Round Table No. 10: Boys Club

Greg:

I thought that we could talk about collecting goals for the next year. As collectors (not enthusiasts) where do we think that we are going? Do we have goals? Ambitions? What is on the horizon?

I think that I am going to be less impulsive. There is still the joy of finding something undervalued and unloved. But I have a lot of those, the five-dollar watch that with a little work and a new crystal becomes a gem.

Last year, in a comment somewhere on WatchCrunch I mentioned that I wanted to obtain a Gruen Pan American and a 1950’s Eternamatic. I accomplished those goals. It is actually quite easy if you are willing to pay. I am frugal. I want the watches, but I really don’t want to pay too much for them. So, this year my goals have shifted. Only one of the three vintage watches can be had for cheap. I will have to pay more to acquire the other two.

The least expensive is a Wyler Dynawind. I am on an automatic kick. Wyler is mostly forgotten now, but they were big in their day. The name is owned by a successor group to an Italian industrialist who partnered with Wyler in the 1930’s to outfit the Italian World Cup Football team. Paul Wyler invented the Incalflex system to protect the balance from shock in 1927. This led to Wyler tossing watches off of the Eiffel Tower to prove their shock protection. It was a cool gimmick. Wyler were tossed from every major building when Wyler was trying to sell watches. I have had my eye on some 1960’s Dynawind models. They aren’t really too stylish, just a sturdy watch.

The next to be hunted is a Zenith Respirator X. The Respirator was square and classical. JFK had one. The Respirator X was updated for the late 1960’s. It is not quite square, its corners have been rounded. The date remains at 4:30. This search may have me looking at European vendors. This is more of a Chrono24 than an eBay find. I have seen many sketchy examples from Italy (always Italy). It will have to be triple signed. Many have had the crowns replaced. I think that I will also hold out for a gray dial. This may take a while.

That would have been the entire vintage list if I hadn’t stumbled across a 1960’s Glycine Vacuum. Now, I have and I want one. They look modern and vintage all at once.

Lastly, I will continue to lurk on the Nodus site. 2024 may be the year of marigold.

So, what are you pursuing this year?

Chris:

Simple answer – I’m not. More complex answer – horological nirvana. I’m hitting an age milestone this year, and I have been struggling for a long time with trying to rationalise a lot of moving parts: career, wealth, hobbies, friends, love, family. I have lost a lot of family this year (and currently this week one member has had a catastrophic stroke, and I do not know where this is going), and I left a job where I had two close colleagues I have known for many years die (including one at his desk in a full office whilst trying to administer first aid – the sort of situation that just breaks you). I need to really take stock and step back from certain things. I still want a 12” release on Metalheadz, but I doubt that will happen if I keep chatting shit about watches.

Horologically, I have had a really good run since I started collecting in my mid-20s. My heavy hitters (to me, the watches I absolutely adore) are the vintage VC, my Bubble Lucifer, a Milgauss, an Enicar ATP, a 1991 issued CWC G10, and the Omega Chronostop. With my Kirium and a handful of Cyma/Vertex/field types as dailies, that could be the be all and end all. I have a glut of 40s-50s military types and vintage, a gross amount of divers, and I cannot wear everything. I say this every year, but I really mean it now, I need to cut this collection down. I really do. It is actually far more stressful than fun some days. The problem is, I just love watches, and I love seeing what is cheap and genuinely excellent in terms of value.

But… I do, still, have some designs on a few models. I have seen a very nice Gruen Pan American, and I think I want in. I have sourced a Montblanc Timewalker Southern Hemisphere GMT and have been stalking it for months, it could be a huge Hail Mary to grab it and would really put me back in my place. Do I really want it? When you list for something for so long is it really just the chase rather than the watch one loves? An 8-dial Harley Quinn Bubble is still a pipe dream, as is an Admirals Cup. I should get a WWW, although I am tired of them, and the modern Vertex re-imaginings are much more appealing from a long term perspective, but not yet… Similarly, the desire for a hardcore Enicar Sherpa is outweighed by the newer Sherpa watches, but they are quite pricey. I think I am happy for the time being, and I should be wearing more of what I have than lusting over what I do not.

There are some very tough decisions to be made as to who stays in the box, and who is sold off.

Ryan:

My goal for this year is the same as last year. I want to buy a Seiko Credor Pacifique. I’ve always been good with money, or so I thought. Plenty of obscure vintage watches distracted me and my savings were depleted by the end of last year. Oh well; I did get some good purchases from the money. It’s harder to save up without working a job, which is another change I’m going to make this year. Employment is scarce, but I might be able to secure a temporary position in the office at my uncle’s engineering company during the holidays. 

Other than that, I want to sell a watch. I haven’t sold one before, but I think I need to learn the ropes. My recently acquired Bucherer is on the chopping block, partly because it’s bigger than I thought it would be, but also because its giving me plain hell for servicing. The mainspring is broken, so I popped down to my watchmaker in search of a spare. I took a whole barrel (which was identical) and fitted it, or at least tried to. The arbour on the spare part was too big and wouldn’t fit through the hole in the bridge. The original part is a funny size, so the mainspring in the spare barrel doesn’t fit around it. ETA 2830s are scarce and seem to have been used exclusively by Bucherer… I just want to get it running to wear it for a while and hopefully sell it on. 

I’ve always been lusting after vintage LCD or LED watches, but they’re out of my wheelhouse when it comes to repair. I don’t hate myself that much yet. 

It’s my last year in high-school, which is all the more reason to buy that Seiko Credor. I want something expensive (to me at least) that I can love and cherish until I’m old, but I keep wondering if that position has been filled already. I have some strong contenders for premium vintage watches, so maybe I should just take the money I would’ve spent on the Credor and invest it or drink it away. That Bucherer is premium, or it will be, once I get the damn thing to work. I also have a lot of sentimental watches which threaten to make anything luxurious redundant. I already know that I’ll wear my prized Camy Club-Star for any ceremonies, so why spend ±600 USD on something worn at the afterparty or on the ride home? 

In summary, my collecting goals for 2024 are barely even goals. Sell a watch and maybe buy an expensive watch. I have bigger fish to fry, so I should probably put down my screwdrivers and tweezers for the second half of the year.

I guess my real goal is finding out how to not think about watches for a bit.

Greg:

It sounds like selling is in both or your futures. Until about eighteen months ago I had never sold any watch. I had given some away, but I didn’t want the hassle of selling. I also have this problem in that I have to hold onto gifts, especially from family members. I got over the inertia and have probably sold thirty since then. It has alleviated the feeling of bloat and lack of storage in the collection. It has weeded out mistakes. I bought and sold a franken Nivada Grenchen in a matter of weeks without losing money, and I disclosed its secret.

I put away the watches on the “hit list”. After about a month of being out of sight, I wear them to see if they deserve to be on the list. If they do, they were ready to move. No regrets. No re-buys. I don’t buy or sell to make money, but I have been pleasantly surprised that I am slightly ahead. They do look better after I have them worked on, even if it is just me with some Polywatch. I keep a spreadsheet, really more of a chart in Word, that lists all the stats of everything in order. If that spreadsheet is two pages, I am happy. If it spills into three pages, watches are sold that bring it back to two.

I think people would be surprised how often I wear non-vintage watches. Chris has been on a “divers bigger than a ripe melon” kick recently, and Ryan is after a Credor.  I think a mix is the way to go. Every time that I have ever worn a vintage watch exclusively, I have done lasting damage to it.