Watch collectors

Watch collectors

We’re all collectors now!

REPORT

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By Europa Star

April 2021

It has never been easier to start collecting watches. And there is no shortage of desire, with a vibrant and growing global community of enthusiasts.

We’re all collectors now!

REPORT

Español Français

By Europa Star

April 2021

We're all collectors now!

It has never been easier to start collecting watches. And there is no shortage of desire, with a vibrant and growing global community of enthusiasts.

T

he 19th century saw the birth of the most powerful watch brands, the 20th century the emergence of a truly global market. There is no doubt that the 21st century is the golden age of collectors.

The era of intense watch speculation that we are experiencing, with the skyrocketing prices of certain models, also reveals the empowerment of the end customers, who are claiming their rightful place in the conversation that has hitherto been played out between watchmakers and retailers.

Paradoxically, this hyper-speculation also reveals a form of democratisation. It has never been easier to start collecting watches. And there is no shortage of desire, with a vibrant and growing global community of enthusiasts.

In our new report, we meet collectors, take a closer look at certain watch categories (even if there are as many different collections as there are collectors!) and ask ourselves what this phenomenon means for the future of watchmaking. Given the passion that we encountered, optimism is the order of the day!

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We're all collectors now!

WATCH FILES
Watch collectors

Meeting the leading female collectors from Kuwait

Meeting the leading female collectors from Kuwait

An engineer by training and a lover of fine watches, Anwar Yaqob Alyousef founded the Kuwait Watch Club Ladies early last year. We caught up with her to (...)

Female watch collectors: a meeting with TickTockBelles

Female watch collectors: a meeting with TickTockBelles

This new platform was launched as a community on Instagram to support women’s interests in watch collecting. We met its co-founders who share their plans (...)

The Swiss Hour: serving the Swiss watch ecosystem

The Swiss Hour: serving the Swiss watch ecosystem

Watch clubs are springing up worldwide, from the US to Singapore, Dubai and Switzerland, where Thomas Campion has launched The Swiss Hour for the country’s (...)

What is your horological golden age?

What is your horological golden age?

COLLECTORS’ CHOICES

For some collectors, it’s the Roaring Twenties, when the wristwatch was really just emerging – exactly one century ago. For others, it’s the conservative (...)

The breathtaking OAK Collection unveiled in London

The breathtaking OAK Collection unveiled in London

Lovers of horological treasures, hasten to London to see the OAK Collection of Patrick Getreide, one of the largest collections in the world, devoted (...)

Open season on collectors

Open season on collectors

REPORT

With the opening of the 2021-2022 season, the “Collector”, whether real or imaginary, has become the preferred prey of the watchmaker-hunters emerging from (...)

Claude Sfeir collects only the crème de la crème

Claude Sfeir collects only the crème de la crème

COLLECTOR PORTRAIT

Claude Sfeir. How do you introduce Claude Sfeir? Or rather: does Claude Sfeir still need any introduction? Because this renowned jeweller and gemmologist (...)

“A predilection for the innovation of the 1960s and 1970s”

“A predilection for the innovation of the 1960s and 1970s”

COLLECTOR PORTRAIT

Sy Block, a psychiatrist and watch enthusiast, has the distinction of being related to the legendary Gerry Grinberg, who was a distributor for Piaget in (...)

“It's almost embarrassing, how much time I spend on watches”

“It’s almost embarrassing, how much time I spend on watches”

COLLECTOR PORTRAIT

Jane, a lawyer working in New York, shares her watch collecting journey. From the beginning, she took a selective approach to collecting, focusing on a few (...)

The birth of collectors' fever

The birth of collectors’ fever

A MEETING WITH ANTOINE PREZIUSO

The current success of collectible watches was by no means an inevitability. Without the handful of visionary watchmakers and entrepreneurs who fought (...)

Watch enthusiast, collector or investor?

Watch enthusiast, collector or investor?

REPORT

Recent years have proved very profitable for collectible watches, with certain models reaching record values at auction. Indeed, many fear that (...)

A powerful new voice

A powerful new voice

EDITORIAL

A new voice has entered the conversation. This promises debate and controversy, but above all it ensures that the industry maintains its social and (...)

Customisation: from exclusive to unique

Customisation: from exclusive to unique

BESPOKE WATCHES

While production volumes for the Swiss watch industry are falling sharply, a segment that seems to be more resilient is that of customising collectors’ (...)

Watch enthusiasts always find each other

Watch enthusiasts always find each other

TESTIMONIALS

Some of them have been active for two centuries, others just since last year; horological societies, associations and clubs feed the global watchmaking (...)

Collecting watches: a meeting with Lung Lung Thun

Collecting watches: a meeting with Lung Lung Thun

INTERVIEW

Watch collecting is often synonymous with men, and yet there is a growing contingent of female collectors who are actively involved in horology. Lung Lung (...)

“Collecting is about the people we meet”

“Collecting is about the people we meet”

WATCHTIME

Among local fairs aimed at collectors, WatchTime is becoming a label, with shows in New York, Los Angeles and Düsseldorf in Germany. The recipe? Organising (...)

Shanghai Watch Festival: when collectors get together

Shanghai Watch Festival: when collectors get together

THE FAIR TRADE

The collector has been the most notable figure to emerge on the watchmaking scene in the first quarter of the 21st century. In China, the nation most hotly (...)

Collective: the Silicon Valley's watch club

Collective: the Silicon Valley’s watch club

IN THE SILICON VALLEY

The new collectors’ club came to global attention when Zenith announced the launch of a “Collective” edition of its Chronomaster El Primero last October. The (...)

Meeting the Shanghai Watch Gang

Meeting the Shanghai Watch Gang

COLLECTORS

Think RedBar meets “Crazy Rich Asians”. The Shanghai Watch Gang is based in the most promising market in the world for luxury watches. And they are at the (...)

Redbar: uniting collectors worldwide

Redbar: uniting collectors worldwide

WATCH CLUB

This is undoubtedly the most successful ‘organic’ initiative looking to bring together watch aficionados worldwide. Paradoxically, it all began online, (...)

Supercars and Luxury Watches: A One-Way Love Affair?

Supercars and Luxury Watches: A One-Way Love Affair?

GUEST COLUMN

The connection between these two “toys for boys” is undeniable. It is one of the most recurring themes in marketing and publicity for luxury watches. That (...)

What the heck does that damn consumer want?

What the heck does that damn consumer want?

THE MYTHS OF COMMERCE (PART 1/5)

We are at a turning point in the history of retail. Many youngsters propose new models they deem “customer-focused” in the digital age. But their focus has (...)

The end of the passive ambassador?

The end of the passive ambassador?

12 DISRUPTIONS IN THE WATCHMAKING INDUSTRY

We’ve seen so many stars posing with a luxury watch on their wrist and being handsomely paid for the service that we’ve forgotten one thing: if these (...)

Personalisation, for the privileged few?

Personalisation, for the privileged few?

12 DISRUPTIONS IN THE WATCHMAKING INDUSTRY

Reserved until recently for a few highend watches, personalisation is now gaining ground. Mainly as a result of the internet, new technologies, or the new (...)

Did you say vintage?

Did you say vintage?

TRENDS

The term ‘vintage’ appears to be invading the entire watchmaking world and yet it covers many very different realities from the authentically ‘vintage’ (...)

Getting back onto young people's wrists

Getting back onto young people’s wrists

MARKETS

For the past fifty years, the only so-called ‘watches’ worn by young people have been garish, interchangeable, gimmicky things; accessories rather than real (...)