new watch ideas. They collect the first watches that launch on Kickstarter, or that they hear about on forums or Instagram. If the new watch brand does well and adds more models with more launches they may support them by buying every one that comes out. This happens regularly in the world of Microbrands where product launches may be a few hundred dollars, and also happens at the very high end of Haute Horologie, when master watchmakers leave a big brand workshop to start under their own name. A group of dedicated collectors take great pleasure in helping new entrants get going by committing to their first creations.

We believe that two watches make a collection and people with two watches usually end up with more. We also believe that the watch world is nothing without its collectors, whatever they are into and whatever area they focus on. The sheer variety and number of watch collectors we've come across in only a few years shows us that there is so much more to share and learn about the watch world. Anyone can be a collector, call themselves a collector, and embrace their passion.

The Watch Collectors' Club is here to help you enjoy and explore the watch world. Whether you have a passing interest, are starting a collecting journey, or have been collecting for years, we want you to join us to share your watch stories. Our in-person and virtual events are the perfect place to come and share your interests, however focused. You'll also have the chance to hear why people own the watches they like, and since everyone's taste is so different, you never know what is going to show up. Collecting is a deeply personal endeavour but is much more fun when shared. Find our events page here, and if you know of anyone with an interest in watches, please let them know where to find us.

How many watches are in a watch collection? What makes a watch collector?

What makes a Watch Collector?

We explore the different kinds of watch collector, and how many watches make a collection.

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 Watch Collectors' Club held another successful Meetup this week, and it went so well we want to highlight why they are so much fun. If you are wondering if they are for you or are uncertain who comes along, then read on!

A Watch Meetup is where a group of people interested in watches meet specifically to discuss and look at watches. Everyone is welcome, whether you have been collecting for years or are just getting started. You don't need to own or bring a watch. Your interest is enough. 

At The Watch Collectors' Club Meetups, we want everyone to feel welcome and make it as accessible as possible. There's room for people with years of experience and people with the beginnings of an interest. We want people exploring their first few corners of the watch world to enjoy the events just as much as someone who has bought and sold countless timepieces.

We actively host our events. We make sure everyone is involved and that they can see the watches people have brought along. There will always be people happy to share their timepieces and there's always an interesting story to hear. 

The most wonderful thing about Watch Meetups is you never know what people will bring along. The variety never ceases to amaze me. For example here are some of the wonderful watches brought along this past week: 

The Watch Collectors' Club exists to help you learn more about the watch world. There is so much to cover, so many interesting stories and fascinating timepieces, that even the most experienced collector can learn something new when they are least expecting it. 

At each Meetup we give a couple of five-minute talks to help you explore. While it might be on a topic you know a bit about, it'll always be from a different angle and trying to put things in context. We avoid jargon, reference numbers or dry facts, instead, we hope to open up areas of the watch world you might not have considered looking at before. If there's anything our members would like to know more about we can always talk about that. We're here to help.

We know that a lot of the watch world is exclusive, complicated, and hard to understand. The internet and social media are full of watch content, but it is spread out and hard to find. 

We are building a place to make it easy to share interesting watches, stories and information about the watch world without telling you what you should or shouldn't do. Our events will be in interesting relaxed venues, where friendliness and openness are our priorities. You'll find an enthusiastic selection of people sharing the watches they like. We'll help you turn an interest into a hobby, or if you just want to come and see something new, then that's alright too.

We hold at least one Watch Meetup event every month, both in-person in London, and online on Zoom. You and find all the details on our Events Page here. Please sign up for our mailing list and follow us on social media to hear about all our plans. If you know anyone else who has an interest in watches and might like to learn more or explore the watch world, please send them this email and let them know about us. We have an active presence on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn. We hope to see you at a Meetup soon!

What happens at a watch meetup? What to expect at a Watch Meetup.

What happens at a Watch Meetup

We explain what to expect at a watch meetup

There is currently one Rolex that is both iconic and overhyped. In regular production yet completely unobtainable. Standard in function yet held in high regard, and named for a blue-collar race track yet owned by the very wealthy. This week, we're going to tell you the story of the Rolex Cosmograph Daytona.

The Daytona, as it is most widely known, is a Chronograph, or Stopwatch. It has the ability to time up to 12 hours on the dial, using the central seconds hand, Subdial at 6 o'clock position for the minutes, and a Subdial at 9 o'clock for the hours.

This is actually a very strange question to explore. The Daytona is most famous now for being popular, and for a short while being the most expensive wristwatch to ever sell at auction. That watch is known as The Paul Newman Daytona, was a gift to the actor Paul Newman from his wife, and sold for $17.8mn at Phillip's in 2017. That really is a lot of money.

It's strange this watch is famous because at first, it wasn't popular at all. Rolex have never been leaders in the development of Chronographs. They developed them alongside the rest of the industry at the end of the 1930s, sold them in World War 2 in the 1940s, and then introduced new models slowly but surely as they tried out different designs and features. At that time, they were focused on their other watches, many of which are still very popular today.

While Rolex were interested in making stopwatches and associating their watches with Motor Racing, this wasn't their largest area of focus. When the Cosmograph was launched in the early 1960s, at first it was going to be called the "Le Mans", after the famous racetrack in France. For unknown reasons, this was replaced by the name Daytona, a race track in Florida in the United States. The name Cosmograph was first used to talk about a Moonphase watch. However also for unknown reasons, the name was given to the Chronographs, presumably to try and make them stand out from the competition, and the name stuck. The full name today is the Rolex Oyster Perpetual Cosmograph Daytona

As Rolex developed various models, they changed the design notably. From an old fashioned busy looking dial to a wide, clean looking dial, the watch evolved into what today we would say is a very 1960s/1970s looking timepiece. The two main design elements are the spacious dial with three subdials, and the bezel, or outer ring with the Tachymeter scale.

