Explaining My Watch Collection

Although I've been a watch collector for 25 years my current collection is rather small. Only counting my watches and not my wife's and excluding watches that I've been graciously gifted after starting Hourstriker, my collection only sits at five pieces.

When I first started collecting I only kept one watch at a time. This was mostly due to not having the budget to acquire new watches without selling what I already owned. The way this played out would be purchasing an Omega Seamaster 300 GMT then selling it to fund the purchase of the newly release Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean. The Planet Ocean was then sold to fund my first IWC, the GST Chronograph Automatic in titanium. After I purchased the IWC I started buying other watches that I didn't need to sell the IWC to afford. Also at this time my income was starting to increase.

When I got into the watch industry by building one of the largest online sales sites I suddenly had access to wear any of our pre-owned inventory. Not only was there an endless amount of watches that I could wear, but those watches were also multiple times more expensive than what I could afford. Being able to wear such amazing watches eventually ended up with me selling nearly my entire personal collection of watches. There were a few pieces left that really didn't have much value that then sat in our safe for pretty much decades.



My time prior to Hourstriker in the watch industry has been a rollercoaster and for various reason I completely fell out of love with watches for a large part of the 2010s. Although I was still working in the industry I had no interest in watches and never wore one. During Covid I somehow found my love for watches again and was on a mission to seriously start my collection back up again.

The first watch I acquired after the collecting spark had been lit was a limited edition Seiko that the brand did with Japanese brand Neighborhood. The watch ended up feeling too small for my wrist and was sold a year or so later. Nonetheless I had caught that watch bug again.

Before we get into my current watches, looking back over the last few years of collecting has shown me where my true interests lay when it comes to watches. While I get to see and handle countless modern watches, my real passion lies with watches I lusted over when I was younger and couldn't afford them. It's similar to the current situation where cars from the 90s and 2000s are skyrocketing in value since now all the people that were younger when they first came out can now afford them.

The first watch that fills this desire for me is the IWC Big Pilot. The Big Pilot debuted in 2002 and was the spiritual successor to the B-Uhr that IWC produced for the German air force in the 1940s during WWII. Naturally being a rather poor college student when the Big Pilot was released meant I never had the chance to purchase a 5002 Big Pilot new.



In the years since the release of the Big Pilot I have had the opportunity to wear many Big Pilots and even got engaged in New York City wearing a 5002. The Big Pilot also is center to my only celebrity watch story which was the time I met with John Mayer in Las Vegas to potentially purchase his limited edition titanium Big Pilot Perpetual Calendar around 2008. For some reason it didn't work out and I guess I bothered John too much afterwards over text that he stopped responding to me. If only I would have started Hourstriker back then, maybe it would be as big as the site John became affiliated with…

The Big Pilot did become the first serious watch I added to my new collection though. The watch that was added was the Big Pilot Heritage in titanium. I loved the watch and it felt like it filled the Big Pilot void in my heart. I was even able to find a brand new buffalo leather strap from the original 5002 to put on the watch. Even though the Big Pilot Heritage was there for the birth of our twin daughters the opportunity arose to trade it along with a Big Pilot Miramar I had acquired on the Big Pilot I currently have in my collection.



I was able to trade the Big Pilot Heritage and Miramar plus some cash on a Big Pilot Perpetual Calendar Top Gun. The Big Pilot Perpetual Calendar had always been beyond a grail watch for me and something I just thought I'd never have the means to purchase comfortably. When the Top Gun arrived I was instantly in love. The only thing keeping the watch from being perfect were some scratches in the anti-reflective coating, which was fixed when I had a new crystal installed when the watch broke and had to be sent to IWC for repair.

So the IWC Big Pilot Perpetual Calendar Top Gun fills the period of my life when I was obsessed with the Big Pilot and was there for my engagement along when the time I met with the watch world's largest celebrity long before he had that title.



Although I love the Big Pilot, it is not my favorite series of watches. That honor belongs to the Royal Oak Offshore from Audemars Piguet. For the most part the models released in the 2000s and 2010s, especially the limited edition pieces. This shouldn't be too much of a surprise because if you look at any picture of me from 2005 to 2015 there is a good chance I was wearing an Offshore. The sales company I helped start was pretty much known for being the source when it came to limited edition Offshores. This meant there was a constant stream of pre-owned Offshores that I could wear.

