Collector resources
Newcomers
Firstly, welcome! Some important brands that you may not know about if you’re just thinking about getting your feet wet.
-
Christopher Ward: the posterboy of British watchmaking, for the most part mass produced, but have elevated themselves by making Swiss design more attainanble and some collaborations with very high-end watchmakers
-
Grand Seiko: big brother to the well-known Seiko brand, offering high-tech movements and accuracy alongside stunning dials
Micro brands
Often less than £1000, using mass-produced movements; which is often looked down upon, but arguably that makes them more reliable and servicable. The focus is usually more on the aesthetic and associated lifestyle.
- Farer
- Minhoon Yoo
- The Camden Watch Company
- Bourlinger
- CAP: sustainability, recycled materials
- Sequent: mechanical smartwatch
- Baltany: inexpensive, some nice vintage styling
- Extropian: lots of micros
- Detrash: made with recycled materials
- Apollo
Miyota
- Sternglas: that Glashütte look on a budget
- Vario: inspired by WW1 trench watches
- Autogromo: driving-inspired
Seagull
- Studio Underd0g: interesting dial design earned a lot of attention
- Forge and Foster: Hublot kind of aesthetic for £300
NH35
There’s a big modding culture with these movements.
- Shoreham
- Spinnaker
- Adley: bike-inspired design
- Camden Watch Company
Alien technology
Brands that aren’t afraid to ignore centuries of watch design.
- HYT
- Kopf
- Giuliano Mazzuoli
- URwerk
- MB&F
In-house movements
Serious, will cost more than a car.
- BA111OD
- Molnar Fabry: based in Slovakia
- A. Lange & Söhne
- F.P.Journe
- Speake-Marin
- Frederic Jouvenot: unusual sundial face
- Moritz Grossman
- Glashütte Original
Watches you should have bought
But are sold out now so tough.
Straps
Low- to mid-priced
- Gleave London
- Barton: also Horween leather; sailcloth looks cool but takes a little wearing in
- Welwyn
Mid-priced
- Crafter Blue
- Strap Bandits (fabric straps)
- Wrist Buddy
- Uncle
Mid- to high-priced
- Hirsch – these are great, I have a couple
- Strap Tailor
- Delug
- Monstraps
- Watch Gecko
High-priced
- Forstner: steel bracelets
- Vulcain: Rolex rubber straps
- Rubber B: rubber straps
- Everest
- Café Leather: for all your leather requirements
- Jean Rousseau
Stores
- Watchfinder
- Teddy Baldasssarre
- Pride and Pinion
- Delray Watch
- Watches of Switzerland
- The Timeteller shop
Price trackers
Enthusiast cleaning
Enthusiast books
- A Man and His Watch (Paul Newman’s Daytona) by Matthew Hranek
Enthusiast tools
Also see the pro tools section below.
Getting on the Rolex waiting list
See this article.
- Meet with multiple dealers
- Some value purchase history, some value relationships
- Set up appointments and multiple ADs and assess which store is best
- Work your way up
- Only buy what you love, don’t fall for dealer tricks
- Grow the relationship, be the person they want to call
Setting the date safely
Move the hands to 6 o’clock, change the date to the day before today, and then move the time forward to get the correct half of the day. Never fiddle with the date between 9pm and 4am; but, if it has a phantom date then good luck!