When it comes to watches, old is new again: Watchmakers are getting inspired from designs from decades ago; digital-native watch magazines publish print editions; and, watch lovers are moving from two-dimensional phone screens to real-life meetups, where they can touch, explore, share and talk about all things watch-related with friends and neighbors.

***Hamish Robertson, left, and Ed Howkins, right. Both co-founded The Watch Collectors’ Club.***

Today, I’m pleased to talk with Hamish Robertson who, along with Ed Howkins, created The Watch Collectors’ Club. We talk about him as a watch enthusiast, launching a watch club, and what he’s learned through interactions with large groups of watch lovers.

Tell us a bit about yourself where you're from and what interests you in watches.

My name is Hamish Robertson, I live in London, and I've been collecting watches for about 10 years. I always saw them as a fascinating source of design, a piece of men's jewellery and just something that completes an outfit. My collection started with a purchase on eBay of a vintage Jaeger-LeCoultre. Steel, time only, damaged dial and very affordable. Before that I'd worn a TAG Heuer professional and my parents bought me for my 18th birthday and not really thought too much about it. In my mid-20s, I wanted to buy something a bit more special. I got really into watch design, movement design and capabilities, and then also brand history and heritage. I bought six vintage JLCs in the next couple of years and was hooked!

Tell us about The Watch Collectors' Club and what was the genesis for creating it.

The Watch Collectors' Club is a club for everyone who likes watches. We run events regularly in London and online and to help people explore and meet other watch enthusiasts and watch lovers.

***Photo credit: The Watch Collectors’ Club***

We got very frustrated with how the watch world does their events. They're too exclusive, too technical and often they're boring. We wanted to really create something new, much more enthusiastic, and inclusive events where you really get to try a lot of watches. And it's fun, friendly and inclusive. You can come along and look at any watch or any of our events. [It] doesn't matter if you're able to buy that watch.

Do you feel the club can fill gaps in terms of information the watch media is not filling right now?

We think that there's too much in the watch world it's too hard to understand. So, the media is primarily driven by what brands want, what they're focused on at any given point in time, and they don't do a good job of really explaining things to your average watch consumer... helping your average watch consumer understand how watches work, what they're made of, why the brands do what they do, and of course how to get good value for money.

They also don't spend much time explaining how the industry works. We've seen that recently with people getting very confused and upset by the waitlists for famous watches and people not really understanding or being told how that works. Many brands trying to keep things very secret, so they can control the process. But unfortunately for them, at the cost of really upsetting that consumer.

What about members who can’t afford expensive pieces?

On the more affordable watch side we can help people understand why they should consider vintage watches, why they should consider microbrand watches and things like that. We are lucky enough to be in London so we can go and see all kinds of new watches and vintage watches here and help people understand a bit more about them. The main thing is giving someone people a place to really share what they're into.

We have all kinds of people and they're all connected by that level of watches.

Would you give us some examples of events you’ve run with the club?

We've run over 50 events now since we got started following the pandemic. We've run events with brands, from Breitling to Breguet to Bulgari to Baltic. We've been to retailers such as Watches of Switzerland and Watchfinder. We've run small group events, we've visited shows and held factory tours, we've done exclusive events to see special pieces.

We've been to pop-ups. Every month we've done meetups, both evenings and for brunch, depending on when people have spare time. We've covered topics such as what's going on in the watch world, sustainability, all kinds of different events. We've been to brand parties. We've been to museums. We're experimenting with all different kinds of events to help people learn more and share their passion.

How concerned do you have to be about security today when you organize a live event?

Security is a very serious consideration of us. We use a variety of venues and we make sure that we don't publicize the location of the venue. We mostly use private areas in bars.

We don't hold our events in the parts of London that are famous for watch crime, not in the West End here in London, for example. We expect our attendees to be cautious on their way to and from events.

When we're working with retailers, we're relying on the retailer security. So yes, we're publicizing that we're going to be at a certain time and date. But of course, those watch retailers in central London have very, very good security. They often have a clear security presence on the door. Those retailers are in very busy and public places.

Do you hold virtual meetups for those who are not available to attend in person?

Yes! We have a virtual or online event an online discussion every month on a different topic and really the idea there is we have a topic to discuss, but it's a free for all chat for people from wherever they are. They're held on Zoom.

If you've ever wondered what it's like to just go and chat online with people of our club. Please come and check us out because it's only an hour. It's usually on Mondays at the moment, but we open to suggestions for other times of the week. We just have a really great chat, the hour flies by. You can see some of our previous ones on YouTube, it's a place you can come and chat watches wherever you are in the world. We also do a monthly members online meetup as well. So if you take membership of The Watch Collectors' Club, you can join us there every month where the members chat to each other about watches.

You have a special vantage points because you’ve interacted with so many watch enthusiasts, new and seasoned. What have you learned about the hobby in general through your interactions with large groups of watch lovers?

That's a great question I haven't been asked before. I think the first thing to say is the variety of watch lovers out there in terms of what they're into is higher than anyone can possibly imagine. I have met an extraordinary range of collectors with different tastes and different passion. And it really is amazing how different people's tastes are. Even me and my business partner, and we have totally different tastes in watches.

I've also been surprised by how many collectors out there are not social. They're not on social media. They don't post on the forums. They are delighted to find us when they find us and come along and find that there's other people out there with the same passion. That suggests to me that there's just a huge number of people out there who love watches.

