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

Showcase Stories

The Rolex Explorer is a very famous watch and a key part of the Rolex lineup. It is a watch that's changed little over the last 70 years and remains a simple and popular option for many. The most famous story connected to it is highly controversial. Today's Blog Post will introduce and explore the watch and the controversy.

In the 1940s and 1950s Rolex were busy creating watches that were ever more practical and useful for their customers. Having established a reputation for quality and seen great success with the waterproof Rolex Oyster and Oyster Perpetual in the 1930s, Rolex needed to move on. They introduced the Submariner, a dive watch, and the famous Day-Date calendar watch, but also wanted to update the Oyster Perpetual to be more robust and hard-wearing.


Many watch companies at the time were also focussing on this, including the largest British watchmaker of the time, Smiths. Both Rolex and Smiths sent their watches with mountaineering teams so they could test them in the most extreme environments. They wanted to prove these watches stood up to long days of vigorous activity and huge temperature ranges.
 The British Everest Expedition of 1953 was sponsored by Smiths, so 15 watches were sent along. Rolex gifted 10 pieces to the British members of the Expedition. The stage was set for one of them to be worn to the summit for the first time.

Which watch was first to the Top of Everest?

Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay were the first climbers to succeed in summiting Mount Everest on May 29th 1953. However, in 1924 an expedition was run by the British climbers George Mallory, with their final climb starting on June 8th. Sadly, they never returned from the attempt. In 1999 Mallory's body was recovered, including the watch in his pocket. This was a watch in a Borgel case with a Fountainmelon movement and would have been very expensive at that time. Since it is not known if Mallory achieved the summit before he fell to his death, we cannot say for sure that this watch reached the summit.


 So what happened with the Rolex and the Smiths?


 Well, here the story gets interesting. Rolex have always been famous for their marketing and this story is one of the most interesting marketing coups of the 20th century. Rolex's advertising agency, J Walter Thompson paid a reporter from The Times newspaper in London to message them in code announcing the expedition's success. As a result, Rolex ran an advertisement on page 3 of The Times on June 2nd, claiming that their watch was first to the top of the mountain. The news story exclaiming the achievement wasn't even until Page 7 of the Paper.


 Smiths didn't get their advertisement published until three days later on June 5th. Rolex was also clever in two other ways. They hosted a party for the whole Expedition in Bombay as they were travelling back to England. At the party, they gave out more gold Rolexes, and by the time the party arrived back in London Edmund Hillary, Tenzing Norgay and expedition leader Colonel Hunt were all official Rolex ambassadors. Unsurprisingly they did not discuss Smiths watches much from then on.

Was a Rolex the first watch to the top of Everest?

Unfortunately, the answer is probably no. Many Rolex fans have undertaken a detailed photographic study of the pictures from the expedition and they believe that neither Hillary nor Norgay were wearing one when climbing the mountain, not least because Norgay is clearly wearing a steel watch in all the pics, and the Rolex he owned at the time was gold.


The best evidence however comes from the Managing Director of Rolex UK at the time. In September 1953, the Managing Director of Smiths was clearly annoyed at the success Rolex had with their claim to be first and their subsequent marketing of the newly launched Explorer model. He wrote to the leading watch magazine of the day, the monthly magazine of the British Horological Institute (which still exists and you can find them here).


Here is what he said, and I've highlighted the relevant part:

Now this could just be another marketing claim if it Rolex hadn't replied, in the October issue, with this clear admission:

For anyone familiar with the norms of the day, this was a genuine attempt by two leading figures of the industry to set the record straight and avoid being called liars. That is why the Rolex Director wrote in when he didn't have to. If you examine any Rolex ads since that first one, not a single one claims that their watch was on the summit first, they simply state (a lot) that Rolexes are often on Everest, worn by the bravest climbers.


They have never reduced their association with climbers and still sponsor mountaineers as influencers today. They remain proud of the Explorer watch, and it is branded as a tough go-anywhere timepiece.  However, it is fairly clear that it was not the first to the summit.


The Smiths watch was a Smiths Deluxe, or A409 and Hillary gave it to the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers in the City of London. It resides on display in the Science Museum in London.

