About 40 years ago, when the mechanical watch renaissance was just beginning to gather steam, wristwatch collecting was a quirky hobby enjoyed by a relatively small group of devotees around the world.
Today, it is not far-fetched to suggest that collectors, more than watchmakers or watch retailers, are the most powerful people in the watch industry. Without their passionate interest, not to mention their repeat purchases, the annual global trade in luxury watches — which many experts now value at approximately $80 billion, including sales of both new and pre-owned watches — certainly would not be as robust.
But what do collectors want, and how can the industry better serve them?
The Times asked Alexander Friedman and Georgia Benjamin, watch lovers who took different paths into the high-end watch business, to discuss the state of collecting on a recent video call.
Mr. Friedman, 47, is the founder of AF. Luxury Consulting, a boutique agency that works with watch brands, and a co-founder of CollectorSphere, a global invitation-only platform that shares community-generated content about watch collecting. He divides his time between New York and his hometown, Lausanne, Switzerland, but he joined the call from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where he had traveled to meet clients.
Ms. Benjamin, 33, was born in London and now is a design manager at Adobe in New York City. She discovered a passion for vintage watches about eight years ago and recently has been organizing collector-focused events in collaboration with brands. She joined the call from her apartment in Lower Manhattan.
Both Mr. Friedman and Ms. Benjamin spoke about collectors’ desire for more curated events and conversations that address some of their pain points, including the perception that brands have raised prices without raising value and the copycat nature of product introductions.
“There are a gazillion watches,” Mr. Friedman said. “There are a gazillion brands. Everything is super expensive.”
Ms. Benjamin said she hoped that watch boutiques would become a bit more welcoming in 2025. “Right now, if you’re trying to buy one of these big pieces from a big brand that perhaps is not accessible budget-wise, but it’s something that you’re striving towards, there’s still a huge barrier to entry,” she said.
The conversation has been edited and condensed.
How did you get into watches?
GEORGIA BENJAMIN I bought my first vintage Cartier, a Santos, about eight years ago. I’m wearing it today because it’s my favorite piece. To me, this watch epitomizes elegance.
I thought I was done at that point. But for my 30th birthday, which was a few years ago, I was like, “I’m going to buy myself a gold Rolex.” It took me about a year and a half of learning and meeting new people and really discovering what goes into a President Day-Date — like what different markers are involved with different years, and “Do I want a birth year watch? Is that too cliché?” — and that really piqued my curiosity.
It showed me that, with watches, there is an infinite learning experience. I was absolutely hooked, and now I have too many watches. Actually, there are never too many, but I have quite a few.
ALEXANDER FRIEDMAN For me, it was a family thing. My dad was a very discreet collector of many different things. And watches were one of his secret territories. He had this thing: He was going every Saturday to the Patek Philippe salon in Geneva, like a procession. Take two watches, go there, sit down, talk with the guy. And I still have some images being with him there. I was very young, maybe five, seven. These kinds of things stay in your mind.
And also, all my brothers and I, we all received watches that were technically ours, with little notes: “This is for Alexander for his 15th birthday.” “This is for Alexander for the communion.” There was always this philosophy of the respect for the object, of the passion, how you transmit passion. The collection madness started like this.
BENJAMIN Do you still have some of those watches that you got for communion, or when you were 15?
FRIEDMAN Oh, yeah, I have everything. Listen, I only sold two watches in my life. I don’t know why, but they were both Omega Speedmasters. I still own a few, but these two, I regret. My dad always said, “Never sell anything.”
Don’t tell me that you sell watches?
BENJAMIN No. I’ve only ever sold one, and I regret it as well. Because they’re mementos. Each one comes with a story of how you got it, where it comes from, who you were with when you bought it. I’ve considered trading watches, but I’ve still never done it because they mean too much. Like I want to see all my babies out and think proudly of all my children around me.
Are there any trends, models or makers that speak to you now?
