Enter the world of watch collectors and learn about the passion that brings fanatics together.
After a long day of travel and meetings, Quaid Walker almost always lands at a bar with quality food and a solid whiskey list. On a good night, he enjoys a nightcap and some people-watching. But on the best nights, a fellow diner spots the glint on his wrist.
“I’m there having dinner, and someone will tap me on the shoulder and say, ‘I love that watch. I’ve been collecting them for years,’” says Walker, the founder of the luxury watch resale platform Bezel, an Equinox Circle partner. “People who like watches love to talk about watches, and they love to meet other people that talk about watches, more so than any culture I’ve been a part of. It’s unique because you can go anywhere and find yourself in conversation with a fellow collector for hours.”
Here, Walker speaks about the ins and outs of watch collector culture — the personality types, the networking opportunities, the rise of women collectors, love stories, and more — and the unique community that comes from obsessing (just a little) over beautiful timepieces.
How would you describe the contemporary collector culture and community?
“It’s very similar to other collecting passions in that I notice a lot of overlap with classic car collectors and other subcultures, but I’d say the main distinction is the grassroots feel of it. Watch collectors see each other out in the wild, and they strike up conversations. Always. I think it’s a bit like a secret club. You recognize someone else’s watch, and you say hi, and because so many influential people collect watches, it’s an awesome networking event. I hear stories all the time about how watch collecting opened professional doors for people — and that’s happened to me, too. I can’t tell you how often I’ve been introduced to someone because I collect watches and started Bezel. And it always feels organic.
“That’s not to say there aren’t organized events. There are a ton of options, whether it's digital — everything from Reddit to Discord to WhatsApp — or physical. Actually, Instagram is where a lot of the community spends its time just because of the visual nature of what we’re sharing. There are folks I follow on Instagram, and we’ve never met in person — I couldn’t tell you how tall they are, but I can tell you exactly what watches they have and what their wrists look like.”
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And what about physical events? Are we talking about conference-sized meet-ups or just people getting together at a bar for good whiskey to show their watches?
“[Laughs] The watch world loves whiskey. I think it's probably the latter on a more frequent basis — like anywhere from a small watch group to just meeting at a bar and chatting about watches. Everyone brings the watch they want to showcase, and they swap watches and try them on. It’s funny, they always take the same photo at all these events where it’s almost like a sports team — you know, hands in a circle, 1, 2, 3, with the watches in the photo.
“Many [collectors] love going to those organized meet-ups. It’s funny, I don’t go to a ton, but people in our office do. It really depends on your personality, and it’s all part of the culture. And I think that’s what I love about it — that it’s a spectrum, and you can be the grassroots collector who likes the random encounters while traveling, or you can dive into all the organized events or something in between.”
I’m curious to hear more about your “in the wild” moments while traveling. What’s the most unexpected or interesting interaction you’ve had?
“It sounds cliché and silly, but there are so many of them, and it’s such a facet of my life now that I can’t isolate one or two interactions from it all. It’s impossible not to notice watches everywhere I go. I always have to apologize when I’m at dinner with friends and in conversation and, suddenly, I'm looking at the guy's wrist next to me.
“Maybe it’s someone collecting a particular Rolex, and I have the same Rolex, so we talk it up. That’s happened multiple times — I see the person next to me is wearing the same watch, and we’re like, ‘Hey! Yeah!’ But then you also see pieces out in the wild, and you’re like, ‘Mind blown — holy — oh my God.’”
Have you ever been starstruck by a stranger’s watch?
“All the time. It happens a lot for me when I'm traveling because it's when I'm by myself the most. I go to some restaurant or bar and sit by myself, and some guy or woman next to me is doing the same thing. And we otherwise wouldn't have spoken right, but I see their watch, and it’s something incredible, and I have to say something. We've [Quaid and his two co-founders] met investors by bumping into them and seeing that they're wearing a crazy watch and asking who sells them their watches and where they get them. We also get a lot of clients that way.
“I always joke with my co-founders that it should be part of our marketing budget — sending someone out to our team to cool restaurants and bars with a cool watch. In that sense, it’s a very social and expressive hobby — everyone likes what they like, and they love talking about it.”
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Is there a common thread in the community in terms of personality, or is it truly the passion for watches that draws people together?
“It's certainly a passion for watches. Watches can mean many different things to different people — some people love to romanticize their mechanical nature, some people align with specific brands. Then there are the flex culture people, which some would say is not a good thing, but I think is great. These people say, ‘I’ve made it, I’ve arrived, and I want to celebrate that with nice things.’
“That’s the fun part about watches — people come to it for so many different reasons, so it allows you to meet a ton of people from various walks of life. And you have this thing in common that you could talk about for hours.”
Are there people who are, for lack of a better word, “royalty”?
“Yeah, totally. It's similar to any category where you have celebrities that are tastemakers. If you’re just dipping a toe into the community, those are the people you know about — the Kevin Harts, John Mayers, Mark Wahlbergs, Ed Sheerans, and Tom Bradys, who are known for their crazy passions for watches. But then, as you dive deeper, you start encountering a subculture of influencers in the watch world — like the people those celebrities are getting those watches from. And you go deeper and deeper like layers of an onion.
“It's cool because the watch industry is predominantly male, right? But there’s been a rise in women influencers and accounts trying to change that. It’s like every sub-section of watches has its version of an influencer, and it’s pushing the community and culture forward.”
A cheesy question, maybe, but have you ever heard any love stories? I’m thinking about the art world and how many couples meet at auctions or museum galas and become art-collecting power couples.
“My mind immediately goes to a predominant watch influencer couple that met at a watch meet-up. Now they’re married and building a life together. There’s this stereotype about the watch industry — you know, the masculine partner loves watches and sneaks off to hang with his watch buddies and drink whiskey, right? But the industry is changing a lot for the better in the sense that it’s much more inclusive. There are a lot more women collectors, and it’s making it more interesting and exciting.”
I feel like the next time I’m out at a bar having dinner, I’m going to pay so much attention to people’s wrists.
“It's a slippery slope. Once you get too into it, you’re distracted the whole time. It’s like, ‘Watch. I want that watch. I have that watch. I love that watch.’ And guaranteed, if the bar has good martinis, you’ll see some good watches.”
Through Equinox Circle, Equinox members receive a dedicated Equinox concierge at Bezel that can source any timepiece upon request, $250 Bezel credit toward purchase, and preferred pricing on warranty products; plus access to exclusive events.