One of the reasons Rolex is so large and famous today is precisely because they were willing to create interesting marketing stunts over the course of the 20th century. Their continued efforts to associate themselves with adventure, feats of bravery, and interesting people have maintained a level of quality associated with their watches. Rolex customers associate the brand with success and its stories like this that made it this way. Fortunately for their customers, they make great watches.

Rolex launched the watch formally known as the Explorer in Summer 1953. The first reference number was the 6350, which remained very simple and added the no famous 3, 6 and 9 indices on the dial to make it easy to read. They also made the black dial option standard for the same reasons. 

In 1956 the 6610 was introduced with the Mercedes style hands and again the bold numbers in luminous paint. The introduction of the 1016 in 1963 was another upgrade and was important as it stayed in production for over 25 years, making it possible the single-longest Rolex reference in production. In 1989 it was replaced by the 14270, which shows the indices and numbers lined in white gold. It is still pretty much the same today.

This model has not changed much and has been on sale for nearly 70 years. This shows the incredible staying power of Rolex. They make watches people want, improve them consistently, and deliver reliable designs. Coupled with the interesting marketing tactics and strong brand image, it keeps the company and their watches at the top of the industry today.

We at The Watch Collectors' Club want to help everyone explore the world of watches. We want to bring you the interesting stories that are behind the watches we see on the market, and we want to help you share your watch stories. Our regular meetups are the perfect place to come and learn more about watches like the Explorer and tell us which watches you like and would love to know more about. At our next one, we will be exploring and comparing the brands  Tudor and Breitling and it's taking place on April 12th in Central London. You can find all the details here.


 If you know of anyone who might like this story, please forward it on and let them know where to find us. We are on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter, and our mailing list is the first place to find out about all our events. Join us at the next one!

Was a Rolex the first to the top of Mount Everest? Which watch was first to the top of Mount Everest?

The Rolex Explorer Everst Controversy

Rolex Myth-making and the birth of the Rolex Explorer

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

We had a great time last night at our January In-Person Meetup. It was a smaller group than usual, so we held it in a pub in Central London, and this time we could all sit around the same table. As is becoming usual, a diverse and interesting set of people came along, from experienced collectors to complete newbies. We had another set of great watches, including the bright yellow G-Shock you can see below!

We welcome Watch Collectors at every level

One of the goals of The Watch Collectors’ Club is to help people explore and learn more about the watch world no matter how long they have been interested. Last night a new attendee came down and was clearly very knowledgeable, passionate and knew exactly what he liked and didn’t like. He brought along the famous and fun “Harrods Special” Tudor Black Bay, a watch possibly unique because you can only buy it in one store, and they only make that version of that watch for that store. If you like it, you can order one in Harrods in Central London in the UK. It’s a fun chunky sports watch, and the bracelet is pretty cool too, with the Harrods logo engraved on the back. 

Our website designer came along, and he is very early in his watch collecting journey. Even earlier in her journey was his girlfriend, who has given very little thought about watches until recently. They were both delighted to see some of the watches people brought down and enjoyed the variety on display. They didn’t know some watches have moonphases, and that sparked a fun discussion of the different kinds available, whether they are engraved or painted, and how they work. This blog post from the summer discusses them in detail.

To highlight the variety that is quickly becoming common at our Meetups, here are two pairs of fascinating watches people brought along last night. The first pair are fashion watches from mega-brand Diesel. They were bought in Tokyo in 2005 and their dial design and strap are really unusual. The owner and his partner wore them for all kinds of crazy activities for about ten years, and it shows!

The next pair are two watches designed first and foremost to be tough. The G-Shock Frogman we mentioned earlier is an early GWF-1000, and is the G-Shock range’s dive watch. It has absolutely tons of features, but the most unusual thing about it is the fact it is offset to the left of the strap to make wearing it with a wetsuit easier. The most notable watch to do this was the Omega Polprof, but G-Shock ran with it for their Frogman series from 1993, and even with the current version with analogue hands, the whole watch is still off-centre. G-Shock Frogman watches have an incredible feature list, including dive timing, dive recording, temperature sensing, GPS, solar power, and more.