BENJAMIN I think case shapes going the less traditional route is quite fun. It doesn’t have to just be a Cartier Tank. It doesn’t just have to be a circular watch. It can be something that’s a little different as a way of showing off your own personal style.
FRIEDMAN I think that we’re going into a kind of cabinet of curiosities — rarities, weird stuff. These kinds of abnormalities in terms of design that now the community is very happy about. Obviously, good provenance, good conditions, if you have box and papers, that’s fantastic. But at the end, you try to come out with some watches that are U.F.O.s. “Where did you get that from?”
BENJAMIN Especially tapping into younger collectors, I think people want things that aren’t run-of-the-mill. They don’t want something that’s keeping up with the Joneses. “I’m going to get this watch because X, Y and Z has it.” It’s more, “What does this watch say about me, and how can it be a little different?” Plus, the more obscure things, especially if they haven’t blown up yet, can be so much more affordable.
Both of you are working with collectors in slightly different ways. Can you talk a little about that?
FRIEDMAN We opened a dedicated agency that got us close with some brands. But something was missing. Delivering stuff for brands, it’s good, it pays the bills, makes you happy for things, but the human contact was missing. I started thinking about, how can we spend time with collectors of different ages, different provenances, different geographical locations?
That’s how the idea for CollectorSphere came up. How can we interconnect all collectors around the globe? We’re not a club, but we are a kind of collective. The aim is to create community-generated content with the help of these collectors. We’re trying to extract their knowledge, their experiences, for the benefit of the community. So every article we do is in collaboration with them — what they think about the watches, what they think about the industry.
We did an intelligence piece for the watch fair Watches and Wonders last year. We worked with 50 collectors, and we wanted to understand their expectations for the fair. Trust me, 80 percent of the answers we couldn’t publish because some guys sent us a burning page, naming names. We could extract a few ideas. But that shows that there is a frustration. I think the industry reached a peak where it was too many watches, too expensive, not enough for your money.
BENJAMIN I’m curious about the feedback you got. Does anything come of it?
FRIEDMAN Nothing shocking. You have people that will say, “OK, this is interesting. We’ll take it into consideration.” It’s the same when you do an event. How do you manage the expectation of a brand that you’re inviting people to its event? Obviously, they want to sell. And how do you select the appropriate people to be at these events? What’s your recipe, Georgia?
BENJAMIN My solution for curating these events is being quite selective on who is invited. Because it’s about connection. I like to curate the guest list if we’re doing, say, a 25-person dinner or a panel, whatever it might be, to make sure that these people have a similar view on collecting and are in an environment where they feel safe because everyone comes with these beautiful watches.
I did a panel at the Hauser and Wirth art gallery in L.A., talking about the correlation between collecting art and collecting watches, and the emotional connection that goes into both. I’ve done some dinners. I’ve been very lucky that the brands have given me almost full autonomy. They’re like, “You curate the event and we will pay for it.” Not quite as simple as that, but almost.
I would love to do more and not just in New York, but in London, in L.A., in Geneva, wherever I can, just because the energy that I put in and I get from these events, it’s contagious. And I feel that the people around me and the collectors that come to these events so enjoy themselves.
FRIEDMAN I join you on this point. I mean, there have been clubs where people were meeting up in a basement. I believe that what we are proposing now, it’s an evolution.
Curating the people, curating the event, curating the way that you interact, how you put people at ease. These collectors, whatever the level, when you have this passion of watchmaking, this is the key element today: People want to have experiences. Also, one interesting thing that you said: The brands give you carte blanche. This is something that would have never, ever have happened 10 years ago.
BENJAMIN I think it’s because the voice of the collector is so important now. We’re being much more vocal. We’re so informed.
Before, you would be lucky to get invited to an event, and those experiences were fantastic. But now it’s like, “What can we learn from the people at the event who are going to share this knowledge and help build a better product or a better marketing campaign or just a better general experience as a brand?” It’s mutually beneficial now. It’s no longer just for the benefit of the potential customer.
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