I’ve been collecting wristwatches for almost four decades now. I’ve always been fascinated by them and couldn't tell you why—my first was a tiny Timex my parents bought me on a Speidel band when I was four. I still have that watch.
Being the nerd that I am, after the Timex, I progressed to a black plastic digital Casio with backlight and alarm somewhere around 1982 and then upgraded to the Casio Calculator watch a few years later. Wearing this calculator watch felt futuristic and rebellious since you could, theoretically, use it to cheat on math exams. Oddly, these vintage Casios are all the rage now. People now take the time to “mod” these Casios to make their own unique creations.
Fast-forward to the late 1990’s. I was finally making enough at my job to start collecting some nicer pieces. I made a foray into modern Hamilton watches and a brand called Invicta. Invicta made watches so incredibly large and bulky they looked like they could almost be hung on the wall, Flavor Flav style.
Next I journeyed into collecting vintage American watches in the late 90’s and early 2000’s. It was around then that I became interested in learning the stories and lore behind the origins of the different brands and connecting with other collectors.
I purchased a modest set of basic watchmaker’s tools, bought “fixer uppers” on Ebay, and would refurbish these vintage pieces to resell. I did this for a few years and it ended up being more lucrative than I imagined. Over the years so many rare pieces passed through my hands from American watchmakers like Gruen, Hamilton, Elgin, and Benrus.
Throughout this phase I connected and formed bonds with groups of collectors and watchmakers who taught me the art of trading up, offering a few of my own watches for a single watch of more value. The pinnacle of my vintage American collecting phase was the Hamilton Rutledge. It is a 1938 model in platinum, one of about eight in existence.
The vintage watches are beautiful in their own right but they're also fragile and not practical to wear every day. Most watches made prior to the 1950's aren't water or dust proof, so they have to be serviced more often. They're also not antimagnetic so coming within a few inches of a magnet will cause it to run fast or stop completely requiring a trip to a watchmaker to get them demagnetized, which is a total pain. Magnets are literally everywhere in our modern world.
Around 2010 I bought my first new modern automatic wristwatch, a Seiko SKX007. This is THE watch that led me and so many others with horological aspirations to the next levels of collecting. The SKX007 is a scuba watch with a cult following that punches way above its price range. This particular Seiko sucked me deeper into the depths of watch collecting. There’s just something about a tough, purpose-built watch that appeals to me. I’d never recommend getting a Seiko SKX007, it’s like the gateway drug to becoming an incurable watchaholic.
A few years later I acquired a 1917 “Blackjack Pershing” Elgin WWI trench watch. I got it for next to nothing and had it refurbished by a reputable watchmaker who specializes in WWI military watches. After the restoration process was complete it looked almost brand new, with shrapnel guard and all, and will always be the crown of my collection. If any single watch personified Peaky Blinders it would be this one.
It was around this point that I stopped paying for new watches. I didn’t start stealing them, the hobby just got to the point where it became self-sustaining. If I wanted to add a watch to the collection I would sell or trade watches I currently owned. The foundation of my collection was built on those inexpensive watches I purchased on eBay in the late 1990’s and put sweat equity into. Many of these vintage pieces were cased in precious metals, when the price of gold wasn’t anywhere near what it is now, so I had a considerable amount to trade.
Over the last few years I’ve acquired a few Swiss timepieces that I could have never dreamed of owning and also a titanium Grand Seiko “Shun Bun” with one of the most beautiful dials I’ve ever seen. Most of the time the dial appears silver but in the proper light it turns a very subtle pink, according to Grand Seiko, represents the Japanese cherry blossoms in the spring.
Around the beginning days of the pandemic a particular watch caught my eye, the Rolex GMT Master II. GMT is the abbreviation for Greenwich Mean Time. It reminded me so much of the SKX007 but on a totally different level. It was versatile, performed a function other than just telling time which has always appealed to me. The GMT Master II tracks up to three timezones and was originally created in the late 1950’s for Pan-Am airline pilots to keep track of both their departure and arrival times. In recent years these GMTs have been in such high demand that customers were waiting for up to eight years to get one from a Rolex authorized dealer.
Back in June of 2020 I figured, WTH? and decided to put my name on the list. A few days later I masked up and visited a local Rolex dealer to express my interest in the GMT. Time marched on—no pun intended—and about once a quarter I’d check in with the salesperson and would get a response akin to nothing yet and I’m working on it for you.
The original salesman I was working with left the jeweler a few years ago and I began working with a new one, a much more down-to-Earth, saleswoman by the name of Taylor. I did my routine follow up a few months ago with Taylor and she gave me the response I expected, Nothing yet. At that point, after six long years, something inside me gave up. I thought to myself, I’m never getting this watch. This was the point that hope flew out the window.
Fast forward to March 6th. I was sitting at my writing desk, probably working on a Hive blog, and my phone began ringing. I saw the name of the jeweler flash across the screen and my heart began to race. I quickly picked up the phone and Taylor said, Are you sitting down?. The day I thought would never arrive finally did! It was the one that I really wanted all along too, the black and blue bezel on a jubilee bracelet.
For the first time in over thirty years it feels like the end of the road for my days of collecting. The itch to find “that next watch” has been satisfied. The burning desire to acquire different and rarer watches, to learn new watch stories and lore just isn’t there anymore.
It seems my horological journey came to its metaphorical end in Greenwich with this GMT. The GMT Master II is the perfect size, can be worn with absolutely anything, tracks multiple time zones, is waterproof, and is perfectly legible in the dark. It is truly the only watch I'd ever need. The GMT hand on my watch is set to London time, which also happens to be the same timezone as in Greenwich for half the year (Fun fact: London uses GMT in the winter (UTC+0) but switches to British Summer Time (BST, UTC+1) from late March to late October, making it one hour ahead of GMT during summer).
This piece is extra special to me, not just for the obvious reasons (the six years of waiting, three decades of trading, my travel obsession, I'm one extremely lucky SOB for even being able to own it, etc.) it commemorates my "retirement" and I officially start collecting my company pension.
The real question now is — What will I do with all the free time and mental bandwidth I have now that I'm not actively collecting? That's a very good question and I suppose only time will tell.
All for now. Thanks so much for reading.
