Amateur or Seasoned Collector? Build Your Watch Collection in a Passionate Way

Let’s admit it, building your watch collection is an intimidating task. You walk into the major watch retailer shops to find hot brands like Rolex, Audemars Piguet, Patek Philippe or others and soon find out that these are for ‘exhibition only’. You can touch them but can’t buy them! In addition, the supply and demand deficit makes watches being bought way before they hit the retailers’ shelves.

Many collectors thus flock to the secondary market. Whether you are shopping online or from an auction there are a plethora of varieties to leave you in a conundrum for the rest of your life.

• Do you want it pre-owned?
• Vintage or Classic?
• Casual or Luxury?
• What’s the difference?
• Why does the same watch come with a thousand different prices?
• Which store/source to trust for authenticity?

To shed all this confusion, let’s resort to some of the tips provided by renowned minds in the watch industry. There is plenty of good wisdom here to build your watch collection seamlessly.

Start with a small step

With the advent of smartphones, wearing a timepiece became kind of obsolete (think about the years 2007-2016). However, just like any other cyclical phenomenon, wristwatches are making a huge comeback. The pandemic years were the hot times for the watch industry with record-breaking sales and revenue for many luxury brands. Going with the flow, if you are gunning for a Nautilus make sure you have ‘six figures’ to spare. Even a vintage pre-owned Rolex Datejust can cost you a month’s rent. Watch collection is an expensive hobby.

But worry not! You can start with something small, something that you can afford. “It’s easy to believe that you have to have heavy hitters in order to be a watch collector, but that isn’t the case. My initial advice would be to start someplace practical, a watch that’s an everyday piece.” says Perri Dash, founder of Wrist Check Podcast.