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

A club for everyone who likes watches.

It's been a while since we have provided an updated on our Club Plans, so this week is the perfect time to tell you what's coming next and more about the amazing events we have coming up! We'll also give you an early insight into our plans for 2023.

There is still time to sign up for the incredibly exciting event with Watches of Switzerland focussing on the Omega Watches of James Bond. This is in partnership with Britain's biggest James Bond collector, and will feature props, memorabilia and watches from the Daniel Craig films. You are welcome to join us anytime from 5:00PM on Wednesday, October 12th, but you must sign up.

There'll be plenty to look at, watches from the latest Omega range to try on, and three short talks to help you explore more about the world of Omega watches and James Bond.

This month we are also hosting two further exciting events; 

On Thursday 20th October we are having our first event solely for Women who are interested in watches. There are now enough women who come to our events to allow us to put on an event just for them, and we'd greatly appreciate it if you could highlight this event to anyone you know who might be interested. It'll follow our usual fun, friendly and informative Meetup structure, and whether you are new to watches or a seasoned collector, it'll be a great chance to come and learn more about the watch world. Sign up here.


On Thursday 27th November we are hosting a small and intimate event with IWC Schaffhausen. We have only 12 spaces for this so if you are interested let us know ASAP by signing up here.

We have a fun and varied series of events lined up for November, including with Bremont, Breitling and Oris, and a day at WatchPro Salon, where we'll be hosting tours of the show for our members.

We'll help you get up close and personal with as many watches as possible, from the simplest dive watches to the finest handmade timepieces. 

    Oris South Molton Street Store: November 24th

The Holiday Season is coming up and you might be thinking of buying someone a watch as a gift, but you aren't exactly sure what to buy them. We can help! Fill in our short online form and we will send you a list of watches that fit what you've asked for. It's called The Watch Shortlist, it's completely free, and we have had great feedback on the watches we recommend. If you'd like to try it, you can find it here.

Finally, we have mentioned it a few times already, but we will be undertaking a fundraising round over the next few months. This is to enable us to build the Club further in 2023, with the main goal of launching a paid membership. We always want your feedback so if you have any thoughts or ideas around this please let us know! We will also be conducting some more deliberate surveys to find out what you will find most useful and valuable from a watch club. 

The best thing you can do for us right now is to tell people who might be interested in our events, bring them along, and spread the word. We are here to provide accessible, fun and friendly events focussing on watches. If you know of any event partners who might like to work with us, please let us know or put us in touch with them.

Thanks for helping us build such a fun Club, we hope to see you at an event soon,

read more about upcoming events and club plans for The WCC

Upcoming Events and Club Plans September 2022

What to look our for from The Watch Collectors' Club

Many people want a watch they never have to worry about, even if they are doing something really quite adventurous where the watch may get wet, muddy, or even take a few knocks. Today's Blog Post will highlight some of the watches that will remain waterproof, take a battering, and deliver reliable performance throughout.

Military Watches and Military-Inspired Tough Watches

The evolution and adoption of the Wristwatch were driven by the needs of soldiers in World War I, and timepieces designed for military uses have a very interesting history. The common format was landed upon in the 1930s, with a dark dial and matt finish case to prevent unwanted reflections, large luminous numerals and hands to allow for easy use at night, and often a very strong strap that sometimes wrapped twice around the wrist.

There was ongoing development for military and commercial pilots that shared similar features, and these directly led to the Pilot's watches we see today. In World War II the invention of Scuba diving led to the need for specific tough watches for underwater missions. Both pilot's watches and diving watches are very interesting places to look for tough and rugged watches that could be used for all sorts of adventurous activities. 

Some brands still make watches issued by the military, such as CWC of the UK and Marathon of Canada, and some brands create watches in partnership with the military, such as Bremont. The most recent watch developed for James Bond in the film No Time to Die draws on many of these military influences, while still remaining a Dive Watch from Omega's Seamaster Professional Range. If you join our events this month with Omega and Bremont, you can see these watches up close.

The term field watch literally means a watch that can be used in the field, meaning the field of battle. This tradition comes from watches issued in the Second World War and afterwards to soldiers serving in various wars from the 1950s to the 1970s. 

The design has similar hallmarks of military use, with the main distinction being the addition of the 24 hour numbers on the dial, and increased use of luminous material. 

