Building a watch collection is a joy. Each piece tells a story from your life and adds flair to any outfit. Here’s how to keep that collection safe – and stylish – at all times.
Every man should have a least one good watch to accessorise with. While other male jewellery moves in and of fashion, a serious timepiece is a staple that allows men to flaunt their style and stand out.
As time goes, you’ll be sure to build up a collection, with some watches for more formal or informal settings, quirky designs for certain looks, luxury statement pieces for the most special of occasions, and, of course, gifts – perhaps from milestone birthdays or a vintage Rolex passed through your family.
At this point, it’s simply not good enough to stack your watches on the dresser or hide them in a drawer – they are treasured, valuable items and should be treated as such. Here’s what you need:
Watch Case
The beauty of the watch case, or watch box, is that it’s a stylish place for watches, a safe way to transport them and a perfect display for your collection.
When choosing a case, consider how many watches you have, how your collection might grow and how you’d like to display it. For example, it’s easy to find boxes for up to 15 watches but consider if you have a favourite five you’d like to keep apart in a more lavish presentation case.
Ideally, choose a case with viewing windows made from tempered glass, custom insets for mounting to preserve the curve of your leather straps. If you’ll be transporting your collection, make sure the box is lockable too.
Watch Winder
If you have one or more automatic watches in your collection, then it’s well worth investing in a this winder. These clever devices gently rotate your watch when you’re not wearing it to keep the mechanism correctly wound. Not only do they look very James Bond, they mean your watch is always ready to go whenever you are and, importantly, preserve the life of the rotor.
There are a handful of key brands in watch winders, including WOLF, a family business with over 180 years’ heritage in hand-crafting watch winders. Their patented motors use nylon gears to keep the mechanism silent and, on most models, can be adjusted to the specific numbers and direction of turns recommended for each watch’s mechanism, making them good candidates for even the most finicky vintage Rolex or Omega.
Polish
Ultimately, watches are for wearing – and enjoying – and that means your collection is going to pick up a few dings and scratches along the way.
To help brings metal cases and straps back to a pristine condition, most watch connoisseurs recommend Cape Cod polish cloths for a gentle buffing. However, bear in mind that polishing actually removes a very fine layer of metal, wearing it down until it’s level with the scratch. So polish carefully and only focus on the scratched area.
If you have cheaper or vintage watches in your collections, Poly Watch is the go-to remover of scratches in the glass face – but it’s only suitable for acrylic glass faces. For sapphire glass, typical in modern luxury watches, you’ll need to have your watch serviced.
