Horological Meandering

Ares501 - Mr Green
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POTM - April - Baron

Dear PuristS

New month... new Purist of the month
Back to Europe again after January POTM and CC
to meet our first Moderator POTM in this series
This month is "my" month and I'm especially happy and proud to present
Baron

Here we go friends let's see what Joe has to say about passion opinion and information

1. Please introduce yourself!

My name is Joe, or PuristS version of “Baron”. I have been married (to the same lady) for the last 25

years and we have one son who is studying medicine at university. I work for myself now but previously

spent 20 or so years working as a hedge fund manager. I hold a Bachelors degree in Economics and a

Masters degree in Clinical Criminology…..perfectly fitting for a hedge fund manager. I have lived in England most of my life.

I joined PuristS in 2009 and have focused my attention primarily on three watch manufacturers; Rolex, Patek and JLC.

I have Omega and Panerai in there too, but just 1 or 2.  I suspect more Omega to come. I have co-Moderated the Rolex forum for the last 3 years or so.

Genuinely, I have no recollection how I came across PuristS. I like to think of it as serendipity.

How do I view being one of PuristS? Simple…..it is a great club. It is a place where you get to

meet other watch collectors and a place where one can exchange one’s love and appreciation

for the watches in our own collection and appreciate those in others. The biggest part of it, though,

is the GTGs that occur throughout the year. Over the years, I have met people who I now consider genuine friends.

Actually, more like brothers. These are not just acquaintances, but people who are very close.

That is absolutely the best part of being a PuristS member.

3. What watch are you wearing today and how you choose watch “of the day”?

Today, I am wearing a Patek Philippe 5110G. I plan the watches that I am going to wear over the coming two weeks.

A part of this process is that I keep my watches in a London safebox, but live 3 hours from London.

So, when I visit London, I have made my plans for which watches to withdraw and which ones get returned.

There tends to be a 2-week cycle and I will wear 2-3 watches over that period. Why the 5110G today?

Well, actually, it is partly because of posts about the 5110 on the forum. These posts reminded me just how long it has been since I had my 5110G on my wrist.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

       4. What is your favorite watch/brand/complication?

Sentimentality tells me JLC. Sportiness and robustness tells me Rolex.

Elegance tells me Patek Philippe. I have an equal number of each manufactures in my collection.

I think if push came to shove, the Rolex 1665 Mk2 Patent Pending would qualify as my favourite

Rolex and the Patek Philippe 3448 as my favourite from PP. My favourite JLC (removing all sentimentality from the decision)

would be my Polaris 65 and my Retrograde Reverso. If I was pushed for an overall winner……3448. Probably.

In terms of complication, again I have no straightforward answer. I like simplicity in a watch, but if it is to have a complication then

I will take that on a case-by-case basis. For example, I have only two moonphase watches, but I would say both are in my overall

list of favourite watches. I also have only a handful of chronographs, but two of those would be in my favourites list.

      5.  When and how you discovered horology?

Uhmmm. I was obsessed with my first Timex when I was 10…

yet, I am told by my mother that when I was just 18 months I was taken to London zoo.

I was totally uninterested in the animals. However, when I saw a clock, I erupted into joy and started repeating

“tic toc” over and over. I was, apparently, quite obsessed with clocks then. I think I became more serious about

collecting in my early 20s. As my career progressed, so did my capacity to indulge my collecting.

As Blomman once described, I have a focused approach to collecting. I determine what I want to collect

and then wade in to get that target. I am not a patient collector at all. “Patience is a virtue?”……no it is not.

This is a lie perpetuated by people who have holes in their watch collections.

       6.  What element of the watch is for you make it or break it factor?

I don’t do diamonds on the face of a watch. Doesn’t make it wrong for others, but it is wrong for me.

I like simplicity. I am always attracted by what I call “purity” of the dial. It is not easy to define this in words.

The Patek 570 has a very pure dial. That always attracts me. I prefer white metal, but am very open to the warmer metals for the right watch.

       7. If you could design your own watch what would it be and what it would look like?

Patek Philippe 3448. To me it has that genuine freshness and timelessness to it that is almost impossible to describe.

It has a Factor X in its design that makes it ageless…..just like a Porsche 911. For me it is the finest perpetual calendar ever made.

       8. What is the watch that will last leave your collection and why?

I inherited my dad’s JLC when I was thirteen. There were many times when I needed cash just to live.

I knew my Dad would have understood if I had sold it… but I didn’t sell it. It would be the last watch to leave my collection….

in respect to the person who most influenced my life. I look at that watch and remember who I am.

       9. What do you love and hate about watch industry today?

I love the fact that no matter how fashion changes, certain aspects about a watch remain the same.

Take a simple time only Calatrava from the 1950s or 1960s. There is something genuinely timeless about it.

I love the fact that one can find a 50yr time capsule and it will retain its attraction into the future. I love the history

and mystery of vintage watches. I have owned a number of vintage Rolex with military backgrounds.

One can only guess at what type of life the watches have lived, but they have lived exciting prior lives.

That is a wonderful aspect to vintage collecting.

Hate is something that is tricky. I hate anything fake….whether it is watches or people.

Humblebragging is also one of my pet-hates. Collectors who use their collections to boast about their wealth….I find that distasteful and sad.

As much as I am a passionate collector of watches, it is also true that watches are inanimate.

They remind us of things that are precious. Those things are usually people or events.

Always good to remember that watches, ultimately, have no feelings. They are just pieces of metal.

       10. What was the evolution of your collection and how do you see it in next decade?

As I mentioned, I inherited my Dad’s JLC when I was 13. The first two or three nice watches that I bought were all JLC.

I still own them all. My first bonus went almost entirely on a JLC. That was some 22 years ago now. Funny, I have never

posted that specific watch on the forum. I bought my first Rolex (a GMT) in the mid-1990s (still have it), and from that my love of Rolex grew.

It grew and grew until it actually got too big for me. I owned watches I never wore, and a very big part of watch collecting for me is wearing a watch.

So, about 2-3 years ago, I began slimming my collection of Rolex and adding to my collection of JLC and Patek Philippe.

I bought a 5070P in 2009 so had a taste for Patek Philppe and have generally been adding to my collection ever since.

I see most bases covered between Rolex, JLC and Patek Philippe. About 5 years ago, I was having a conversation

with a Munich collector who had been collecting for over 30 years. He told me that, in his experience, most collectors

have a fairly major revision of their collection after 5 years. Another big revision occurs after 10 years.

After 10 years, things become more settled with nuance being the mode rather than revolution.

Give or take a few years, that pattern seems to have played out with me. How do I see the coming 10 years?

I think nuance more than revolution. The watches in my collection now are ones that I have consistently loved wearing.

I will add 2 or 3 in 2017. Most likely in Patek Philippe again. I see two or three leaving my collection.

So, I guess this style of approach may be my mode for the coming years.

       11. What other hobbies do you have?

I love running – probably do about 15 miles per week. I used to be quite fast,

but now it is just about the pleasure of the exercise. I also love skiing.

I also see my job as a hobby as I love doing that too.  I took up landscape photography

a couple of years ago and very much enjoy moving along the novice learning curve in that field.

       12. Your life motto and life philosophy is…

 Ante omnia, perseverare. Life is full of ups and downs. Sometimes we forget that downs are inevitable.

But with every down, persistence will subsequently see another up. When I was young, I was told that the

guy who just keeps getting up in a boxing match always has another chance of winning. I loved that concept.

There is nothing academic about it...just pure perseverance.