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Building a Watch collection: tips from a specialistA comprehensive guide on collecting watches from a Capital Club member, Christie’s Watch Specialist based in Dubai

We asked Remy Julia, Watch Specialist for Christie’s and Head of Watches Middle East – India – Africa, to give us some advice on what to look for when you start taking your watches seriously.

The following will speak mostly to you when you realise that you do not wear the same watch every single day anymore, but surely you enjoy the meaning behind pull-ing this watch for that particular occasion. Your taste and knowledge has evolved with time through your research.

Whatever the case, your mind is made up: you are going for a vintage wristwatch sooner or later, or at least a discontinued watch. In order to assist you in making the right choice, our watch department not only has a few tips for you, but also provides advisory services throughout the year and is the perfect place to pursue a collection.

aesthetics First and foremost, the basic rule of watch collecting holds true for any timepiece: pocket or wrist; modern or vintage; rea-sonably priced or high-end. You must at least like, although it would be recom-mended to fall in love with, the watch you are about to buy. It is very true that there may be profit to be made within the watch-collecting industry but, that might be neither a possibility in the short or long term. As a private collector, rather than a dealer, you should operate with the idea of living with your timepiece for a very

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long time, leaving the financial notions of return on investment in the background. Not that you should be blind to market values, as knowing the market price is very important when making a purchase, but one should keep in mind that the right timepiece in the right condition may only be available on rare occasions.

complications When considering adding a watch to your collection, you should also think of what you need in terms of usability versus your existing portfolio. Is it going to be a watch you use only for important events (your ‘Sunday’ watch) or do you need a faithful daily companion? Do you want a simple,

clean, easy-to-read dial or do you want something with a bit more of a kick? In the end, the answer to these questions will tell you how complicated a piece you want. The budget is a topic only you can answer.

A complication is by definition any additional feature of a watch beyond hour and minute hands. Watchmakers have developed a nearly endless array of com-plications over the years, from the simple power reserve indication to complex cal-endar, chronographic or even sidereal functions. A good starting point for a vintage watch collector would be either a clean time-only piece or one of the two most classic complications: a chronograph or a calendar.

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The chronograph is the quintessen-tial complication (after all, it allows us to measure time on demand and has proven to be a quite useful tool in the history of mankind); furthermore the necessity for chronographic scales prompted the crea-tion of some of the most charismatic dials ever designed, especially during the 1930s and 40s.

Calendars, on the other hand, are among the most useful complications. If you are veering toward a calendar time-piece, keep in mind there are different ‘tiers’ of calendar wristwatches: from the simple ‘date only’ to the almighty per-petual calendar, which takes into account the leap year cycle and has to be manually adjusted only once every 100 years.

rare Variations When it comes to vintage watch collecting; a paramount factor is the rarity of a watch. Some models are intrinsically rare, made in as little as a few dozen pieces overall and then discontinued for some reason or other. Other models have been indeed realised in higher numbers, but certain examples within the series present variations such as a different case material or an unusual dial layout, or an important retailer’s sig-nature—such as Tiffany (United States), Cartier (France), Hermes (France), Beyer (Switzerland), Astrua (Italy) and Serpico y Laino (Venezuela) among others. Auction results of these double-signature dials are fetching much more than regular exam-ples. Some other watches were ordered directly by head of state or government for gifts, supplying their army or police. You can find various examples in the market, almost present in each and every auction. Among the most notorious ones from our region and appreciated by collectors from all over the world are dials made for the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Iraq, with variations per country such as coat of arms, airforce, army or ministry of defence logo to name but a few.

Finally a colour shifted, so called ‘tropical’ dial often due to a combination of factors: quality of coating and storage conditions results in a colour change of the dial, making the watch desirable.

For many collectors, part of the appeal of vintage watches is the possibility of find-ing such variations. While sometimes these unusual pieces command a premium, this

is not always the rule and it is possible to acquire nearly unique wristwatches at vir-tually any price point. condition Condition has always been a highly rel-evant factor within watch collecting, but recently it has seen a steep increase in importance. The result at auction of over-polished watches versus mint and untouched examples varies sometimes from 20-30 per cent to double the amount and more.

You want to make sure that the vin-tage piece you are about to call yours is as close as possible to the original condition. Many manufacturers provide access to their archives: if provided with the watch

serial numbers (case number and move-ment number) along with crisp pictures of the watch, they will be able to tell you at least the year of production and some-times additional details such as the dial configuration, the case metal and other information. Of course, the watch should match the information present on the archives to make it legit from a collector’s perspective. It is also highly desirable that no parts (such as the crown, or the chron-ograph pushers) have been exchanged during a service over the years. You often see the case of vintage Rolex Daytona with service pushers simply because these were automatically changed by the brand at the time of service. The dial has to be well pre-served and unrestored.

Ideally, collectors look for ‘new old stock’ pieces: watches that have been bought and immediately put in a safe to be taken out just before being sold. Obviously

such items are as rare as the usually high premium they demand.

proVenance A further layer of appeal can be given to a vintage watch by its provenance. Fresh-to-the-market and original owner pieces are watches which have, respectively, never been publicly sold. Or even better are offered by the original owner who first purchased them from a retailer. Also, the presence of the original box and warranty is held in high regard for vintage watches as these items provide, on the one hand, an additional layer of historical appeal and originality, and, on the other hand, boost the rarity of the piece: box and papers were usually promptly discarded and vintage watches which arrive to us still bearing their original sale kit are a very small fraction of the overall availability of the market. Finally, if a watch was owned by a remarkable individual—such as pol-itician, explorer, artist or celebrity—it will be much more interesting to the eyes of collectors.

My day-to-day at Christie’s is to be constantly close to the market offerings and the ever evolving taste of collectors. We organise two auctions per year in Dubai, opening the season respectively in March and October. I generally travel one complete week to each international auction in Geneva, Hong Kong and New York in order to inspect watches in-depth and advice clients from our region on what has caught their eye, looking for advisory in term of where to place their interest or ‘bid’. The rest of the year, my agenda is filled with advising all kind of watch enthusiasts, young collectors and established private collectors looking for assistance in the curation of their collec-tion, sometimes reshaping their portfolio of watches to match their ever evolving tastes. We are open to all and remember that it is our duty to give a true point of view on the market of fine watchmaking.

remy Julia is Watch specialist for christie’s and head of Watches middle east – india – africa

the market only Values Watches close to their

original condition. polishing as an

example changes the proportions of the case reducing

Value among collectors.