In contrast, the Gorilla Fastback is a concept watch that is design-led, focussing on novelty and incredible toughness, a titanium and carbon fibre case, and a unique dial design. It has a simple and very common movement and no additional functions. 

While neither of these watches will be to everyone’s taste, tough or “unbreakable” watches are very popular, and it is always nice to see some timepieces from this corner of the watch world.

We are very excited to bring you as many interesting, engaging events as possible in 2022. We wrote about our plans here, and are delighted to announce the next In-Person Event will be on Thursday, February 10th, from 6:30PM in Central London. You can sign up here. 

This coming Monday, 24th January, we are holding a virtual talk via Zoom. It is an engaging exploration of how Rolex became the Kings of the watch industry, covering its origins, watches, and marketing brilliance. It starts at 8:00PM UK Time and you can sign up here. 

We at The Watch Collectors’ Club believe that so much more can be done to bring watch lovers together. Our events will focus on exploring and sharing our passion for watches and we will provide fun educational content to help people learn easily. If you know anyone you think might enjoy our events or benefit from our approach, please let them know, and make sure they sign up to our email list to get all the details. You can also find us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Interesting watches at our January In-Person Meetup

January In-Person Meetup Event Highlights

Interesting watches brought seen at our January Meetup

A key part of The Watch Collectors’ Club offering is holding regular in-person events, for our members to get together to share their watches and learn something new. We paused in-person events for 18 months during the pandemic; however, we are pleased to be back to running monthly events. Here are some of the watches we saw, and a brief overview of what we learnt last night at our in-person event in Central London. Make sure to check your emails or our website for upcoming events. 

As with all of our events, our members wore a really diverse set of watches, at a range of price points and rarity. However, every single watch had a great story. Here are some of the highlights. 

One of our members brought this spectacular Rolex Daytona to share with the group. The Daytona is one of the most popular and coveted sports watches amongst collectors at the moment. If you want to find out more about why sports watches are so popular, we’ve written a short blog explaining it.  What we particularly love about this watch is that whilst it looks like a steel Daytona, it is actually made of solid white gold. Rolex make their own gold for their watches – the white version has a warmth to it which distinguishes it from the colder, ‘bluer’ look of steel. This particularly model has a deep blue dial, which makes the hands very legible. A truly beautiful watch! 

We love hearing some of the great stories behind watches, and this watch has one of my favourite stories. It’s a Tag Heuer Formula 1 Gulf Edition from approximately 2012, and was gifted to the owner by his father for his 21st birthday. The owner was due to move to Dubai, and his father thought this watch was related to the Persian Gulf, and would be an appropriate present. He hadn’t realised that the watch was a collaboration with the Gulf Oil company, a major motor racing sponsor from the 60’s and 70’s. You might recognise the colours from the Porsche that Steve McQueen drive in the film ‘Le Mans’. We love the combination of two great motor racing heritages into one unusual watch. You can read about Tag’s racing heritage here, and a history of Gulf Oil’s sponsorship here. My favourite part of the story is that the owner is now an oil trader! 

 We know that our members love pilots watches, and that a few of them are amateur pilots. One of those amateur pilots came along to the event and showed off the watch that he takes flying with him. This is a Citizen Promaster Skyhawk A-T. Modern planes are full of very clever instruments to help the pilot, but amateur pilots of smaller aircraft always need a back-up set of important and accurate functions in the event of an emergency. This Citizen has lots of functions, but the most important is the slide rule around the outside of the bezel. This functions as a calculator and allows the pilot to calculate some vital values, such as fuel consumption and ascent/descent rates. Like all Citizen watches, this one has lots of useful functions for telling the time, including: countdown timers, two alarms, a chronograph, multiple time-zones and a perpetual calendar. This is an incredibly useful watch for pilots, and it was great to see it in real life. Despite its large size it was very comfortable on the wrist. 

At each in person event, we do a few short talks, with the aim of teaching something to our members. This event saw us explain why we think you should consider buying a vintage watch, and a few tips to get you started. You can read our guide to buying vintage watches here.  

