One thing I learned very early on in life is that pretty much everything is for sale. I enjoyed driving around in a classic car until relatively recently, when the brother of a famous footballer came along and offered to buy it – bizarre but true – so now it's back to more modern (and admittedly more reliable) transport.
Rolex Oyster Perpetual on ZULUDIVER 1973 British Military Watch Strap: ARMOURED RECON - Classic Bond
It’s a similar story with some antique cinema posters I once had, not to mention a vintage trunk: all of which were moved on almost before I realised they had gone. Thankfully my grandmother died (of natural causes) before she too became the subject of an unexpected transaction and I’m also still in possession of both kidneys, but if anyone would like to stick in a bid, that can probably change.
When it comes to watches though, it’s rare for anything to get sold. Because a watch is much more than an object or a possession: instead it’s something very personal that somehow recounts a chapter of your life.
Broadly speaking; I divide watches into three categories: watches you were given, watches you bought, and watches that can be replaced. Those in the latter category might possibly get sold, those in the middle are unlikely to be sold, and those in the first category won’t ever get sold. The problem is that even watches falling into the last category inevitably fall into one of the first two categories as well – meaning that nothing is ever really likely to get sold after all.
Rolex Oyster Perpetual on ZULUDIVER 1973 British Military Watch Strap: ZULU - Vintage Bond
However, if one day there were to be a universal edict that would force everyone to own just one watch (which in many ways would make all our lives simpler) the watch that’s staying in my collection is my Rolex Oyster Perpetual, from the late 1960s.
This was a watch that was given to me by my uncle when I was 18, which sadly is so many years ago now that I can’t actually remember the exact occasion it was handed over. Luckily my uncle is still well and happily presiding over his own magnificent watch collection, which is what probably got me into watches in the first place.
So in many ways, he is responsible for the lifelong passion that happened next, which was already well underway by the time I got the Rolex (he also gifted me the ‘Dirty Dozen’ Omega a few years earlier, not to mention the Swatch that started it all).
Rolex Oyster Perpetual on Vintage Highley Genuine Leather Watch Strap
However, the Rolex was the first properly serious watch I ever owned, in the fabled green box, and as is often the case for watches of this calibre, I went through various phases in my relationship with it. First there was the period of veneration, when it hardly ever came out and was only worn on special occasions, although I looked at it very frequently: hardly believing that it was mine. Then there was the realisation, when I’d got more into watches and wanted to live out my credo that they should be seen and worn, rather than kept hidden away and occasionally polished. After years of wearing it every day, it was gradually supplanted in use – if not affection – by other watches that I had bought, which was the next phase. And the Rolex went back to coming out only every so often, also because the original bracelet – like many of its ilk – was by this point distinctly precarious and aesthetically well past its best, looking more like a wonky metal picket fence rather than the finest expression of the Swiss watchmaker’s art.
All that changed quite recently, as my beloved Oyster Perpetual entered its most recent phase, which I’ll describe as the resurrection. The original bracelet was finally retired and I replaced it with a vintage Highley tan leather strap, which perfectly complemented the Champagne-like patina that had developed on the dial. Thanks to a polish and a service, this watch is now ready to enter the next era of existence as the centrepiece of my collection, for all sorts of sentimental reasons, as well as the sheer elegance and artistry of its execution. It’s the most beautiful and meaningful watch in my collection, which has been with me for more than 30 years. For all those reasons, it’s the one watch I will never sell.
