THE JOURNAL
Photograph by Mr Robert Spangle/Thousand Yard Style
For our second instalment of On My Watch – you can read volume one here – we have once again pinned down three esteemed watch collectors and grilled them on their collecting habits. Don’t worry, it wasn’t as painful as it sounds. We welcome the inimitable Mr Ahmed “Shary” Rahman, the ever-educational Mr Carson Chan and vintage watch magnate Mr Eric Wind for a tell-all session on their life’s obsession. Who bagged a Royal Oak A-Series Jumbo when it was still a bargain? Who hates birth-year watches? And who was inspired to start collecting by Mr Pierce Brosnan’s James Bond? Read on to find out.
01.
What was your first watch? (And do you still have it?)
Mr Ahmed Rahman: It was a Swatch given to me by my parents as a birthday present, which I wore pretty much through all my teenage years. Unfortunately, I do not have it anymore.
Mr Carson Chan: It was an Alba digital LCD watch, and yes I still have it. Although I have taken the battery out, so I’m not sure if it still functions.
Mr Eric Wind: My first mechanical watch was a Hamilton Neil [a small, elegant gold-filled watch with beautiful numerals] that was a gift from my grandmother to my grandfather on their wedding in 1947. Without that watch I would not be doing what I do now. My actual first watch generally was a GI Joe digital watch my mom gave me with an integrated compass in the rubber strap. I misplaced that watch at some point, but bought a “New Old Stock” version in the original package a couple of years ago.
02.
What was the last watch you bought?
Chan: I just bought not one watch, but five from Furlan Marri, a kickstarter brand, their first ever project. Founder Andrea Furlan is a friend, so I wanted to show some support.
Rahman: An Audemars Piguet Jules Audemars Skeleton Perpetual Calendar Equation of Time in platinum.
Wind: I recently purchased a Rolex Oyster Perpetual reference 6090 with Bombé lugs, with the original chronometer certification from 1952 and warranty, along with its original strap and buckle. It is notable for its extremely rare black dial with six diamond markers. Any serious collector will tell you that a Rolex from the 1950s in yellow gold with diamond hour markers is extremely special.
03.
What’s your Holy Grail?
Wind: There are probably a few examples of the Patek Philippe reference 1518 (the original perpetual calendar chronograph wristwatch from the company) in steel still in the wild that would be a dream to discover. A recent example to appear at auction went for $11m, but more than the money it is about the beauty and rarity of the watch itself.
Rahman: I’m fortunate enough to already own it – my Patek Philippe perpetual calendar chronograph 5970P.
04.
Do you have a “one that got away”? Or a watch you regret selling?
Rahman: Yes – I regretted selling my Richard Mille RM010 in titanium so much so that I eventually managed to buy it back again a few years later.
Wind: I sold a Heuer Skipper reference 7754 – nicknamed the “Skipperera” –when I was a graduate school student at Oxford to help fund my MBA. I felt particularly bummed out about selling it as prices climbed tenfold in the two years after I sold it. I have since found and sold a few more in better condition, so I have felt better about selling it as a result, and I loved my time at Oxford, so it was worth it in the end.
Chan: Too many, but don’t live life in regret. I don’t like to dwell on what has happened already.
05.
Which one watch would you save from a fire, and why?
Wind: I would be tempted to get the Hamilton, but I would probably run immediately towards my Rolex Submariner reference 5512 with “neat fonts dial”. It’s a spectacular example with an unpolished case, and is just one of those watches that I could happily wear as my only watch for the rest of my life.
Chan: My IWC Dopplechrono ceramic IW378601; I bought this watch to celebrate the birth of our first child, Alison.
Rahman: The Patek Philippe 5970P I mentioned above – it embodies everything that I consider to be the epitome of fine watchmaking and collecting.
06.
Have you ever paid too much for a watch – or snapped up a total bargain?
Rahman: My Audemars Piguet Royal Oak 5402SA A Series Jumbo. It was an absolute bargain when I purchased it from a Sotheby’s a fair few years ago (I might have been the only person who bid on it)… but not anymore.
Chan: I was in Europe and I had landed a major contract, so I bought a watch to reward myself – it was a vintage Audemars Piguet. Little did I know, that contract would later flop, which led me to question if I had overpaid. However, I wasn’t thinking of selling it, and looking back today, it was an excellent buy (now that the value has increased a lot).
