After engaging with vintage watches for more than 20 years, there is something I feel particularly strongly about.
Vintage watches have become known and appreciated by more people than before.
I believe that is a very positive development.
Watches that have endured for many years are now being valued in a manner befitting their worth.
That is a welcome change for this culture as well.
Truly well-preserved vintage watches are becoming rarer each year
At the same time, there is something else I have sensed while continuing to observe the market.
It means that fewer watches are being passed down each year in truly excellent condition.
Even when they are the same model, the time each individual watch has lived through is different.
That is why they cannot all be judged by the same standard alone.
What it means to acquire a watch
I believe that acquiring a watch means recognizing that watch's value.
That is precisely why I came to feel that I wanted to personally and consistently oversee everything, including the subsequent condition checks and decisions about preparing each watch for sale.
Of course, if efficiency is the goal, there may be other ways to do things.
However, vintage watches are not the same as mass-produced new watches.
Each watch has its own distinct history and individual character.
If we overlook those differences, we also overlook the very value this world inherently possesses.
That was the one thing I did not want to do.
Continue to assess each watch according to a single standard
That is why I continue to assess each watch according to a single standard.
Those standards were not shaped by market trends, but cultivated through the experience I have accumulated over many years.
Now that vintage watches are attracting so much attention, it is precisely because of this that we must clearly communicate when an individual watch truly has value.
To do that, I believe consistency is essential in both the standards by which I select watches and the standards by which I present them.
Engaging with each watch through to the very end
That is why I continue to engage with each watch, without compromise, through to the very end.
