The Watches We Are Grateful For
For American readers today is Thanksgiving, a day to spend with family and meditate on the important things in life. It is also a day when most of us are not at work and we have time to get caught up on watches…which can really help all of that family go down.
So what watch are you the most grateful for this year? I will start. For me it is my Frederique Constant Highlife. It is not the most expensive watch I bought this year or the most prestigious. But it helped me to evolve my understanding of watch collecting and the Swiss industry at large.
This summer I had a chance to actually visit Switzerland for a conference I was presenting a paper at. One of my colleges who lives close to Geneva is also into the watch game (a Grand Seiko collector ironically) and offered to show me some of the sights. This included setting up a visit to the FC factory and later that day I purchased my Highlife. It’s the first FC I have owned but it probably won’t be the last. I would love to get one of their world timers or perpetual calendars. But that is a topic for another post.
Delving into the world of this watch drove home for me that people are the critical ingredient in the design and production of watches. I suppose I had always known this on an intellectual level but it all feels very different when you start to actually meet these people. Most of the watch companies that we love are not huge by the standards of modern global production and they are full of people that are putting their hearts and soul into what they do.
Not every watch I see is for me, but I have stopped making as many of quick assumptions about the people and companies that produce them. I have become a more curious and generous student of horology. We love a good story when it comes to watches. What I came to realize is that the most important one are not the (admittedly wonderful) things that happened 40-50 years ago, but what is unfolding today.
So what watch are you grateful for today, and what is its story?
A student of time and space with a watch on his wrist.
Lovely story well told.
Im in the UK 🇬🇧 so we don’t understand Thanksgiving, much less practice it, but I’m thankful for my IWC Pilot 41 Chrono… the watch I bought to mark, well, just getting through the last few years intact.
It also embodies a switch in my brain being flicked where I finally esteemed making happen something that I really wanted over ring ruled by what other people needed.
Not something to practice every day - we all have responsibilities and folk who rely on us, but something to practice once in a while, to remind ourselves that we only ever get one shot at this thing called life… and tempus fugit
its gonna be my airman. its my first swiss watch which im really grateful to own one
I am grateful for the watch my daughter gave me for Father's Day. It also started me off on my watch collecting journey. My humble Seiko 5 SRPH29.
In true watch collector fashion, I am grateful for my next watch.
In true watch collector fashion, I am grateful for my next watch.
But seriously, the watch I'm most grateful for is a watch that doesn't presently run.
This watch is an off-brand and huge (56mm on a 7.5in or 19cm wrist) with temperature & humidity gauges on it.
Why am I thankful for it? Because it was a birthday gift from my girlfriend (now wife) and let me really know she cared. I had a couple of watches at the time & was interested in them, but really didn't pursue my interest due to finances. Her buying me the watch let me know we had a future together.
But seriously, the watch I'm most grateful for is a watch that doesn't presently run.
This watch is an off-brand and huge (56mm on a 7.5in or 19cm wrist) with temperature & humidity gauges on it.
Why am I thankful for it? Because it was a birthday gift from my girlfriend (now wife) and let me really know she cared. I had a couple of watches at the time & was interested in them, but really didn't pursue my interest due to finances. Her buying me the watch let me know we had a future together.
56 mm ? You sure she's the one🤣
I'm grateful for each and every watch in my collection. A large percentage of the general population doesn't have the luxury of being able to spend money on useless trinkets such as watches, and I fully appreciate how lucky I am to be in the position where I can afford to do so.
56 mm ? You sure she's the one🤣
She tried.
More than I can say for the ex
She tried.
More than I can say for the ex
Yes I'm just kidding. Glad you found her. Any sort of interest in these things is proof indeed. 👍