Gary Getz is one of the Leading Watch Collectors in the World and a Key Figure in the Global Watch Collecting Community. He has an exceptional and diverse collection of watches, featuring pieces from mainstream brands, independent watchmakers, and vintage pieces. Gary frequently shares his collecting-wisdom on Quill & Pad, and being an accomplished photographer, has one of the best Instagram watch pages (@garyg_1), enough to make one drool. It is a pleasure to have the opportunity to interview him for Katsbling.
[Kunal Khemka] Hi Gary, Welcome to Katsbling and a Huge Thanks for this opportunity to interview you. I do not recall exactly when I first learnt about you. It must have been on one of the watch groups on Facebook. Now I am an avid follower of you on Instagram and Quill & Pad. Your Instagram posts and published articles on Quill & Pad are a huge source of learning and inspiration for me.
Please tell me a bit about yourself, especially your watch collecting journey. Did you have an interest in watches and clocks when growing up? How did the interest in horology come about? Initially, which brands, and type of watches did you collect? And how did this person evolve into the Gary Getz who is one of the Top Watch collectors in the world.
[Gary Getz] Thanks for inviting me! It’s always great to talk with a fellow enthusiast and share views with our watch community.
Like many people, my starting point was a watch owned by my Grandfather – a pocket watch that I still own today. It’s not at all valuable in monetary terms but I always associated it with him and on the occasions when he would pop open the back cover I was amazed by the shiny bits and moving balance and gears.
I was about 10 years old when my Dad bought me my first watch of my own, a Timex Marlin. On a student trip to Europe, I bought the first watch I paid for myself: a Bucherer chronometer with a blue dial that I still have. For years after that, the interest was strong, but the wallet was weak! It wasn’t until the early 1990s that I discovered Jaeger-LeCoultre and bought my first Reverso, and the early 2000s that I became aware of the world of independent watchmaking. It’s been a slippery slope since then! At that time the forums, including PuristS and TimeZone, were an immense influence on me and a wonderful source of learning; I can credit the friends I made there, many of whom I still see in person today, for helping me to refine my tastes and find my way through the collecting journey so far.
[KK] Which are some of your favorite watch brands? And why?
[GG] I’ve bought and owned more JLC watches than any other brand; there’s something about their history as the industry’s leading movement developer that always appealed to me, and the Reverso in its many forms is a watch that fits me well and that I enjoy wearing.
Among the big brands, for me it’s primarily Lange, Patek Philippe, and Vacheron Constantin that have taken other central roles. Each does beautiful work and covers the gamut from very simple watches to amazingly complicated ones; and as I’ve had the opportunity to get to know people at each brand my interest has become a personal one as well as a horological one.
[KK] Favorite type of watches? Favorite type of complications and grand complications?
[GG] My interests, and my collection, are eclectic! If I count them up, it seems that somehow, I’ve managed to own a bunch of different chronographs over the years, as well as a variety of calendar and perpetual calendar pieces, so perhaps those rise to the top of the list. And I had a tourbillon phase, but over the past few years have sold off a few of those.
While I do own a select set of vintage watches, I’m primarily interested in contemporary watchmaking and in supporting the work of living watchmakers who are creating tomorrow’s vintage masterpieces.
My favorite high complications are chiming watches, but excellent ones are hugely expensive! I’ve only owned one, a Reverso Repetition Minutes that I bought over a dozen years ago from a friend and that I still enjoy.
[KK] You are an ardent supporter of Independent Watchmaking. What led you to go down this path? Among the independents, who are your favorites? Any memorable story or experience with an independent watchmaker which you would like to share here?
[GG] Where to start with independent watchmakers? Let’s just say that I’m honored to know many of the greats, including Dufour, Voutilainen, Halter, Journe, Forsey, Gauthier, Ballouard, Speake, Asaoka, the Grönefelds and the Habrings – the list goes on and on – and to own their watches. And the new generation of brilliant young makers, including Rexhep Rexhepi, Gael Petermann and Florian Bedat, Luca Soprana, and Raul Pages, very much has my attention – and I believe they deserve the attention of the whole watch world.
One of my sayings is “meet the maker, want the watch.” Once I was introduced by California indie enthusiast and dealer Tim Jackson to some of the independent watchmakers I was smitten.