In-person events are a great way for our members to get together and learn about their watches, and those of other members. 

In-person events are a core part of what we offer our members. They are a great way to have a look at a wide variety of watches, share your passion with others, and learn a little. The next in-person event will be a tour of the “Oak Collection” at the Design Museum on Sunday 12th December. The Oak Collection is one of the greatest watch collections of all time, and this is the first time it has been seen in public. 

The Watch Collectors Club aims to make the watch world accessible, and we know that many of our members can’t get to Central London. Until we offer events in other cities, we will continue to run virtual events. The next virtual event is on Monday 20th December. Remember to check your emails for the invite. 

If you know anyone who might be interested in learning more, or has some great watches to share, please let them know about us. Communities are always better when they have lots of members.

Our Second Event In Central London

A Return to Regular Events – The Watches We Saw

This is Hamish, the CEO and Co-Founder of The Watch Collectors' Club, and I want to explain further how our Showcases and Meetups work. All our events can be found on our events page here. Be sure to check it regularly as we will hold at least two events every month from now on!

A Showcase is a virtual event run using Zoom that brings us together to talk about our watches. We host it, and manage any pictures you want to send in. We then take turns to talk through the stories we want to tell about our watch: 

·       We might mention where we got it, why we like it, what it means to us and what features we like most. 

·       This only lasts for a couple of minutes or so and then there are usually a few questions from people on the call. 

The watches people have shown us have led to great discussions, either about the watch itself, the brand, the technology, or most often, the story about how they got it!

Our Showcases have included everything from brand new Rolexes to vintage Omega Dress watches, Casio G-shocks to handmade pieces from German independent watchmakers. We really want to hear about all your watches, whatever they may be and wherever they came from. Our showcase is the place to come for a relaxed and friendly exploration of the watch world.

You get to see a variety of watches you probably didn't know existed. When everyone brings a watch or two, the range can be surprising.

We give a couple of short talks highlighting an aspect of the watch world or watch collecting. You'll learn a little and gain a little more insight into how it all works.

There's a relaxed environment for you to see some interesting watches and hear the stories behind them. Everyone is welcome, and passion for watches is widely distributed. You might be surprised at who you meet.

We choose an easy to get to venue with plenty of space, in an area separate from other patrons. This helps us remain secure and ensure we can take all possible COVID precautions. We ask that you do not publicise the location on social media. 

We exist to make the watch world simple. We aim to bring people together to share their stories about the watch world, and help each other explore further and learn together. We will hold events every month, and will hold explore a growing range of topics and formats. Keep an eye on our events page for more details, and if you know of anyone who might like the sound of this, please let them know. You can forward this email, or find us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

What is a Watch Showcase? What is a Watch Meetup? What is a Watch Get-together?

Watch Showcases and Meetups

An explanation of what to expect at a Virtual Showcase or In-Person Meetup

Before the outbreak of the Covid-19, we held three test events with friends and family to refine our format. Whilst there were restrictions on holding in-person events in the UK, we held regular virtual events, which were a great way for us to connect with our members and a forum for them to learn a little about watches and share their passion. 

Last night, after a two-year delay, The Watch Collectors Club held its first in-person event. It was a fantastic evening in Central London. It was filled with interesting conversation, lots of learning, and one or two surprises. Thank you to all our members who joined us – we had a lot of fun, and we hope you did too. If you couldn’t make this event, don’t worry, we are holding another in-person event on November 18th, in Central London. 

At each in-person event, we do two short educational talks. At this event, Hamish our CEO ran two talks. The first covered how to appraise and appreciate a watch. The second covered how to collect watches. Below we have included a short overview of the first talk, which we encourage you to try out whilst reading this blog.    

Firstly, have a look at the face of the watch. This is called the dial. What colour is it, does it have a pattern? Is the text printed, or does it stick out from the dial? What about the indices, or hour markers? What shape and colour are these? Are they easy to read? What colour and shape are the hands? Are they solid, or skeletonised?