Today we see a variety of watches available with the Field Watch Design from multiple brands. Arguably the most famous are from the US brand Hamilton, which manufactured and produced a huge number of them for issue to US Soldiers in the Vietnam war, and today sell an up to date example. These watches remain very popular and are often seen as a very affordable everyday watch.

Today's watchmakers have a huge amount of different technologies and tactics they can use to make their watches stand up to any activity. Some even market themselves as unbreakable watches. We see Dive watches that can reach incredible depths, and these would also stand up to most activities above ground. The last few decades have seen many new approaches to making a watch tough, such as the famous Casio G-Shock which encases the entire movement in rubber. 

Some companies make extra tough cases, using a single piece design known as a Monocoque case. One very famous example of this is the Citizen ProMaster Tough, well-loved by outdoor enthusiasts and divers since its introduction, and it has a high-grade Titanium case. Many watch brands offer extra tough titanium cases for their more adventurous watches, often with high water resistance ratings to reassure buyers that the watch can withstand anything that can be thrown at it.

Today, some brands such as Rolex, Montblanc, IWC and Bremont sponsor endurance athletes and mountaineers who take their watches into the most extreme environments.

While smartwatches are only the latest evolution of nearly 50 years of digital watches, they are still regarded as fragile by many. We have now reached the point where even the most complicated smartwatches are made to be tough and suitable for many outdoor activities.

The new Apple Watch Ultra has a titanium case, a new bezel designed to help protect the screen, larger and sturdier buttons, and an amazing array of features. These include a depth gauge down to 40m allowing its use as a Dive computer, microphones designed to be used in bad weather, and a speaker to sound an alarm in an emergency. 

Samsung also makes a Pro version of their top Smartwatch, also with a Titanium case and increased protective crystal thickness. Other brands such as Suunto and Garmin make very complex smartwatches for specific sports, and these are tested to destruction by their featured athletes. 

Modern watches from reputable brands are often very well made, with high standards of reliability and able to withstand knocks and blows pretty well thanks to good movement and case design. If you want a tough timepiece to accompany you through all kinds of outdoors activities, then we recommend exploring the types of watch mentioned above. At our Meetups we often see watches of all kinds from the toughest field watch to a fancy gold dress watch, and many digital watches too. You can find more details on our Events page, and if you found this article interesting, please share it with anyone else you know who likes watches.

Which watches are tough? Which watches are good for outdoors activity?

Adventure Watches for Any Activity

We explore watches that can take a beating.

Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland sadly passed away last week. We at The Watch Collectors' Club offer our deepest condolences to her family and we want to add our deepest respect and admiration for her legacy and hard work over a lifetime of service.

Her Majesty the Queen was rarely seen without a watch on her wrist. On both formal occasions and on daily outings throughout her life, she was known for wearing some very fine timepieces. Today's Blog Post will look at some of her most famous watches. 

This watch is not just interesting because it was worn for Her Majesty's coronation in 1953, but also because it is a technological masterpiece. Created by Jaeger LeCoultre in 1929, it was for a long time the smallest mechanical movement ever made for a watch. It measures just 14mm long, 4.8mm wide and 3.4mm high. It is hand wound and despite it's tiny size has a power reserve of 33 hours. 

Her Majesty's example is a fabulous example that highlights the watch's incredible thinness by matching it with an elegant gold bracelet with applied round diamonds. Queen Elizabeth wore this watch on her coronation day as the white diamonds complimented her regalia (and the crown once it was on her head!), and she wanted to keep an eye on the time. Presumably this was because the coronation day schedule was so long!

Over the years of her reign, the Queen has been pictured wearing Cartier watches on many occasions. Since they are often regular occasions such as visits to watch horse races, one of her favourite hobbies, or visits to various places around the country, good pictures are not easy to find. One recently rediscovered photo was of the queen wearing a fantastic Cartier Cintree Dual Time Zone in Gold, which is both a classic piece of 1980s jewellery and a Classic Cartier watch. She is also known to have worn various Cartier Tanks and gifted them to other family members.

Queen Victoria was one of the first Royal customers of Patek Philippe buying a fantastic blue enamelled pocket watch for herself at the Great Exhibition of 1851. 

