Watch nerds and pundits often recommend that new watch buyers, “Ignore what other people think and buy what you like.” For the photographer just getting into watches or for anyone getting their First Watch After an Apple Watch (FWAAW), that is well meaning but generally awful advice. That advice is almost as bad as telling young people to follow their passion.
Most young people are still developing their passion. Therefore, advising them to follow a passion they don’t yet or is in flux is like telling them to stare into a dark and empty room and don’t come out until until they are done. Other young people have a passion that doesn’t correlate with financial or emotional stability. Following those passions could be a road to ruin. All of it is dumb advice.
Further, Scott Galloway, expands on this idea to say “People who tell you to follow your passion are already rich. And most of them got rich doing boring & difficult jobs, like law, medicine, or iron ore smelting. Few people feel passion for the law (unless they’re on the receiving side of it), but these careers offer a steady professional track and help you build economic security — which you’re unlikely to get if you move to LA to try to become an actor, or if you want a career playing in a band, or teaching yoga.”
The situation is EXACTLY the same with watches. The watch nerds and pundits who tell you to “buy what you like” already have a drawer of 5,10, or 20 watches and suffered expensive mistakes along the way learning what they ACTUALLY like.
If you are a photographer coming to watches from cameras, you know that equipment mistakes are expensive. You also know that you need to learn the rules of photographic composition and exposure before you break them. Step 1 on your watch journey is to ignore what you think you might like and figure out what you actually like by learning the rules and avoiding expensive mistakes.
Ignore this advice if you wear an ascot or a cloak
If you wear an ascot or a cloak, please ignore this advice. You already have a style and know what you like. We both know you don’t need me.
Conversely, if you are among the hordes of normal dudes, who wear Vuori, Stio, Patagonia, have black luggage, shop Huckberry, and/or think guys who wear ascots are maybe-possibly-probably A-holes, as boring as the advice I am about to give you is, stick with it. Follow the herd for your FWAAW.
Watch enthusiasts advise that purchasing a watch is some form of self-expression, and practicing self-expression has therapeutic benefits that will nourish your mental health and maybe even help resolve mommy and daddy issues. Other enthusiasts seem to be stuck in 9th grade and find wearing all sorts of weirdness on your wrist akin to giving the middle finger to society.
For the rest of us, we know that society doesn’t care what we do and a watch likely has more in common a belt, shoelaces, or socks than a BetterHelp session. When you are starting out, you are encouraged to consider watches as fashion rather than therapy so your first order of business is to avoid looking like a pretentious windbag, a dude on special operations mission in SOHO, or ironically unironic at work or on a first date by going too big, too bold, too technical/tactical, or too weird and picking the wrong watch – even if you think you like it. Your second order of business is to avoid making expensive mistakes. Once that is done, you can worry about society and nourish your mental health through self-expression.
Be a sheep. Lean into the safety of the herd.
If you don’t yet know what you like, welcome to the club. Most don’t when they are looking for the FWAAW. All they know is that they want something that isn’t an Apple watch. That is a normal starting point.
Like many, your next step COULD be a painful, and expensive, road of discovery being lead by the nose by advertisers, YouTubers who are paid off with product sponsorships, and the hordes of well meaning watch nerds in forums who are likely at different stages in their development who might not be offering advice directed toward your current situation.
Alternatively, your next step can be to follow the herd and while you are starting your watch journey, stick with the icons.
Iconic watches are iconic because generations of dudes before you voted with their wallets and elevated certain watches to icon status. Icons are icons, to some degree, because they are just interesting enough, built well enough, draw attention but not too much attention, and they are easy to wear and go with anything. The icons are neither the most exciting nor the most interesting yet they all have an understated appeal.
Most icons turn out to be round, 38-42mm, black faced, stainless steel, with 20, 21, or 22mm lugs. Some would argue that the icons are boring. They are correct but so are blue jeans, flannel shirts, and leather belts. The basics are always a bit boring but, like photography, it all starts with the basics.
For now, forego the crazy colors. Don’t get a tiny watch because you think it will be ironic. Leave the duo-tone watches for the dudes in tanks tops on Long Island that I grew up with. Don’t get a monster size watch because you think it is impressively badass. It isn’t. Rather, you will look like the dude driving the Tesla Cybertruck to the Invicta cruise.
