What Mistakes Have Collectors Made?

By:Matthew Lopez | Posted: December 21, 2021

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When we started our long journey into watch collecting, we’ve often asked ourselves what we can do to minimize making mistakes. From regretful buys to bad experiences with a dealer or more so with a brand, we asked seven watch collectors from across the community on their insights and how the watch community can learn from this. Here are some of their responses:

Todd Levin, Art Advisor and the Founder of Levin Art Group

1 (1)The love of art made Todd Levin  focus his watch collection on high-end independents particularly this George Daniels Millennium Watch, one of his prized possessions.
(© Todd Levin/Hodinkee)

Todd Levin has been at the forefront of the contemporary art scene being both a curator and art advisor to some of the leading museums and galleries across the world. The experience that he learned from the art world has developed in his taste in collecting fine timepieces from some of the top independent watchmakers including George Daniels and his protégé Roger Smith and the legendary Philippe Dufour. For Todd, buying without any expertise is pretty much “like entering into an area while being blind. Nobody wants that”. He goes on to state that for watch collecting: “It is very important to garner some knowledge through personal time-intensive earned experience. Moreover, it is very crucial to learn from other experts in the field, whose integrity and knowledge are beyond reproach.”

 

Zoe Abelson, Watch Specialist and the Founder of Graal Limited

2 (2) (1)Zoe Abelson commemorated her time as an independent dealer with a Rolex Daytona Ref. 116509 with a special black mother of pearl dial configuration.
(© Zoe Abelson)

Noted watch specialist and a rising star within the watch community Zoe Abelson has leveraged her experiences through the portfolios that she has handled in the watch industry from auction houses to pre-owned luxury watch dealers. Zoe has since created a cult following by focusing on her experiences with watches through her social media handle (@watchgirloffduty) on Instagram and started out not being a collector at all. In a recent Clubhouse session we hosted, she gave her insights on how one must prioritize quality in determining what to collect after a series of regretful purchases that ended up being placed in a drawer: “Quality over quantity. I at some point in my life just [end up] buying too many watches and that I don’t wear them.” She goes on further, “I realize that I just wear two or three watches at the most and you don’t need a ton of watches unless it’s a hobby for you like having them in a safe…otherwise if you are collecting to wear and enjoy them, I would say quality over quantity, you don’t need ten more watches.”

 

Greg Selch, Furniture-Maker, and the Founder of Selch & Co.

3 (4) (1)A big driver into collecting vintage timepieces, Greg Selch has formed an important collection that includes rare timepieces such as this forgotten Universal Genѐve with a remarkable cloisonné dial made for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
(© Hodinkee/Greg Selch)

We know that in the past decade, there has been a significant push towards the collectability of vintage watches partly led by passionate collectors including furniture maker Greg Selch who learned his knack for collecting through his father. During our Clubhouse discussion about the collectability of vintage watches, Greg gave his insights on how one should begin about collecting that one should always buy with a passion and always strive for a level of quality regardless of other aspects: “If you buy something, anything…you are not sure of its value and you love and appreciate it, go for it. That value never goes away [at all] …Just like in collecting anything like the art or furniture that I buy, what is consistent is quality in design, story or history, materials even plastic, or even [watch] movements. There is always a consistency towards high quality. Don’t short-change yourself.”

 

Philip Toledano, Conceptual Artist and the Founder of VivaBastardo

4 (1)A motoring enthusiast himself Philip Toledano has developed a taste for racing chronographs including this early Longines Nonius chronograph from the 1970s.
(© Hodinkee/Philip Toledano)

The conceptual artist Philip Toledano has made watch collecting a reflection of his unique personality of veering away from the mainstream. Phil has built a reputable collection of timepieces centered from racing chronographs from the 1970s to 1980s to what he calls “oddball” watches including early Patek Philippe Beta-21s. In the same roundtable discussion on Clubhouse, Phil says to the audience to not be driven by what is trending especially on social media, why one should venture into the unknown and start with a proper budget: “…First of all, Instagram is both great and dangerous because it exerts such extraordinary strong gravitational pulls of what makes you decide what you are like…” He goes on further: “…and for me collecting should reflect who you are…my first advice to collectors [or those starting out] is to start by not looking at what everyone else has but considering what is less looked at. For starters, you will get more interesting watches and second, you will get them much cheaper. I remember the first [vintage] watch that I bought for [USD]$3000 which was a ****-a load of money for me and I thought my goodness why did I do that! You [really] need to start small.”