Queen Elizabeth is famous for wearing a pearl and diamond set Patek Wristwatch on many State occasions, as it suits the fine diamonds and white dresses she most often wore. This watch is the reference 4975/1G. Here is a fantastic image of it created by a friend of The Watch Collectors Club, InkDial, who can be found at www.inkdial.co.uk

Queen Elizabeth is famous for many things, and her outstanding watch collection befit her status and majesty. It will be interesting to see if the future King Charles is as adventurous as he begins his reign. We wish him all the best wishes and hope that you have enjoyed this Blog Post. If you know anyone else who might find it interesting, please send it to them.

We explore some of the watches in Her Makesty's Collection

ALL SPACES AT THIS EVENT ARE NOW TAKEN. PLEASE JOIN US AT A FUTURE EVENT.

Join us on Thursday 27th October for an intimate exploration of three of IWC Schaffhausen's Core ranges; the Portugieser, Portofino and Pilot. This event for just 12 guests will help you understand what each range offers, the heritage and design history behind the watches, and more about IWC's fantastic technical strengths. 

Expect warm hospitality from the IWC Boutique located within Watches of Switzerland Regent Street, three short talks on the watches, and a large amount of time for you to try on different watches from each range.

You'll leave with a thorough understanding of what IWC stand for, which watches might suit your collection, and what are the greatest attributes of this brand.

Please note that all guests must be registered with us to attend, and you can sign up using the link below.

An intimate watch event exploring IWC Watches

The Watch Collectors Club x IWC

Join us for a watch event run solely for women. 

As the watch industry continues to focus their marketing and products primarily on men, the number of women attending our events is increasing with each month.

Our next event will bring together women who are new to the world of watches, and those who already collect watches, with the aim of learning from one another.

The event is hosted in a private area of a central London wine bar, and the event will follow our inclusive, informative and fun structure.

If you have a watch or two to bring along please do. We are interested in all types of watches – from the simplest Casio all the way to complicated Swiss watches, and everything in-between.

A Fun and friendly Watch Meetup for women in London

A Watch Meetup solely for women in Central London

Watch Meetup for Women October 2022

We are very excited to present a Joint Event between The Watch Collectors' Club, Britain's Largest Bond Memorabilia Collection, and Watches of Switzerland. We will have props, costumers and watches from the most recent four Bond films to look at, watches from the current Omega range to try on, and three fun and informative talks to introduce them all.

Watches of Switzerland will provide their usual excellent hospitality and you will have the opportunity to try on watches from the latest Omega range.

SPACES WILL BE LIMITED so please sign up using the link below to avoid disappointment. 

Join us with Watches of Switzerland to look at props, costumes and watches of the recent Daniel Craig films.

See props constuerm and watches from the James Bond films, as well as the current Omega Bond watches.

James Bond Watch Meetup

The Props, Costumes and Watches of James Bond - POSTPONED TO OCTOBER 12TH

Educational

Check out our educational articles about different types of watches

Educational Category

The humble case of your watch is far more complicated than you may realise. It is the result of hundreds of years of hard work improving designs and construction techniques to produce something that protects a very delicate movement from shocks, water, dust, and damage. This week's Blog Post will examine the different types of cases and how you can find one that suits your needs.

Watches are simply small clocks, and all clocks and watches have always had some kind of case. In the 15th century, they were made small enough to be carried around as travel clocks or pocket clocks, and it was then that metal cases became really necessary. Previously they were contained in wooden cases or had none at all.

Over the following 400 years, case making got pretty sophisticated and as advanced manufacturing techniques were developed to make the cases and movements very cheaply, and pocket watches became mass market items. Expensive cases in precious metals were always made by hand to avoid waste.

By modern standards, these cases were not very good. They weren't sealed against water access, which meant they could also allow dirt and dust inside. The First World War led to the widespread adoption of wristwatches as the conditions on the battlefield made them much more convenient than pocket watches. As a result, innovations in new types of sealed cases sprang up all over the place.

Following World War One, demand for men's wristwatches boomed, and this increased the demand for both hand made and machine made cases, in volume, of many different types. There was great demand for rectangular cases, and the most famous of those from the 1930s is found on the world's first sports watch, the Jaeger LeCoultre Reverso. This case is reversible to protect the glass, and is such an iconic design it is still sold today.

