When the other kids played footie...
...I was stuck in front of the local watch store. Always loved watches. My father gave my a quartz Certina as my first watch, moved on to Swatch when it was popular in early 1980s (still have a few NOS laying around). Admittedly, been through my fair share of fake Rolex's as well. Wore a fake Submariner until I was 18 or so.
I never had the money to buy a quality Swiss watch until I entered advertising on higher level than "junior" level and to celebrate a particulary successfull campaign I made for German cleaning products "Sofix" (sexy, huh??), I decided to treat myself with the Tudor. This was in the early days of Interenet trading and ergo the interest for good watches grew everytime I swtched on the computer. I paid $1050 for the Tudor and $1300 for the 5513 Rolex Sub.
However, COLLECTING watches – meaning actually KEEPING the darlings didn't start until I turned 28 or so – I am 36 now. Never was wealthy enough to have money stuck in watches. Not that I am wealthy now in ANY way, but I have different priorities in life – read: I am officially an old fart – and collecting became more fun than flipping!
My collection contains:
Panerai PAM23A GMT
Panerai PAM28 "Accidental"...you, Yves, know this watch very well.
Panerai PAM195 "Black Label Collectors Panerai"
IWC Portuguese ref. 3714-001 ...simply the prettiest watch in my collection!
Rolex Daytona ref. 116520
Rolex Explorer II, N-series (tritum dial and early "fat" bezel indexes)
Rolex Sea-Dweller ref. 16660 Mark 1...such a rare bird! Only produced for a single year.
Rolex Sea-Dweller ref. 16660 Mark 2
Giuliano Mazzuoli Manometro
Breitling re-edition Chrono-Matic
Omega Speedmaster Moon from the 1970s
Azimuth Jagdbomber "Haagen Edition"
Azimuth left hander Bomber made in 50 units only
Of course has the odd Swatch-models, Azimuth prototypes, digital watches etc laying around. But the above mentioned critters are what I consider "My Collection".
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