Now have a look at the case of the watch. How big is it? What material is it made of? Many watches are steel, but yours could be gold, platinum, titanium, or plastic. Is it heavy or light? What shape is? Round watch cases are the most common; however, watches can be a variety of shapes. Hamish wore a watch with a rectangular case whilst giving this talk. Turning the watch over in your hands – study the finishing of the case. Is it shiny, or matte? How many edges does the case have, and are they rounded or sharp? 

Finally, what bracelet does the watch have? Is it metal, leather, rubber or plastic? How does the watch feel when you wear it?

The attendees then launched into lively discussions with the people closest to them. They talked about what their favourite features were, and what they had just noticed for the first time. Try this at home and see if you notice anything new about the watch you are wearing. 

One of our favourite things about in-person events is being able to compare the same watches from different years. The Rolex Submariner was introduced in 1953 and is seen by many as the quintessential diving watch. Rolex focus on continuous improvement to their watches, so there are scores of different iterations of the Submariner dating from the 1950’s up to the current catalogue. Two of our members wore submariners, with a 20-year age gap. It was fascinating to see the subtle differences between the two. The smaller model dates from 1999, whilst the larger model is from 2018. Despite both being Rolex Submariners, they felt and wore very differently.  If you want to find out more about the different varieties of Submariners, Hodinkee have written a comprehensive guide here. 

One of our members brought a Grand Seiko watch with him. Grand Seiko is the high-end brand of the Seiko group. You can learn more about it here. The case and the movement are finished to an incredibly high standard, which lots of facets to the case, and beautiful engraving on the movement, as you can see in the pictures below. 

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the night was that one of our members had a new Casio Pacman watch delivered to the event. This was a very cool watch, with vintage styling and an amazing laser-etched Pacman case-back. 

In-person events are a core part of what we offer our members. They are a great way to have a look at a wide variety of watches, share your passion with others, and learn a little. The next in-person event is on November 18th, in Central London. The Watch Collectors Club aims to make the watch world accessible, and we know that many of our members can’t get to Central London. Until we offer events in other cities, we will continue to run virtual events. The next virtual event is on Sunday 7th November. Remember to check your emails for the invite. 

Review of The Watch Collectors' Club In-Person Meetup October 2021

In-person Meetup October 2021

Last night, we held a showcase event exploring the wide variety of watches from the largest watch groups in the world. We’ve written short introductions to LVMH, Seiko, Citizen, Richemont and Swatch where you can find out more about the brands within these groups. 

Hamish, our CEO, shared his Jaeger LeCoultre Reverso. Jaeger LeCoultre was purchased by the Swiss giant Richemont in 2000. JLC make a huge range of high-end automatic watches, but their most famous watch is the Reverso, named for the fact that the case can be reversed to protect the glass. The Reverso was the world’s first sports watch, designed in 1931 to be worn whilst playing polo. The story of how this watch was designed is fascinating. You can read about it here. The Reverso was Hamish’s “grail watch” for many years, and he particularly likes the Art Deco dial of this model from 1946. 

Stuart ‘T-S’ showed his most recent purchase, a Casio G-Shock GW-M5610 -1ER. Stuart was inspired to buy this G-Shock after a trial event The Watch Collectors Club ran over the summer, which had explored how to start a watch collection. This model reminds Stuart of the first watch he owned as a child; however, he now has a greater appreciation of the watch’s technology. Some of the features include: solar power, radio-updated world-timer, an overnight power-saving feature, and an LCD display that will outlive any owner. Like most watch collectors, Stuart is worried about damaging his watches, so was attracted to the robust-ness of the G-Shock range. The picture below shows him wearing it whilst sanding and fitting new garage doors. 

Ed, the co-founder of the club, shared someone else’s watch with the group: an IWC Portofino. The watch belongs to his partner’s father and is often borrowed on visits to Cornwall. Like JLC, IWC is one of the high-end brands owned by the Richemont group. Ed’s favourite features of the watch are the rose gold case, and the contrast between the indices, which are both lines and roman numerals, and the grey face. The watch looks larger than it is, because of an optical illusion caused by the slim bezel. 