We'll save a discussion on what waterproof really means for a future Blog Post, but the demands of war led to the urgent search for reliably waterproof wristwatches. A watch worn on the wrist is exposed to so much more dust, dirt and water than when kept safely in a coat pocket. The first attempts were labelled Submarine or similar, and companies such as Rolex sold them. The cases were multi-part cases that slid together or screwed together. However, they were not particularly reliable and did not take off at this point.

The Rolex Oyster was the first waterproof watch to hit the mainstream and it came about because of Rolex Founder Hans Wilsdorf's determination to create a much more robust case to house his high-quality movements. He knew his customers would love a properly sealed case, and he was right. Using stunts such as putting fish tanks in jewellery store windows with his watch ticking away in the middle, the Oyster was a great success from its launch in 1927. 

Companies such as Omega also launched their own version, in this case called the Marine. They did not have Rolex's marketing flair and these watches were not as successful. The Rolex Oyster is still the core of the Rolex brand today.

World War Two transformed the watch industry, both for the watchmaking companies and the demand for types of watch. Military watches were ordered with ever increasing standards of toughness and reliability. This required thicker cases and more screw-down backs or bezels. The famous Dirty Dozen set of watches were ordered by the British Army in 1944, where the W.W.W on the back stands for Watch Wrist Waterproof.

Following the war, there were many developments in watch functions, including the emergence in the early 1950s of Diving watches. These required thick cases with very strong seals, in order to withstand the pressure of deep dives. The first was the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms, and along with the Rolex Submariner it set the marker with 200 metres of water pressure resistance, and things only got stronger and deeper from there. 

The ultra-deepwater watches required separate devices such as strengthening inner gaskets and helium pressure valves to protect the watch. Making these was a huge technical challenge but broadly by the late 1960 watches were tough enough to withstand almost anything. 

In the 1960s the race was on to create a reliable automatic chronograph, and one of the winners was Heuer. They created a waterproof square case to contain their new Monaco watch, and it was a big hit. It is still the most famous and one of the most popular square watches on the market.

Demand for watches to accompany the explosion of new leisure activities such as mountaineering (the Rolex Explorer), dangerous hobbies like cave diving (the Rolex Explorer II), or scientific experiments like withstanding the vacuum of Space (the Omega Speedmaster) saw watch case development accelerate rapidly. 

Broadly speaking, what we call a watch case has three parts: a core case with integrated lugs, a caseback, and a bezel to secure the crystal or provide a useful function. Almost every case you'll find today is engineered like this, however some notable alternatives exist.

These watch cases do not have a detachable caseback, so the case is all in "one block" which is what the word Monocoque means. The watch movement is placed in from the front and the crystal and Bezel then screwed down onto the case to create the seal. This makes for very very strong cases, but is not a particularly common design.

 Some case makers split the case further, so that the mid part which holds everything in place is separate to a frame that includes the lugs. This allows for more varied and innovative lug designs (the lugs are the parts which stick out and the strap is attached to). It also allows the different parts to be made of different materials, or be in contrasting colours and finishes.

    Cases with cut-out or see-through sections

Modern case materials are extremely sophisticated, and the development of ever stronger sapphire crystals has allowed watchmakers to have see-through parts to their cases to allow the appreciation of the movement or other watch functions. This has been seen mostly at the high end of watchmaking, but clear and see-through casebacks are now available even for microbrands and the low end of the mechanical watch market.

Fortunately for the modern watch lover, there are cases of every conceivable shape size, material and finish available on the market today. From precious metal cases on dive watches, to carbon fibre curves, to see-through sapphire, ultra-strong titanium, and environmentally friendly plastic, anything is possible for watch designers. 

Some brands have made case design part of their DNA. The fascinating Trip Tick case from British watch brand Bremont is a good example of what an innovative design-led watch brand can do. It has a central barrel section that can be customised and finished in different ways and textures, to either stand out or blend in. It is flexible enough to be used in many different styles of watch and still be a signature of the brand. This exploded image shows the parts which combine to protect the watch movement in a Trip-tick case.

