Reviews
Natural Born Kessler: Watch Collecting
Reviews
Natural Born Kessler: Watch Collecting
It’s a natural extension of our innate acquisitiveness, and easier to satisfy than, say, a burning urge to own multiple Bugattis, verticals of Romanée Conti or a wall full of Picassos. Watches take up little space (save for those farcically huge boxes that are a mandatory part of the experience) and you can, if on a budget, focus on affordable pieces from Swatch, Seiko or Tissot or anything else within your means.
Recently, a friend of mine sold off around 20 watches, from Zeniths to Omegas, to buy his “bucket list” watch, a grand complication that the sale of those watches subsidised. A collector for over 30 years, he has kept around a half-dozen favourites, and I’ve never seen him happier. Then again, not one of his remaining timepieces is a pup, and I haven’t heard him issue even the smallest sigh of desire to acquire any other watches.
Let’s skip all those platitudes about “Stop and smell the roses/coffee” or “Live within your means.” Let’s put a lid, too, on the notion of “watches as investments”, as those days are long over unless you don’t mind buying Paul Newmans for £500,000 and selling them for £500,001. Instead, follow this adage if you have watch lust of an incurable nature.
This is a true story, about a friend from Singapore who collects on an epic scale. He was one of the first to buy the reissued Panerai Egiziano PAM 341, the 60mm beastie. Like many others who succumbed to the lure, he quickly found it unwearable because he does not have Stallone-sized wrists. Within six months, he was so furious with it that he sold it. To this day, he won’t tell me how much he lost on the deal.