Wind: I “overpay” for watches all the time. It is extremely hard to find the mint and original condition for watches that I like. With values increasing there are often public and private bidding wars to obtain the best pieces, and the collectors with great vintage watches typically do not want to sell them. But I have bought some watches that seemed quite undervalued for what they were. One was a Vulcain Cricket with a Presidential seal on the dial from the Eisenhower era that I found on eBay. It is possible it was originally made for Richard Nixon, but I have not been able to confirm this.
07.
What do you think is the biggest faux pas in watch collecting?
Rahman: For me, watch collecting has always been a hobby and a source of learning. In recent times, I think the biggest faux pas in watch collecting is to collect watches for “investment”. There is no doubt that specific brands are seeing a meteoric rise in their prices, but to me I feel it takes the fun out of collecting.
Chan: Absolutely – the idea that it’s an investment. I am not saying it’s not, I just think you need to let the passion grow first. It’s like fine wine; if you don’t have the palate for wine or you don’t even enjoy drinking it, it’s not much fun investing in it.
Wind: I would have to say birth-year watches are a major faux pas. I don’t think that your year of birth is relevant to watch collecting – it is placing an artificial criteria on trying to find a great vintage watch. Thankfully, I feel this trend is subsiding, but it used to be at least once per day I would get an email or direct message asking for a “birth-year Sub” or “birth-year GMT”.
08.
What’s your favourite “watch culture” story?
Wind: In the 1960s and 1970s, watches were a critical tool for timekeeping in autoracing. Jack Heuer had the foresight to sign the flamboyant F1 driver Jo Siffert as a brand ambassador after he was known to flip watches to other drivers which helped propel Heuer to be at the forefront of racing chronographs in the 1970s. TAG Heuer’s strength today for many people is them remembering the great drivers of the past including Siffert, Niki Lauda, Jochen Rindt, Gilles Villeneuve, Derek Bell and Parnelli Jones wearing Heuer chronographs.
Rahman: One of the main reasons I got into watch collecting was through film culture, especially James Bond films. Being a huge Bond fan, my first proper watch (after my Swatch) was the Omega Seamaster, inspired by Pierce Brosnan’s first time as Bond in GoldenEye and my second proper watch was a vintage Heuer Monaco 1133B inspired by Steve McQueen in Le Mans.
09.
Do you collect anything other than watches – if so, what, and why?
Chan: I hope my wife is not reading this, but: motorcycles, cars, vintage cameras, shoes and spectacles, just to name a few.
Wind: When I was younger, I collected sports cards, coins and stamps. I still have those collections, but I’ve switched to focusing almost exclusively on watches, including horological ephemera and books. We often say in the watch collecting world that to be a serious collector you have to have the “collector gene” – something inside you that drives you to want to study and own these things.
Rahman: I enjoy smoking cigars very much, but it would be wrong to say that I collect cigars because in most cases I just end up smoking them.
10.
How many watches is too many? Is there such a thing?
Chan: Nope. You can’t have too many watches, or too many classic cars, or paintings, or wine.
Rahman: That is a very difficult question to answer. I usually sell watches to fund future purchases or upgrade my collection, therefore it is difficult to keep count. Having said that, my cardinal rule in watch collecting, is if I stop wearing a watch enough then it’s time to let it go.
Wind: Fortunately, watches are quite small. I know one collector with more than 40,000 watches. That may be pushing it. Sometimes people try to have an arbitrary limit on their watch collection, such as saying “I can’t own more than seven watches, otherwise something needs to go first before coming in my collection.” I think that is kind of silly and doesn’t make sense particularly as watches are so easy to store and enjoy in many different circumstances.
11.
If you could own any watch with legendary provenance, what would it be?
Rahman: For me it would have to be James Bond’s magnetic Rolex Submariner 5513 with a saw-tooth bezel as worn by Roger Moore in Live And Let Die – just pure ingenious.
Wind: One watch that definitely sent chills down my spine when I put it on my wrist was the Patek Philippe 2499 in yellow gold retailed by Tiffany & Co. that was owned by John Lennon. But I think the most important missing watch is Buzz Aldrin’s Omega Speedmaster. Neil Armstrong had to leave his Speedmaster on the Lunar Module as a backup timer, so Aldrin’s Speedmaster was the first wristwatch on the surface of the Moon. He shipped it to the Smithsonian after returning to Earth, but it was lost or stolen in transit. I, like many others, dream of finding that watch and returning it to Nasa one day. It remains the property of the US Government, so it can’t be sold, but it certainly could be considered the most valuable Omega in the world.
Chan: George Daniels’ first watch. He was such an incredible watchmaker, and his watches are still only just starting to be properly appreciated around the world.