Watch cases are often praised for their beauty but under-appreciated for their variety. There is as much to focus on case design as there is when we talk about dial design and manufacture. We at The Watch Collectors' Club enjoy looking in-depth at all aspects of the watches we love, and hope to help you learn about every part of them. Find out more by joining one of our watch events, and if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask! 

What makes watch cases so interesting? What makes for a good watch case?

A history and guide to different watch case designs, including some historic lots of examples and different styles.

Watches have been important since the earliest days of flight. When in the air, timing is crucial for navigation, and early experiments in balloons and airships showed that timing distances accurately while in the air would be crucial to getting to where you wanted to go. With the invention and rapid of aeroplanes in the early years of the 20th century, the distance they could fly increased.

This dramatically increased the risk of getting lost and travelling past the place you were trying to reach, especially if visibility was limited. Timing distance travelled at set speeds on certain headings, or directions, was crucial. You might think the obvious thing to do was to strap a clock or pocket watch to the dashboard of the aeroplane. Unfortunately, the machinery at this time had a very high rate of vibration, which made it a difficult place to put a delicate watch mechanism, it just wouldn't have been very accurate. The device was also often hard to read if mounted in a difficult position. 

The First Men's Wristwatch was a Pilot's Watch

The watch that is most famous for being the first regularly produced Men's wristwatch is the Cartier Santos-Dumas. Santos-Dumas was a rich playboy aviator trying to push the boundaries of flight in France in the first few years of the 20th Century. The problem he had was that he couldn't get his pocket watch out to read it while keeping control of the plane. He asked for a small wristwatch, and Cartier duly delivered it in 1904. In 1911 it was launched for sale and is still available today as the Santos du Cartier.

World War I changed the landscape for Men's wristwatches as they became much more widely used both during and after the war. While men had worn watches on their wrists while soldiering since roughly the 1880s, the huge number of men involved in the battles of the First World War saw huge demand for wristwatches. 

The war also led to huge improvements in aircraft technology, and this level of innovation continued into the 1920s and 1930s.

Ambitious flying adventures and the realisation of the increased importance of air forces in military conflict led to a wave of innovation in pilot's watches. In 1927 the famous celebrity aviator Charles Lindberg flew from New York to Paris. This achievement was made more incredible by the fact that he didn't navigate and arrived almost entirely due to luck. Lindberg knew this and the following year went to the pioneer of aeronautical navigation, a member of the US Navy called Philip Van Horn Weems.

Weems invented two watch functions we now see as completely standard; the ability to stop the seconds hand moving while you set the watch, so that timing can be set to the second, and also the rotating bezel. The full explanation of how these help pilots can be found in this article, but the main thing to know is that both of these started in pilot's watches to help with navigation in the air when landmarks are not visible, such as at night or over the Ocean.

Weems watches were often made by Longines, who still make much of their association today. They were also often very large, up to 55mm in diameter, so they could be easily read at night. Another watch that was created in the 1930 and 40s for pilots was made in Germany and is famous for its size and design. It's known as the Calibre 52. This watch was ordered from a variety of German manufacturers, such as Glashutte, Lange & Sohne, and IWC.

The Navitimer is the Ultimate Pilot's Watch

Another watch company closely linked with Pilot's watches and aviation is Breitling. In 1942 they introduced a world first, which was a watch with a Slide Rule Bezel. A slide rule is a type of calculator, and this function allowed pilots to make complicated calculations while in the air. It was first introduced on the Chronomat model, but in 1954 they launched the Navitimer.

This watch was designed for the American Owners and Pilots Association of civilian pilots in the USA. It features an updated and more sophisticated Slide Rule than the Chronomat and a Chronograph or stopwatch. Using these two features, the watch manual instructs a pilot how to calculate 14 different things, including how much fuel is left, distances, time at a speed, etc. You can see how useful these are to a pilot, especially if something has gone wrong. This watch was also very large at the time, measuring 41mm across.

Despite both Longines and IWC using the name Pilot as an officially trademarked name for their watch ranges, many watch brands today feature a line of watches inspired by these watches and aviation in general. 

British Watch brand Bremont started only 15 years ago and is dedicated to aviation-inspired watches. They have been incredibly successful in building their brand and have a fascinating collaboration with ejector-seat maker Martin Baker to make their super tough MB range of watches. These have been tested to the same stresses as a pilot goes through if they are forced to eject in an emergency.