Of all the Royal Oak Offshores that graced my wrist, none was more loved to me than the Juan Pablo Montoya. To this day I still think this might be the best looking watch ever designed. When I got married in 2008 I even wore a rose gold version of the Montoya for our week in Vegas and during the ceremony. Being in my mid 20s and watch theft not really being what it is today there were numerous nights when we were walking up and down the strip without a care while wearing an at the time nearly one hundred thousand dollar watch.



Although the titanium Montoya was a lot less expensive than the rose gold and platinum versions, the watch still carried a nearly three times retail pre-owned price of $60,000 during the height of the Offshore craze. This meant the watch was way out of my league and would be something I admired from afar. Of the three metals the Montoya was offered in, the titanium version was my favorite due to it being lightweight, having a stunning white dial and having a black strap with alternating white stitching. The titanium version also seemed like the model that made the most sense as an F1 inspired watch.

Through the perfect storm of loss in interest in the Offshore and large watches in general along with doing some work for a friend I was able to acquire a titanium Montoya with all boxes and documentation a few years ago. The whole deal came up so fast that it didn't even register with me at the time as being real. Even when the watch showed up a week or so later I still couldn't believe it was actually mine.



While I love the Royal Oak Offshore Montoya and it is still my favorite watch things come up as an owner of the watch that I never experience as just a casual wearer of the watch. The main issue with the Montoya and many APs of that time period is that the crown is extremely fragile. I found this out the hard way when a year or so after the Montoya arrived, the crown stopped being able to be screwed in. Luckily the friend I got the watch from was able to have the watch fixed by having the crown from another Montoya switched with mine. That experience has now caused me to wear the Montoya very infrequently in fear of damaging the crown again. I also now use a technique where I back turn the crown until it drops into position before I screw it in. Wearing the watch infrequently does keep the mystery and adoration I have for the watch high though, as opposed to if I daily wore it.



The Montoya is basically the culmination of the entire time I spent in the watch industry previous to starting Hourstriker. It was THE watch that defined my prior company and its popularity and the amount of them we sold really put us on the map. Owning one is now a fitting tribute to that time in my professional life. Also being married in a Montoya means the watch will forever be tied to my private life. Along with the Big Pilot Perpetual, these watches will never be sold.

Early watch collector Peter was obsessed with Omega and I owned two Seamasters before getting into any other brand of fine watches. This all changed when I purchased my first IWC, the GST Chronograph Automatic in titanium. While in college I became friends with a guy that was obsessed with watches. He came from a family with a lot of money and didn't have the budgetary constraints that I had in college. The top two watches in his collection with an IWC Portuguese with the same seven day power reserve movement as the Big Pilot and an IWC GST Aquatimer 2000 in titanium.



Although I really loved and still do love the original black dial Portuguese seven day with white subdials, his GST Aquatimer 2000 is what really sang to me. In the 90s and 2000s IWC was known for their no nonsense designs and advertising that was incredibly politically incorrect. This all clicked with a college kid and my friend's GST Aquatimer 2000 seemed like the ultimate dive watch when compared to Submariners and Seamasters of the time. The watch was not only crafted out of high tech titanium but it also had a water resistance of 2,000 meters, which even today is extremely rare.

I guess I didn't realize that the GST Aquatimer 2000 was so engrained into my subconscious until a one owner version that was purchased in the year 2000 and then sold back to the now out of business authorized dealer ended up on Chrono24. The watch looked to be in rough shape, but it was a complete set and even more importantly had all of its links. Most examples I was seeing of the GST Aquatimer 2000 were from Japan and would be lucky to fit a six inch wrist. While the price was fair, I was able to negotiate the price down to something I was extremely happy with.