 

Roni Madhvani, Entrepreneur and Director of the Madhvani Group

5 (2) (1)Roni Madhvani has created one of the most interesting watch collections focused on their design and as he recounts to never give up in hunting your grail as in the case of this rare Patek Philippe Ref. 2549.
(© Hodinkee/Roni Madhvani

Never give up is not a just mere motto emblazoned on the advertisements for Nike sneakers. Rather, it is the mindset that describes the collecting spirit of Ugandan-Asian collector and entrepreneur Roni Madhvani who has built a unique collection of timepieces focused on the design genre from watch cases, lugs, and dial configurations as seen through his Instagram handle (@roni_m_29). In a recent conversation we had with our special clientele over Zoom, Roni reminisced about an unforgettable experience in finding an early Patek Philippe Ref. 2549 known as the “Devil’s Horn” that became a legendary quixotic quest for it with a key lesson on pursuing your goal regardless of the setbacks: “I was looking for this exact watch for about a decade for this watch and I could not find one. This was before the whole Instagram madness. And I always posted about this on the Internet before and every vintage watch collector knew I was looking for this bloody watch and one finally show up at Antiquorum, but because the [Inter]net in Uganda is horrendous, so I placed a fixed absentee bid. Turns out I lost by a single bid! But later, I get an email from one of the specialists stating that the winner of the lot wants to offer the watch at the same price he paid for it. Later, I found out that the winning bidder was the noted collector Jason Singer who is such a great guy and has taught me about forgotten Pateks.” 

 

Johann Bona, Founder and Creative Director of Studio Philippe

6 (3) (1)A keen lover of classical design Johann Bona has primarily focused his watch collection starting with this Cartier Tank Americaine.
(© Johann Bona/Studio Philippe)

The noted watch collector John Goldberger once quipped that: “For every great watch collector, there is a great dealer”. This quote came into mind when we had a chat with the Toronto-based fashion photographer Johann Bona who has worked with some of the leading publications across the world. Johann has developed a fine interest in classical design and entered watch collecting focused on owning the emblematic Cartier Tank Americaine that has become the star in his collection. As he recounts, it pays to have a great watch dealer behind every purchase coincidentally on how he got his grail Cartier timepiece: “I bought a neo-vintage Cartier Tank Americaine from a New York-based dealer some time ago. When I received the watch, there were smudges under the glass. It took several weeks to ship it to them, get it cleaned, and ship it back to me in Toronto. Although they said they would take care of it completely, [American] customs ended up charging me through the local courier on the way back. I shouldn’t have been charged as it was a warranty repair. It turned out; the dealer filled out the documents incorrectly. If I wanted the charges to be reversed, I had to write to customs to prove my case…But on the bright side, the dealer apologized and reimbursed me, so I didn’t have to go through the process. Even though the whole endeavour was a bit of a headache, I was happy they had fairly good customer service…”

 

John Reardon, Founder of Collectability LLC

7 (2) (1)Building on his reputation as one of the foremost experts on Patek Philippe, John Reardon has made his collection entirely focused on the brand that includes this forgotten timepiece a Ref. 3979, the manufacturer’s first automatic minute repeater and made for its 150th anniversary in 1989.
(© New York Times/Christie’s)

“Caveat emptor” (Latin for “buyer beware”) is a practice that often occurs with budding watch collectors who get blindsided in their quest to find their one true grail and then end up making some very expensive mistakes. This was related to us during a recent conversation with John Reardon, the founder of Collectability LLC and one of the world’s leading specialists on Patek Philippe. For John, mistakes should serve not only a reminder of an expensive lesson but rather sharpen in your collecting especially in the recent surge of timepieces on the auction block: We have all made mistakes. Mistakes are truly wonderful opportunities to learn. However, in the watch world, these mistakes can be quite expensive. On numerous occasions, I have bought watches from auction houses that aren’t exactly what I expected, and the condition reports were lacking in detail. The simple lesson is that if you are buying a watch as-is without the luxury of being able to make a return, always view the watch in person first. Even better, have a trusted watchmaker view the watch with you. It will save you a lot of money in the long run and keep collecting exactly what it should be – an absolute pleasure!”.

 

A Final Point

We all make mistakes especially in the world of collecting watches, as we have seen in the tales of these collectors. The key takeaway is that we should all learn from these experiences and if we put the right perspective into place, great things will happen and probably you have found your most coveted grail. As the late American carmaker industrialist Henry Ford once said: “…The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing.”

To take a look at our collector’s guide, check out previous features on Our Women’s Guide to Vintage Watches and How to Properly Take Care of Your Watch.

Why not start your collecting journey with us? Visit the Vintage Grail website to know more. For more information, contact us at [email protected] or contact us at (+63) 917 159 1211.

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