The hobby is growing, it's growing fast. The growth of the internet took the hobby to the its first big stage with online forums and whatnot, and collectors around the world being able to get in touch with each other. But the rise of social media and the rise of of visual social media — Instagram and YouTube — more recently has really expanded the pool of potential watch enthusiasts.

I think the number of wealthy people who collect watches has also gone up. For young people who are wealthy, it's seen as a great idea to buy watches that are sort of trendy, fashionable and fit their tastes, whatever their tastes may be. That's definitely brought the higher number of collectors in who think watches as an investment.

Is it wrong to talk about investment when it comes to watch collecting?

What thinking of watches as investment has done is reassured people who may not have been confident building a collection of their own that they may be building or preserving value as well. I'm talking about people who would have started off with one or two watches but the fact that they know they can sell it or not maybe not lose too much money if they've got a high quality timepiece. They know now that they're able to sell it for not much of a loss down the line. I think that really helps people have confidence to expand their collection.

Do you typically see the same watches in your members’ collections?

No, I think that the popularity of the most famous brands is overstated amongst the people who really know their watches. A huge number of people are into a much larger number of brands than than might be perceived. For example, we recently had a guy joined from North Africa. He's just moved to London. He's a huge Longines enthusiast. It's really interesting to just hear his reasons, his passion for the brand. Longines is not a brand that comes up very often in the London collecting community. But this guy, he's just arrived, he's joined the community and he's hugely passionate.

If you ever meet Breitling collectors, they're super passionate about the brand. It's quite a big brand, but they kind of have their own gang, you know, and it's really interesting to see, and the same goes then for micro-brand collectors.

You meet a lot of people who are into the affordable mechanical watch world, and they're really excited about micro-brands and really excited about getting great value for money and interesting design. And they’re excited about supporting new companies trying to do something different.

A long time ago, brands would use precious metals to instill desirability in their watches. But today, we've seen the industry use different strategies, such as adventure, storytelling, or limited editions. Do you see those strategies work among your members?

I think that the different collectors are attracted to different things. I think precious metals is simply an appeal to 1% of the watch buying public. Possibly not even the watch buying public that we would say recognized as strong watch collectors. We have a couple of collectors who focus on precious-metal watches because of the aesthetics, so there's no denying that there are people [like that] out there.

But, I think the fact that precious metals exist — and it's an overemphasis in certain brands — blinds people to the importance of them in terms of the actual numbers of watches sold. You got to remember they're sold by the brands because they're so profitable. They're not sold by brands because there's a very high demand for them.

Brand history is more important than it ever was, and thankfully most brands have recognized that. It really helps when brands have something to say that sets them apart. I think more brands should talk more about our history. People do not compare the cost of the case materials or the movement designed to appreciate value. They care about the brand, and the brand's value comes from its history, heritage, values, product strategies and lineup. They're all really important.

And limited-edition series and anniversary models?

The same is true of limited-edition models. Collectors love limited-edition models, there is no getting around that. A lot of collectors will try and only buy them. You know, some brands I've talked to say that collectors fight for certain numbers of limited editions. It gives people what they consider to be something unique. It allows brands to experiment. If a brand experiments with a limited edition, and it doesn't sell them all — even though it is trying to sell to its most dedicated fans — it's not going to make a watch range like that. On the flip side of it, it makes a limited edition, and it sells out in a matter of hours or days then it is more likely to put something like that watch and its main range and that is really good way to experiment for brands.

Lately, we’ve also seen brands mimic the design cues from highly desirable and hard-to-get hype watches.

When it comes to homage watches, or designs that very closely mimic some of the icons of the watch world, these may work for a certain type of consumer, but most watch enthusiasts I've met don't pay them too much heed. Watch lovers like designs influenced by the past, I think that's a better way to think about it. They might be the type of collector who wants, you know, four or five sports steel sports watches with blue dials and they therefore have a lot of options. But they're all similar. That's their look, and I think that's fine. Collectors who collect like that are served well by that.

With the Apple Watch success, the Swiss industry has moved upscale, mostly as a way to differentiate itself from the ubiquitous smartwatch. That, coupled with recent inflation, has made certain brands no longer affordable for those who love owning multiple watches…

I think brands have tried to make themselves more exclusive with their pricing so, you know, if you're taking prices up 20, 30, 40% in three years, it's to try and make a statement about where you're positioned in the industry. And unfortunately, if someone was hoping to buy you at a price point of “x” and now it's 40% higher, then you hope your brand strength is high enough that that person will simply save up for longer.

Such as Rolex?..

Rolex has always been the leader in industry in brand strength. One of the reasons Rolex is like that is because they don't change the designs of their watches much, and Rolex know that they have customers saving their whole life to buy their dream model when they're ready. They don't want a different design they want the one they've been waiting all their lives for and what that means of course then is some of these watches are no longer remotely entry-level for collectors.

***Co-founder Ed Howkins at a Bremont event early in 2023.***

Any advice for someone who wants a luxury watch but not at Rolex prices?

If you want something flashy, and you haven't got much money, then you can go vintage. You can buy very high-quality vintage solid gold watches for under $1,000 still easily possible or if you're really into a unique design, something really exotic or unique movement you can find them affordably. By buying pre-owned or by exploring the micro-brand world, you can get some really incredible watches. There are micro-brands now just dedicated themselves to that, making complications at low prices. So you really can find something for everyone.

Big thanks to Hamish Robertson for this interview. If you want to learn more about The Watch Collectors’ Club, head on over to the website. Check out their Instagram and Facebook pages.

Hamish Robertson of The Watch Collectors' Club

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