THE CONVERSATION: PARTING WAYS

Not every watch in a collection is destined to make its way to the next generation. Sometimes, one just needs to sell a few pieces to make room. The editors of WOW propose when you might want to consider selling one of your own timepieces

- ASHOK SOMAN AND RUCKDEE CHOTJINDA

It will not surprise you to learn that the raison d’etre of this magazine is to support watch collectors in their hobby, typically by keeping them informed of trends and by offering our perspective on new watches. This is mainly based on the premise that our audiences are buying new watches, rather than vintage ones, even though watch collecting is about both buying and selling watches of all kinds. This means everything from Rolex and Patek Philippe to Landeron and Cortebert, and is a pretty daunting range; this explains why the magazine has probably never run even the names Landeron and Cortebert together in one article. You may correctly conclude that we are not addressing the purist vintage-loving set.

While we might look into that particular imbalance, in this issue we will address another shortcoming. WOW has always looked at the world of watchmaking through the lens of would-be buyers, rather than sellers. This is true even when we talk with brand leaders, or retail executives, because the perspective we publish is that of the buyer. You might say that we are buyer-biased.