Stick with the basics for your FWAAW. A few examples of iconic tool watches that we can easily recommend are:
- Tudor Submariner
- Tudor Black Bay (any of them)
- Tudor Pelagos
- Omega Seamaster
- Omega Aqua Terra
- Omega Speedmaster
- Rolex submariner
- Rolex GMT
- IWC Pilots Watch
- Rolex Explorer
- Others
For the photographers and Leicaphiles reading this, none of this should be surprising. A Leica Q2 or Leica M6 with a 35mm summicron lens are the classic recommendations for photographers and enthusiasts looking to move on from Canon or Sony. These Leica options are the Rolex Submariners and Omega Speedmasters of the premium photographic world. You can never go wring with them. Would you recommend that new photographer getting his first camera after a Canon follow his passion and purchase a Phase One because they think they like it? Of course not. That might come later but for now, they should get the Q2.
Get the big brand. Avoid microbrands. Get it out of your system
Watches are expensive. The gut reaction by some I have worked with is to get something less expensive and “see if they like it first.” Your watch nerd friends might recommend a microbrand with specifications that are “better than a Rolex, ” or maybe “ a better value than an Omega.” This is well meaning advice you should ignore.
Chances are that you are reading this because you are looking for something that your Apple Watch can’t give you. That might be something cool, something to feel good about, a conversation starter, something beyond average, something to at least signal to the world that you are past the Apple Watch scene. If that sounds shallow, it isn’t. Every dude who wears a watch that doesn’t say Timex or Casio on it is doing it for reasons other than telling time. There are always other reasons. Welcome to the club.
The problem with less expensive test runs and/or microbrands, is that they have the same effect as diet soda. They fill you up but make you hungrier than you were before you cracked the can. Microbrands will leave the first timer questioning their decisions and asking themselves, “Should I have gotten the [enter name of luxury brand] that I didn’t get? ” A microbrand wont pacify that voice and that voice in your head will drive you nuts until you succumb and get the watch you should have purchased in the first place.
If you are familiar with the Leica ecosystem, you already have experience with this concept. Too many photographers coming to Leica that I work with begin with “starter” lenses. I am absolutely confident that you can make world class images with a Voigtlander, TTartisans, or Light Lens Lab, but that misses the point. In the same way that wearing a watch is not about telling the time, using a rangefinder camera isn’t just about the images you make. A rangefinder is about playing cameras and lenses. Premium photographic equipment is fun. Lean into it and do the same with your watches. The Leica Classifieds group on Facebook is the story of people selling off their starter lenses, trading up, and getting the Leica lenses they should have purchased to begin with.
We encourage you to scratch the luxury itch and just get the biggest brand, the most interesting brand, the brand with the most clout that you can reasonably afford and aspire to own. Get it our of your system. Own the Rolex, Tudor, Omega, Zenith, etc. so you know what that feels like. That is where you are going to wind up anyway.
It is only after you can mutter to yourself, “my other watch is a Rolex, Omega, etc.” that you will be comfortable wearing an inexpensive watch or microbrand and not caring what anyone else thinks. The microbrand world is fantastic. Wearing a plastic Tag Heuer Formula 1 watch from the 90’s is fantastic. Unfortunately, you are probably not ready for it. You need some time in the cooker. Save that for your second watch after your Apple Watch.
Spoiler alert, there is always a second. Watches are like underwear and socks. It is gross and irresponsible to have only one. Common things happen commonly because we are just big, hairless, monkeys doing big, hairless, monkey things. Present company included. There is always a second.
Your FWAAW should be no older than twice the age of your car. Not vintage. Not yet.
Rule of thumb: FWAAW’s should be no older than twice the age of your oldest car. This one is non-negotiable.
Vintage is cool. EXTREMELY cool. I spend nights and weekends servicing vintage watches. I have a drawer of vintage nonsense. I can assure you, however, for your FWAAW, don’t give into either your vintage desires or the chorus from the watch industry telling you that vintage is cool.
Vintage watches, like vintage Broncos, Land Rovers, and Alpa cameras are a pain in the ass and best appreciated from afar unless you are an experienced enthusiast. Vintage watches often need work, they leak, they are difficult or very expensive to buy without worrying you are getting scammed, most are overpriced, and unless you know a good watchmaker, you are going to have a hard time managing the experience.