Paul Newman was a handsome and successful Hollywood actor who won two Oscars. He made two films about Motor Racing and enjoyed them so much he took the sport up as a hobby in the 1970s, and was involved in it for the rest of his life. There is no evidence that he had any formal relationship with Rolex, but he wore the Rolex Cosmograph Daytona from around 1969 onwards. In particular, he wore one with a rare dial. It has a Black face, a white surround to the dial and a red seconds track. The watch case was made of steel. It is very funky as you can see here.

Strangely, it appears a Rolex-sponsored publication of a book about Paul Newman was the catalyst for the popularity of these watches. Here is the front cover, courtesy of Rolexmagazine.com. You can clearly see the watch that became so famous. It is then thought that Italian Collectors famous for giving unusual vintage watches names and hyping them up, started to get enthusiastic about these Rolexes. 

This funky dial is quite special, the main differences being the little square dots on the subdials and a different font used for the numbers. This is the dial that is now very famous and valuable. When it was in production, the opposite was true. These watches were not popular, and often sat in Rolex Dealerships for years. They sold for around $300 at that time, and there are estimated to be 20x fewer of these dials than the standard dials.

It is this combination of dealer hype, dial variety and rarity that has led to the astonishing increases in value from $300 to $300,000 that we see today. Coupled with the increase in popularity of sports watches and chronographs, as we talked about in our blog post here, this model from Rolex has only ever grown in popularity.

Rolex themselves have done an enormously successful job of making the Daytona more popular, and by the 1990s had settled on a formula that worked. The watch got a Rolex-manufactured movement in 2000, and it was now chunkier, more visible, and kept the most unique aspects of the Daytona we saw in the 1970s; the Tachymetre Bezel and the Screwdown Pushers and Crown. There are very few watches with screw-down pushers, as people do not usually assume that Chronographs need this level of protection from water and dust entry, and this helps the watch stand out.

The watch has also continued to feature a huge range of dials, from the simple, as you can see with today's white and black dial on the steel model, to the extravagant, such as the Tiger design featured in the catalogue for many years. There are also a large range of non-catalogue dials featuring precious stones that can be bought by very wealthy customers on special order.

There is no obvious answer to why these Rolexes are worth so much more than most others, and why they are perceived as the most valuable of all the vintage Rolex models. If you want to know the exhaustive details then you can read this helpful article from Hodinkee, but even they have no explanation for the tremendous value premium these watches generate.

We at The Watch Collectors' Club have don't focus on which watch is better, best or the most valuable. We are here to explore the full extent of the world of watches, and sometimes it's interesting to highlight the most famous and most talked-about watches to see what's going on. If you are very lucky you might see a Rolex Daytona in person at one of our Meetups. Our next one is next week, on Tuesday 8th March, and you can sign up here. We hope that this article was of interest, and if you know anyone else who might like it, please forward it on. We are also easy to follow on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn.

What is the Rolex Daytona? Why is the Rolex Paul Newman so famous?

Introducing the Rolex Daytona

A Short introduction to a puzzlingly popular watch

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 

The hype surrounding the Patek Philippe Nautilus in particular has recently come to a head. The brand discontinued its most popular Nautilus model, the Ref: 5711. Prices for second-hand Ref: 5711s went through the roof, and they now cost ten-times the price they did new. 

However, shortly after discontinuing the model, Patek announced that there would in fact be one final run of the watch, sold exclusively through its biggest US distributor, Tiffany & Co. 170 watches would be made to celebrate the 170 year partnership between the two brands, they would have Tiffany Blue dials and all of them would be allocated by Tiffany to their best clients, most of whom will have spent millions of dollars at Tiffany. However, one watch would be held back and auctioned for charity. This watch sold at auction for $6.5m, and there is a great article here to walk through the drama surrounding the auction. What is so ridiculous about this price, is that the watch was sold to the 169 people allocated one by Tiffany for $50k. This story is the ultimate reflection of the hype that surrounds certain models, and reading the backlash against Patek Philippe for getting swept up in the hype by releasing this model has been fascinating. 

There is a good chance that if you are looking at buying a luxury watch in the next few years, that you might be interested in buying a watch that because of hype, is not going to be possible for you to buy new from a dealer, at retail price. For example, you might want to buy a standard Rolex Submariner. You almost certainly won’t be able to get one from a Rolex dealer, because every Rolex sports model is now a hype watch. 

Why are some time-only watches so expensive?

What is High Horology?

What is a Watch Club?

What makes a Watch Collector?

How To Buy A Watch In A Store

What happens at a Watch Meetup?

Introducing The Rolex Daytona

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

A Quick Guide To Annual and Perpetual Calendar Watches

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

Patek Philippe and Tiffany - the oldest Authorised Dealership in the world

The IWC Big Pilot Pop-Up - an easy way to learn about watches

Introducing Showcases and Meetups

Is the Hamilton Ventura the most featured watch at the movies?

A Short History of the Omega Seamaster

The World's First Sports Watch - The Jaeger LeCoultre Reverso

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

A Short Exploration of The World's Largest Watch Groups - Citizen Watch

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

A Short Exploration of the World’s Largest Watch Groups – The Swiss Giants