When the watch arrived it was filthy. After about an hour with a soft toothbrush and some warn soapy water the watch came out looking amazing for being a quarter century old. All was not good with the watch though, I had noticed that when the movement was first started that it would take around 30 minutes for the watch to start being accurate. When I had the watch serviced about a year later I was indeed told the oil was very dirty and it needed time to break down when running to run correctly.

Not being a huge bracelet fan, I initially bought the rubber strap and pin buckle from the next generation Aquatimer that fit the GST Aquatimer 2000. I ended up feeling the watch felt a bit small on the rubber strap versus the titanium bracelet so I bought the Velcro strap for the watch. The Velcro strap uses an end link on each side of the strap to attach to the case and doing so makes the watch flare out like if it was on a bracelet, essentially making it wear larger. This is now how I prefer to wear the watch, not only does it looks awesome and weigh nothing, but it also allows limitless sizing options.



The GST Aquatimer 2000 is the watch in my collection that most ties me back to the earliest time of being a watch collector. It was a watch that I was very familiar with since my friend had one, but could not afford at the time. Also this is another watch I never see myself selling.

Moving on we have the IWC Pilot's Flyback Chronograph Top Gun. This is a watch that I've actually owned twice. The first time I had this watch it was given to me by the owner of the resale site I had helped start. My relationship with the company has been up and down and this gift came after a big down. For various reasons I had quit and then come back a few times over the years. It's weird that since I have such a close relationship with the owner and the site was my baby for most of my professional life it's not so easy to just leave it.



Anyway this time when I quit and came back I basically said that after 20 years I didn't even have a watch. The owner agreed that I should have one and I ended up picking the Big Pilot Top Gun they had in stock. When the box arrived it was the Pilot's Flyback Chronograph Top Gun and I nearly lost it. If you've ever seen videos of spoiled kids getting the wrong gift from Christmas this was that. Since my relationship with this watch started off sour it never found its way into my heart. I ended up using the watch on a trade for the second Big Pilot I owned, the Top Gun Miramar.

Well the story didn't end there… a few years later I saw a Pilot's Flyback Chronograph Top Gun listed for dirt cheap on a dealers group. The watch was from Singapore and had no box and papers, but for the price I couldn't pass it up. When the watch arrived the strap was destroyed and the case had many "scratches" on it but the watch ran well. Being ceramic the case really doesn't scratch. It just takes on deposits from other metals. Rubbing these scratches with a basic pencil eraser is normally enough to remove these marks and in my case 95% of all the marks were removed leaving an extremely clean looking watch.



As for the strap, I decided to go a different direction than the strap the watch came with. The Pilot's Flyback Chronograph Top Gun comes on the exactly same strap my Big Pilot Perpetual Calendar Top Gun came on and with both watches looking remarkably similar I chose to try a different kind of OEM strap from IWC. The first strap I tried was a textured rubber strap, but for some reason I never really felt it went well with the watch. IWC had just released their Big Pilot AMG G63 watches which had a crazy rubber and microfiber strap that I thought would look amazing on the Pilot's Flyback Chronograph Top Gun. The first time I tried to get the strap it was un-available and that's why I went with the textured rubber strap. When talking to IWC about a completely different matter I ended up asking about the G63 strap again and was told they could special order one for me. It still looks like the G63 strap is not available to purchase through IWC. I was told that all the available straps were being held in reserve for G63 production and for replacements for owners of the G63 pieces.

Anyway after cleaning the Pilot's Flyback Chronograph Top Gun and putting it on the excellent AMG G63 strap I realized why I had missed the watch so much after trading it. The watch has great size and sits on my wrist perfectly. The contrast of the black case, dial and strap with the stark white dial markers is just amazing. The watch is also a great lower priced alternative when I don't want to wear my perpetual calendar.



The final watch in my current collection was only added a few months ago. If you look back at the history of me being a watch collector dive watches were always very prominent in my collection. While I was never a huge fan of the Rolex Submariner, I completely ignored the one watch that beat the Submariner to the punch and was the world's first true dive watch.