Like Hamish, Ed is a big fan of Jaeger LeCoultre watches. He also talked about his perpetual Calendar from the brand.  This watch dates from the early 1990’s, and was bought at auction. Perpetual calendars are very complicated watches. They denote the day of the week, the date of the month, the month, the moonphase, and the year. What is particularly special about perpetual calendars is that the automatically adjust to the 29th of February on each leap year. Ed loves the variety of subdials on the watch, the blue and gold moonphase, and the cream enamelled dial. The watch is very fragile, so he only wears it on special occasions. 

The second watch Hamish explained was another Jaeger LeCoultre, a WWW Dirty Dozen. The Dirty Dozen watches are famous military watches coveted by collectors all over the world. The British army commissioned 12 watch manufacturers to follow a design brief for a simple, reliable military watch in 1944, all called WWW or Wrist Watch Waterproof. The watches had to have a brass case painted silver, black dial, luminescent indices and hands, and a screw-down case. The 12 different watches were almost identical, and were delivered in April 1945, shortly before the end of the second world war. Most of the watches were sold after the war in Army surplus auctions, and it is rare to find one in original condition, such as this one. You can read more about the fascinating story of the Dirty Dozen here. 

Stuart ‘K’ showcased his Omega Seamaster Aqua-Terra. Omega is owned by the Swatch Group. Stuart has been collecting watches for a long-time and has an extensive collection; however, he thinks he wears this watch more than any other. The Aqua-Terra is a less-well known model in the Seamaster range. This model is the smallest automatic watch in the range, at 36mm, and is a rare “B Series” model. The “B Series” was created to fix problems with the reliability of the movement in the “A Series”. It was produced for a very short period of time, and there are now very few “B Series” left in original condition. Whenever a “B Series” Aqua-Terra goes to Omega for a service, they replace the movement with a more modern version. Stuart thinks these watches are excellent value for the money, not least because they are easier to find than their competition from Rolex. 

The event concluded with a discussion of two Cartier watches that we at The Watch Collectors Club are really interested in: the new Tank Must with Blue Face, and the Tank Basculante. Both utilise the famous Cartier Tank design in different ways. The Tank Must is a very simple watch with a striking blue face, designed to attract younger customers to the brand. The Basculante is Cartier’s answer to the JLC Reverso; the case allows you to rotate the face to protect it from damage. It is also Hamish’s latest grail watch. 

The Watch Collectors’ Club aims to make the watch world simple and accessible to our members, and these virtual events are a great way to explore the variety of the watch world. Our events are designed so that members can share their passion, and hopefully learn something interesting. Make sure to keep reading our weekly blog so that you don’t miss out on our next event.  

Jaeger LeCoultre, IWC, Omega and G-Shocks from our watch collectors

Watches made by the giant watch groups

A huge variety of watches from the world's largest brands

Large Watch Group Brands Showcase Event Round-Up

Last night we held a virtual event exploring some of the amazing microbrands that our members own, or would like to own. If you want to learn more about these small manufacturers of interesting watches, we have written a variety of blogs.  You can read about  what Microbrands are here, the different types here, some from large watchmaking nations here, and from unusual locations here.

Hamish, our CEO and Co-Founder, has been tempted to buy some watches from microbrands in the course of writing our blogs over the past month. Last night he showed off the first one that he bought - the Undone x Popeye watch. This watch has quite a few notable features. The case is bronze, with a combination of matte and brushed finishes. This will start to patina, or age, as soon as you take it out of the box.  The crown is on the left hand of the watch – which is quite rare. Instead of traditional watch hands, the time is displayed by Popeye’s arms. A clear case-back allows you to see the automatic movement. This is a visually striking, fun and well-designed watch – which Hamish has been wearing almost constantly since it arrived. To make that arrival even more special, the watch came packaged in a tin of “spinach”, green paper shreds, as a homage to Popeye’s favourite food.

Ed, our Co-Founder talked about a microbrand that he has owned for 5 years – Gorilla. This brand was set up to make hardy watches influenced by the designs of motor racing. This watch is a Fastback – the first model that the brand made. The case is made from carbon fibre, and the bezel is ceramic – both tough materials. The numbers on the dial are inspired by Nascar racing, but he finds the combination of skeleton hands, on a dial with lots of swirls makes it a bit difficult to read the time. However, he wears this watch whenever he is hiking and on holiday, as despite its large size, it is very comfortable to wear. 