They have also created an interesting series of watches linked to historical aeroplanes. Breitling chose to do this with its Super AVI range celebrating American warplanes. Longines has recreated some of their most important watches from the 1930s, and IWC has made watches celebrating interesting feats of flying, such as a recent trip by a World War II Spitfire plane around the whole world!

If you want a useful and easy to read watch with a lot of heritage, many brands offer something of interest. Modern brands such as Bremont offer a more up-to-date take on what a Pilot's watch can bring. We at The Watch Collectors' Club don't have a favourite Pilot's watch, but are here to help you explore them more widely. If you have any further questions please just ask, and we hope to hold events focussing on Pilot's watches in the near future.

We look at Pilot's watches from 1904 up to the present day.

For the Swiss Watch industry, the period of the 1970s is most commonly known as the Quartz Crisis. It is commonly understood to be a time period when inexpensive quartz movement powered watches led to a rapid decline in the sales of mechanical watches, which led to huge trouble amongst many Swiss watch companies and suppliers. In actual fact, the rapid adoption of quartz movements was only one part of the Swiss industry's troubles, and this article will explore what happened.

At the start of the 1970s, the industry had an unusual structure, designed in the 1930s to save the industry from the Great Depression that followed the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The industry was made up of thousands of small parts suppliers and fairly small brands, all organised under umbrella organisations backed by the government and the Swiss banking sector. The largest of these was called Ebauches SA, which later became ETA SA, and then Swatch Group.

This worked very well for the industry in the years after World War II. The watch companies in the USA and Europe that had switched to manufacturing material for the war effort struggled to move back into watchmaking after the war ended. This allowed the Swiss companies to dominate booming post-war economies, firstly in the United States and then in Europe. In 1960 Swiss companies had a 60% share of the US market. Unfortunately for the Swiss, this industry structure was poorly positioned to move from manufacturing mechanical watches to electronic watches in the 1970s.

The Japanese watch companies benefitted from the restructuring of the Japanese economy after their defeat in the war. Across Japan companies focussed on becoming low-cost producers of all kinds of manufactured goods, and then shipping those goods to new markets in the Americas and Europe. The watch industry was no exception. Japan was also a dominant player in the rise of the electronics industry in the 1950s and 1960s. While America led in the invention and production of electronic watches, with the Hamilton Ventura (1957) and Bulova Accutron (1960) and world leaders in their niche, the Japanese were very close behind. 

At some point in the early 1960s, watch companies realised the most successful elecrtonic watch was going to involve a movement powered by a quartz crystal, which had been used to power electric clocks since its invention in 1927. It took until 1969 for the first quartz wristwatch to be launched, the Seiko Astron. It was very expensive and only available in Japan. 

The Swiss had formed a consortium of the top watchmakers in 1962 to work on a quartz movement and succeeded. It launched only a few months after the Astron, and was known as the Beta 21. 

Unfortunately for the Swiss, the movement was much larger, heavier and power hungry than those made by the Japanese. Within only a few years the Japanese continued to improve their movements at a rate that the Swiss couldn't match. Despite the introduction of the Beta 22 movement which was much thinner, the whole project was cancelled in 1975. Unfortunately for the Swiss, by 1975 Seiko alone managed to ship 1.7 million quartz watches and an astonishing 25 million by 1980.

The Japanese succeeded at a much faster rate than the others for three reasons. Firstly, the associated micro-electronics industry booming at that time in Japan, allowing for easy sourcing of parts and expertise. Secondly, the US watch companies focused more on high-end electronic and digital watches like the Pulsar. Finally, Switzerland had little to no experience building the electronic components required to put into the quartz movement, so their movements were big, bulky, and lower quality with higher power consumption. Seiko vertically integrated the production, making every part themselves. They still do this, and this led to their success at bringing the costs down (as well as improving the mechanism and patenting their improvements).

Unfortunately for the Swiss, two other things hit the watchmaking industry at the same time; a sharp rise in interest rates and a sharply appreciating currency against the US Dollar. Swiss interest rates had been around 3% and the currency was pegged at a fixed rate to the US Dollar until 1971. This was a very stable period for the Swiss watchmaking industry and it was able to sell into the United States with great success. 