If you don’t believe me, listen to D. Vaucher. He offers many more reasons that Vintage watches are Bull$hi&. I don’t agree with all of it but it is directionally accurate. Please save vintage for your third or fourth watch. We can help get you there eventually but you have enough to worry about when you are starting out.
Now get some practice
With your watch in hand it is time to get used to wearing a watch that doesn’t track your heart rate and really start to learn what you like by using your FWAAW as a benchmark. Don’t do like everyone else and run out and get a second watch the month after you get the first. It takes time to learn what you like.
Wearing a $2000, $3000, or $10,000 watch on your wrist is going to feel weird at first. If it doesn’t feel at least a little weird at first, you might be a sociopath. Get help. For the rest of us, weirdness is expected and be glad you are not wearing the gold, skeletonized, 44mm Chronoswiss you thought you like but I talked you out of when you bought your icon. The good news is that after a few weeks or a few months, hedonistic adaptation will have you forgetting you are swinging a few thousand dollars around on your wrist and smacking it into doorknobs. The world is filled with doorknobs you never noticed before.
Get used to the weight. Get used to the size across your wrist. Get used to the thickness. What you might find is that watches that felt reasonably sized or even small when you first get them feel bigger as time goes especially when you smack them into airplane tray tables. Airplane tray tables are your enemy now.
Try a bunch of different straps. Iconic watches are usually what watch nerds call “strap monsters.” This nugget of cringey watch jargon means that the watches we are recommending, in general, work well with straps of all materials and colors. Changing the strap can change the entire watch. Now it the time to see if you are a Liberace or a Captain Boring. If you find that you like the red alligator strap on a steel sports watch, the super polished bracelet, or neon orange Isofrane, you are welcome to go full Liberace and move on from your icon. If, however, you trend toward black rubber, brown leather, or a brushed oyster bracelet, welcome to the club Captain Boring. You are in good company.
Neither your Leica Q2 nor your watch was meant to be babied. Just about everything except getting seawater into the watch is fairly easily fixed. Learn what it can take. Learn what scratches it and what doesn’t. Get it wet. Get used to scratching the lugs when you change your strap. Feel the pain. Your FWAAW is your sandbox. Now go play in it. Every day is an education. Some days are more painful than others.
Icons are easy to sell. That green Breitling chronograph with the mesh bracelet? Not so much.
If you follow our advice, after a few months with your first watch and that bund strap you bought, you might learn that you are a Liberace and the icon might not be for you. Alternatively, you might get the second watch itch. As good as your first watch it, it may start to feel a little boring. Most people don’t wear the same exact shirt every day. A watch is no different. Most dudes find they need more than one and start a collection. Others buy and sell from time to time as a way to add variety.
The secret benefit of our method is that it is pretty easy to sell or trade back a classic watch icon. There are going to be 1000’s of dudes lined up behind you over the next few years who want to get into watches and there will always be a market for a Speedmaster, Tudor, or Rolex Submariner. You should expect to lose some money on every watch sale but you won’t hemorrhage like a Golden Retriever with a ruptured splenic tumor. Watches are not investments. They are more ski passes where the resort gives you money back at the end of the season rather than leaving you holding a worthless ticket. If you choose your first watch correctly, there will always be residual value.
You are more than welcome to sell your first watch at this point but think twice before you do. Even if you find you are the Liberace who eventually rocks the 45mm Chopard Mili Miglia on a red rubber strap, watch collections, like wardrobes, need basics. With this method you start to have the basics covered.
Then follow your passion and get what you like
Like a photographer who is getting past three light portraits and moving into the experimental stage of their lighting and photography, you already know the basics. It is time to fly. With the experience of at lest one icon under you belt, you don’t need me or anyone else anymore. You have at least a rudimentary framework to understand watch size and how a watch fits into your life and wardrobe. You will know if you feel comfortable wearing a $5000, $10000, or $15,000 watch or not. You know if you want something more shiny or less shiny; bigger or smaller. I predict you will also be open to consider microbrands, lesser known brands, and be open to experience some amazing watches you might not have been ready for a few months or years ago. It all starts with following the herd and avoiding expensive mistakes.
Welcome to the club.
Please feel free to reach out to us for ether your FWAAW or further recommendations when you get that second watch itch.