Paul, who joined us from the US, shared a very beautiful watch with the group – Kudoke 2 Grüner Wald Sonderedition. Kudoke is a high-end microbrand from Saxony, in Germany, which hand-makes watches in very small limited editions. This watch has a unusual and stunning 24-hour day-night indicator at the 12 o’clock marker. This little hand-hammered globe rotates with the time – with a little golden triangle indicating whether it is day or night. On the picture below you will see the time is 10.10pm, and the little gold arrow is pointing to 22 hours, and the silver night scene is on-top of the sunny gold scene. The green dial represents the Grüner Wald forest that surrounds the Kudoke manfacture. We are excited to start events in person again to see this watch in real life. 

The final part of the call was spent discussing some of the Co-Founders dream microbrand watches. Having spent a lot of time researching Japanese microbrands, Hamish has fallen in love with Minase. This company makes every part of the watch, excluding the movement, by hand. This includes hand-stitching the leather straps! There are some very special features on this watch – including floating indices. This means that the indices that mark the hours are attached to the case, rather than the dial, which they float above. The metal bracelet, case and dial are finished to the standard that you would find on a swiss watch costing 4 or 5 times as much – this watch fantastic value for the money. Hopefully you will see one in his collection before long. 

Ed’s dream watch from a microbrand is a GoS Skadi. Named after the Norsk Goddess of Winter, the dial has a striking ice-blue dial, the back of which is painted with luminescent paint so that the whole dial glows like ice under moonlight. The watch is also covered in Damascus steel – which is folded on itself many times during the forging process. This makes the steel incredibly tough, and results in a rippled effect. You see this steel used in expensive Japanese kitchen knives. Ed thinks the watch is a very unique take on Norsk mythology and watch-making – two of his favourite things. 

The Watch Collectors’ Club aims to make the watch world simple and accessible to our members, and these virtual events are a great way to explore the variety of the watch world. Our events are designed so that members can share their passion, and hopefully learn something interesting. Make sure to keep reading our weekly blog so that you don’t miss out on our next event.  

The Watch Collectors' Club Virtual Showcase Review, covering microbrands from around the world

Limited Edition Watches From Microbrands

What We Learned

This week we held another Virtual Showcase event. We talked about watches you wear on holiday, and people talked about quite a variety of timepieces. Nick talked about his Corum Admiral’s Cup, describing his love for it, the semaphore flags representing the numbers, and the positive comments people made about it. He did admit that while he liked it too much to risk wearing while he was sailing, he often took it on less active holidays.

Two people spoke about their Casio G-Shocks. Hamish, our CEO, proudly showed off his all metal B5000D, a modern recreation of the original model from 1983. It is battle-tested on ski holidays as well as city breaks. Tash presented two recent additions to her collection, a pair of new model G-shocks aimed at women. Not from the Baby-G line, these are nicknamed “CasioOaks” as they look slightly like the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak. Being Casio, they are 181x times less expensive, but still feature some fantastic gold-coloured accents. They are also much more robust than their lookalikes and as they contain a world-timer function, they are useful when travelling overseas.

Holidays watches need to be stress free above all. No one wants to worry about damaging or losing a watch while on holiday. It also helps to wear one that is unlikely to be stolen. While some holiday activities might require very specialised watches, digital watches with GPS, or Dive computers, most people will feels safe with a watch that ticks these boxes:

We have talked about many categories of watch on this blog that would fit these requirements. For example; steel sports watches, dive watches, pilot watches, and chronographs such as the Zenith El Primero. Outside of these examples, watches designed for, or similar to, military watches may also be suitable, as well as the huge category called “Field Watches”. These are watches supposedly designed for use in outdoor activities without fuss, and come most famously from American watch brand Hamilton, and you can read a detailed history here.