In the late 1960s, Governments around the world were struggling to deal with bouts of high inflation after nearly 20 years of relatively low inflation. The decision to de-peg currencies and for each country to regain full control over monetary policy is known as the "end of Bretton Woods", and had dramatic consequences.

When the Swiss Franc de-pegged from the US Dollar, the Swiss National Bank, in charge of the money supply and interest rates, decided to fight inflation very sharply. This raised interest rates and the Swiss Franc appreciated quickly. This meant that anything exported from Switzerland to other countries was much more expensive. The scale of the rise was extraordinary. In the first 18 months from the start of 1972, the Swiss Franc gained 29% against the dollar. By the start of 1975 it was another 14% higher, and by 1978 it was another 38% higher. Interest rates reached 10% in 1974 in Switzerland and the country experienced a recession. 

This combination of technological change, high interest rates, and a severe loss of price competitiveness in their largest market saw many Swiss companies go bankrupt. The brands folded and many of the suppliers. Over the course of the decade employment in the industry fell 60%, and over 40k people lost their jobs. Many famous brands closed down almost entirely, and while some have been resurrected today, many are still gone. 

The history of the watchmaking industry has many fascinating periods, but like all history is complicated and always depends on the viewpoint of the historian. Making it simple to understand is a key aim for The Watch Collectors' Club, as understanding brand history is often very important for watch collectors. Many people enjoy learning about where watches have come from, what inspired them, and how the technology was developed. We hope to bring more historical information to you in an easy-to-understand manner. If you liked this article, please let us know, and also tell anyone else you know who might be interested. Our events always include some informative content, and all the details can be found on our events page.

What was the quartz crisis? Was the quartz crisis the only problem for the Swiss watch industry?

What happened to the Swiss Watch Industry in the 1970s

An explanation of why the Swiss Watch Industry collapsed in the 1970s.

At The Watch Collectors' Club we believe that anyone with more than one watch has a watch collection. This is because we find that as soon as someone buys one watch they really like, they swiftly find they are thinking about another one. This is the mark of someone who is starting a collection. We also want people to know that watch collecting is easy, it can be very simple. This Blog Post will talk about some of the simplest ways to start a collection.

A Collection is a group of objects that have been brought together with a deliberate purpose. So in the case of watches, there are many reasons you could have a few of them. For example, if you like to wear a watch all the time but have a different watch for different purposes, one to wear all day, one for the gym, one for a night out, and one for special occasions, then that is a collection based around your use for them. We wrote about what makes a watch collector earlier this year, and it goes through the different types of collector we've met. 

When I first started collecting watches, I started browsing eBay. I wanted a low-cost vintage watch that was different to what I'd been wearing before. I didn't know much about watches at all, but knew I wanted something a bit different and saw buying a vintage watch as the most affordable way to buy a top Swiss brand. I chose a Jaeger LeCoultre, one of the most famous historic brands.

When it arrived I was delighted with it, despite the somewhat battered dial. It was light, kept good time, and looked really different to anything I'd seen anyone else wearing. 

I immediately wanted another one! I started searching for more vintage watches from Jaeger LeCoultre in my price range. Most of what came up were simple, time-only pieces from the 1950s and 1960s. Their small size and simple design really appealed to me. I soon bid on another, this time in all gold. I won the bid and again, was delighted when the watch arrived.

I started researching a lot more about Jaeger LeCoultre, and before long I had discovered the famous Reverso, the world's first sports watch, and the intriguing series of military watches Jaeger produced in the 1930s, 40s and 50s. I also grew to respect their heritage, history and important position in the Swiss watch industry. This all combined to make me more of a fan of the brand, and be proud to try and build a collection of Jaeger LeCoultre watches.

My story is the same story many watch collectors have. They like a type of watch and they collect similar. In my case it was following a brand, but in other cases, it can be a type of watch, like Dive or Pilot's watches, a style of watch like gold or bronze cases, a model of watch like the Seiko Day-Date models, or even something rare like watches with left-sided crowns (the part you use to wind the watch).

We recommend buying what you like, and doing the research as your interest grows. We at The Watch Collectors' Club are always happy to help you with your watch research, find out more details about the watches you have or like, and can point you to good online resources. We encourage people to look at vintage watches as they are often very good value. We encourage the exploration of microbrand watches as they are so interesting and can offer incredible value. We especially love any collection that is the result of passion and enthusiasm, and the great thing about our watch Meetups is we are finding people full of both, whether they have one watch or hundreds. 