I had always known about the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms but during my formative years as a watch collector it was not in Blancpain's current collection. Between the 1980s and 2000s the watch had completely fallen out of favor and was not being produced. Unlike today, there was no market for vintage Fifty Fathoms either. Even when the Fifty Fathoms first kind of re-launched in 1996 it was done in a trio of watches that more resembled a Rolex Yacht-Master than a Fifty Fathoms. On top of that Blancpain of the day was made up mostly of unobtainable high complication dress pieces.



Starting Hourstriker exposed me much more the history of horology and one story that I started to become very familiar with was the history of the Fifty Fathoms. For some reason I just found the story so interesting and it really ignited the desire to own a Fifty Fathoms. Now I'm somebody who likes to have something that other people don't own or even better don't even know about. This is probably why I never liked any of the hype watches of the last few years.

While the Fifty Fathoms in steel, gold or titanium are exclusive and a very rare watch to see in the wild I wanted something rarer. Blancpain had just released their 70th Anniversary Fifty Fathoms Act 2 Tech Gombessa which would have fit the bill, but it was way out of my price range. I did notice that years ago Blancpain released a limited edition 500 Fathoms though. This watch was 3 mm larger than the standard Fifty Fathoms at 48 mm and was crafted out of titanium. It also boasted 1,000 meters of water resistance and had a hand finished winding rotor that resembled a propeller complete with the bubbles it generates. Also with how unpopular large watches currently are the watch could be had at a fraction of the price of the new Tech Gombessa.



For some reason prices of the Fifty Fathoms 500 Fathoms were all over the board. There were some examples that were twice as much as others and at one point it seemed they were all priced way too high. One day a listing for a 500 Fathoms popped up from a very reputable dealer for an extremely good price. The only issue with the watch is that it didn’t have box or papers. I reached out to a good dealer friend of mine and he was able to get the watch at wholesale a few thousand less than the already bargain basement price. As for the box, my wife was able to get a brand new Pelican case complete with dive logs, manuals and travel case from Blancpain for a Christmas present last year. If I am ever in New York or have the watch serviced, I will get service papers back from Blancpain which are just as good as warranty papers.

While I have a few 46 plus millimeter watches the 500 Fathoms just wears different. The watch has very short lugs so the 48 mm case only translates to 53 mm lug to lug. For example my 48 mm Big Pilot Perpetual Calendar Top Gun with the same 48 mm case has a lug to lug length of over 60 mm. The trippy thing is that the 500 Fathoms, and all Fifty Fathoms for that matter, has a design that is really all dial and the sapphire bezel also blends in with the dial making the watch look unique on the wrist. It basically looks like you are wearing a watch with a 48 mm dial. I love it though and got used to it rather fast. Also I have to add that the 500 Fathoms has vastly superior lume to any watch I have ever seen before. When not illuminated the dial and huge hour markers might look polarizing, but in low light the dial just radiates. This is of course paramount when diving and having low visibility. The 500 Fathoms is truly a purpose built dive watch.



The 500 Fathoms represents the new stage in my watch collecting journey where after starting Hourstriker I have been exposed to a lot more brands and it's not just IWC and Audemars Piguet for me anymore. I'm not even sure if I'd trade the 500 Fathoms on a Tech Gombessa mainly due to the proprietary nature of the strap system on the Tech Gombessa. So that pretty much means I'm stuck with the watch, which is a good thing.

After these five watches would I say I'm done with my collection? No, not really. I'm not sure if or when I'll ever add a modern piece to my collection. I'm just so exposed to modern pieces that nothing ever really gets a chance to grow on me. I'd never say never though, but it's not trending that way.

The only watch currently on my radar is the precursor to my GST Aquatimer 2000. That being the Porsche Design by IWC Ocean 2000. This titanium watch has the same 2,000 meter water resistance as the GST Aquatimer and you can even swap bezels between the two. The fact that Porsche Design and IWC were able to create such a watch as the Ocean 2000 in 1982 really leaves me in awe. The problem is that four versions of the Ocean 2000 were made and IWC only has parts for the newest version, so I'd have to find a newer version at a price and condition I'm good with, which is harder than you think. Well the most fun is the hunt anyway right?

I guess next year we'll see how my collection has evolved and what has come or gone… also during all this time my wife is starting to grow her own collection as well, but that's a story for another day.