We don’t have a preference between automatic or quartz here at the Watch Collectors’ Club. We also love manually wound watches. We think that on holiday they last thing you want to worry about is winding your watch every day so recommend one that powers itself. As a reminder, an automatic watch is one that contains a rotor within the mechanism that winds the mainspring up using the movement of the wearer’s wrist. Quartz watches are powered by a battery. Either way, taking one of these pieces away with you will be more relaxing, especially if you are lucky enough to be travelling to a different time zone.

Should You Take An Expensive Watch On Holiday?

Many people prefer to take a less expensive watch on holiday, as they fear they may have higher risk of theft wherever they are going. While this clearly depends on location, we understand that losing a precious watch on holiday would be a massive disappointment. For totally stress free travel we recommend leaving your most fancy, flashy, or complicated watches at home, and taking something that might suit every occasion. As mentioned earlier, may tool watches, or plastic cased watches from other brands, such as the famous Swatch, might be suitable. There are also a huge number of watch microbrands focussing on ease of use and rugged construction. We will consider microbrands in a series of blog posts this summer.

We at The Watch Collectors’ Club don’t believe there is a best watch, for holidays or anything else.

This guide simply comes down to: Take what you most enjoy wearing without worrying.

We will continue to explore all kinds of watches, and many of those are suitable for the majority of holidays. If you’d like to explore with us, keep following us here, on Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn. If you know anyone else who might be interested, please let them know where to find us.

Should you take an expensive watch on holiday? What sort of watch should you take on holiday?

A Great Variety of Fun, Practical Watches

A Guide To Holiday Watches and Our Showcase Event

On Sunday we held an event that showcasedthevariety ofwatchdials that you can find. It was a great talk, attended bywatchlovers from aroundtheUK. 
Like all of our events,thediscussion covered a wide range of topics which we want to share with you. 

Hamish, our CEO, showedtheattendees his Universal Geneve Uni-Compax. He particularly likesthepatina, or aging, ofthedial.Thepattern ofthepatina suggests that it was potentially caused bacteria, rather than sunlight, which is more common. 

Stuart shared his Dan Henry 1939 Chronograph with the group. It is an homage to the watchstyle used by military pilots in the 1930’s rather than a homage to a specific watch. The watchis unusual because it has a telemeter, used to measure distance, and a tachymeter, used to measure speed, at the centre of the dial. Thecaseback contains lots of scales to help thewearer use both of these functions. 

Ed, the co-founder of The Watch Collectors Club explained his Mido Oceanstar Decompression Timer. This is a reissue of a watch Mido made in the 1961 called thePowerwind 1000. The dial is printed with a very colourful decompression timer. This is used to calculate how long a diver has to wait underwater to let nitrogen leave the body and avoid the bends at the end of a dive. A great summer watch!

Stuart talked about his Rolex Airking 116900, which he described as a polarising watch. This model took design cues from the dashboard clocks that Rolex made for the Bloodhound project’s attempt at the land-speed record. Stuart particularly likes that the watch seems to have been assembled using key components from other Rolex watches. It is the only Rolex where the name Rolex is printed green, and the coronet is printed yellow. 

Michael talked through his newest watch – an Avi-8. He’s an amateur pilot, which attracted him to this watch. He showed us some unusual details on thedial: a 10-minute timer, miniature screws around all of the apertures, or windows, on the dial, and clear aeroplane instrument design. 

Natasha showed her Audemars Piguet Royal Oak to the group. She loves the simple white dial, which makes the watch very easy to read. The hour markers are white gold, and the 12thhour marker is replaced by a white gold AP logo. The dial pattern is called tapisserie, which is a type of guilloche. There are plenty of details that make this watch very special.

The Rolex Explorer Everest Controversy

Event Round-up - The Watches We Saw

January In-Person Meetup Highlights

A Return to Regular Events – The Watches We Saw

Introducing Showcases and Meetups

Our First In-Person Event

Large Watch Group Brands Showcase Event Round-Up

Watch Microbrand Showcase Event Round-Up

A Guide To Holiday Watches and Our Showcase Event

Diverse Watch Dials Showcase Event

Sports Watch Showcase

Omega Showcase Stories