We don't care if your collection is broad or niche. Whether is specialised and expert or simply what you like most. All of them are interesting watch collections, and all of them are easy to get started, and once you've started, you'll probably keep going!

Getting started really is as easy as buying something on purpose, and seeing how you feel about it and whether to continue down that route. As I learned more about watches my interests changed, and after buying the Jaeger LeCoultre Dirty Dozen Watch (featured above), I started to buy other watches. Firstly from Breitling, another brand that had always interested me, and then from other brands too. I now have a wide-ranging collection that includes watches I would never have dreamt of owning when I started. You can start anywhere, and we encourage you to simply go for it. Buy carefully of course, and you can use the How To guides from our Blog. Most importantly, don't be afraid of your own taste. 

Don't be afraid to ask us for help if you need it, and we at The Watch Collectors' Club would love to hear all about your collection. Please sign up for our email list, and you can join one of our watch events either online or in-person, and follow us on social media. 

How do you start a watch collection? What's the best way to collect watches?

How to Start a Watch Collection

We explain how starting a small watch collectioncan be very easy

Sports watches are watches that are sporty looking, robust, reliable and waterproof. It is by far the largest category of watches made today. Our event this week showed that as more and more watches are designed and invented, including digital and smartwatches, how people think about sports watches is changing. This Blog Post will guide you through where they came from, what they are now, and where to look for more examples.

There are a few ways to think about this. A sports watch can be: 

    A mechanical watch that suits sporty looks and sporting activities

    A smartwatch that precisely measures and tracks your sport

    A digital watch that can time your activity or measure other important timing functions

    A vintage watch designed to be worn while wearing sporty clothing, but not designed to be used while playing sports

At first glance, this may seem too much to all be called one category of watches, but there are common features across them all. Crucially, you can use these features to find a really great watch, even if you don't want all the tools it comes with.

It is now possible to get smartwatches designed explicitly for a certain sport, such as golf, or multifunction watches that contain the potential to track hundreds of activities. All-purpose smartwatches like the Apple watch series have apps you download that are very precisely tailored to specific activities. Some digital watches now have specialised functions for hobbies or sports, such as the tide timers found on Casio G-Shock, the many digital dive computer watches, and digital or hybrid watches for pilots.

Since the invention of the world's first sports watch, the Jaeger LeCoultre Reverso, watch companies have tried to make watches suitable for more active lifestyles. In the early 20th century this was primarily a problem of waterproofing, solved by Rolex and peers in the late 1920s with the Rolex Oyster, and then it was a problem of shock absorption, which has been solved many times in many different ways.

In the second half of the 20th century, sports watches were developed primarily for diving, and we also saw many watches inspired by motor racing and watches made for mountaineering or polar exploration.

The features developed for these purposes led us directly to the watches we see today. They all have certain features that have proven very popular for watch buyers, whether or not they actually will go diving, climb a mountain, or race a car.

Very simply, a sports watch needs to be robust and hard to damage, often leading to a thick and sturdy case. It needs to be waterproof and it needs to be easy to use, with a clear dial and functions.

When we look across the most hyped watches in the world right now, such as the Patek Philippe Nautilus or the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, we see all these features are present. However, there are so many interesting brands out there that you should take the time to look for interesting sports watches that you haven't seen before.

Last summer we looked at a whole series of watch Microbrands, and many of these got started by making a Dive watch or Pilots watch. Similarly, many highly technical brands create tough but easy-to-use watches for people who want to do outdoor activities. These brands, like Luminox or Squale from Switzerland, or Christopher Ward in the UK, provide interesting mid-range sports watches.

The Watch Collectors' Club is here to help you explore the watch world. Our watch events focus on different kinds of watches and help you share your watch stories. We create educational content to help you learn more about how things in the watch world work, and we are always happy to answer any questions you may have. If you like what we do, please tell anyone else you think will enjoy it, and make sure you follow us on social media.

What watches are sports watches? What makes a sports watch?

What is a Sports Watch?

We consider sports watches of all types.

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?

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.

What is High Horology? What is Haute Horologie?