How does a watch collector become a watch collector? Is it the number of watches he owns? Is it the money he spent in order to purchase them? Is it the time he spent looking for them, the number of complications each one has, the metal they are made of, the hours that each one took to be made? Is it the ideals each watch represents, the attitude it aspires one to have, the limited number of production perhaps? Is it the timeless character of it's design or the fact that it is accurate enough?
One fair argument would be that, to begin with, a watch collector is someone who owns at least two haute horlogerie watches. But, again, is it really a matter of quantity? Another, equally strong argument, would be that a watch collector is someone who owns at least one watch with some major complications (annual calendar, tourbillon, minute repeater). But, again, is it a matter of quality? Perhaps both of these arguments combined might offer a brief definition of what a watch collector really is?
Moving past quality and quantity one must wonder about the driving force behind a watch collection. Some may collect watches in order to acquire status, some may collect in order to create a family tradition from father to son. No matter the driving force, the result is the same: a great passion is born and nurtured. And where there is passion, there is life.
A mechanical watch represents a passion for life, that is the quintessential wonder of human intellect and engineering. Whether you like a Portuguese Tourbillon Mystere Retrograde or a Pilot's Double Chronograph, whether you like traveling or sailing, flying or writing, looking at the stars or exploring the deep water of the oceans we all have a unique common interest in complicated watches that, perhaps without even noticing it, brings us together under a common passion. And only this, if nothing else, makes us all perpetual dreamers.
Now, how can a watch collector become a watch collector, if he is not a dreamer in advance?