Favorite experiences? Certainly visiting Mr. Dufour at his atelier is a magical occasion for anyone who has had the chance, and workshop visits in general, whether to a place that operates with the surgical precision of Gauthier or Voutilainen or one that somehow creates beauty out of complete squalor like Vianney Halter’s atelier, are always worth the trip.
When it comes to buying from an independent the top experience had to be commissioning with dear friends a set of six Masterpiece Chronographs by Kari Voutilainen. The process took several years, and I know we drove Kari crazy with our requests, but they are the ultimate “buddy watches” and I wouldn’t trade that journey for anything.
[KK] While reading your articles, especially your ‘Why I bought it series,’ I always get the impression that you have a thought process or framework that goes into buying a watch. And you try and sell a watch to make way for the new watch. Could you please elaborate a bit on this thought process?
[GG] It’s getting tougher to be thoughtful these days, as appealing watches are often snapped up as soon as – or even before – they are announced! That said, when it comes to considering an individual watch, I think hard about whether it is one of the best of its type, whether it is fully representative of the core skills and values of the brand or maker, whether it is a coherent overall design that meshes aesthetics and mechanics seamlessly, and of course whether there’s a “wow” factor on first impression that persists on second and third viewing.
When it comes to vintage, it’s about a combination of historical importance and my own tastes. I own a Patek Ref. 1526, the first-ever serially produced perpetual calendar wristwatch. It’s a piece that isn’t a darling of collectors, but I think history is on my side and I happen to love the way it looks and wears. The same goes for my Matthey-Tissot Type 20 “big eye” chronograph: people pay a lot more for the Breguet version, but Matthey-Tissot actually made all of the watches and I appreciate that.
At the level of my total assortment, I do try to strike a balance among foundational watches that can be the core of any serious collection, patronage watches that support the independents, and fun watches that simply strike my fancy and that sometimes, but not always, are long-term keepers.
And as you say, I do sell to buy! I wish that I had infinite resources, but no such luck; so, another consideration when I consider buying any piece is asking “what piece in my current set do I love less than this one?” If I can’t answer the question, I usually don’t buy.
[KK] You are also a world-class photographer. Your watch photos on your Instagram page are breathtaking. How did the passion for photography come about?
[GG] Thanks very much! Again, the answer is the forums, and PuristS in particular, where there was a common practice of posting what we called “wrist scans” – often literally a scanner shot of someone’s hairy wrist with a watch on it.
I began posting some pretty bad shots but eventually managed to turn things around when a friend introduced me to my teacher Ming Thein, who of course these days has his own watch brand. Ming imparted several of his secrets of product and watch shooting, and I’ve taken tens of thousands of photos since, polishing my approach, and trying new methods and angles to sustain my interest and provide a bit of variety to the kind folks who look at my photos.
[KK] What are your thoughts on the current desire for ‘hype watches’? Especially steel sports models from select brands. There is an abundance of liquidity chasing hype watches. And from the supply side there is artificial scarcity, which leads to practices such as bundling, and huge premiums; both at the Authorized Dealers (AD) and Grey Market. We live in a world where even the even the Ming’s and Kurono’s are first-come-first served and highly sought after, and often flipped. What are your thoughts on all this?
[GG] What a mess! This topic is worth a much longer discussion; I’ve written on aspects of it from time to time on Quill & Pad and I’m sure to return to it there sometime soon.
For me, the fundamental driver is that watches have made the transition from being a niche hobby for enthusiasts, to being a mainstream luxury consumer category, with all the good and bad that brings with it.
One result is that status-seeking, low-information buyers are rushing to acquire hype watches and are willing to pay big premiums to have them; the natural knock-on effect is that some brands, retailers and distributors are happy to force bundling, engage in self-dealing between their authorized and secondary market arms, and manipulate supply for some lower-volume brands to pump up the resale values.
What goes up does come down, however; while I’m confident that as with the vintage car boom of the past couple of decades there will be some brands and references whose high recent value endures, we are already seeing softening in demand and resale prices for others.
[KK] It seems many collectors today are fearful of walking into an AD and the boutiques of certain brands and asking to try on certain pieces for fear of being laughed at or even ridiculed. Given this, a) How does a collector who does not have a reputation among AD’s and Brands or ‘purchase history’ navigate this terrain? What could he or she buy and not feel ‘left out’? b) What advice would you give to a complete newbie or a novice collector just starting out or wishing to upgrade on his watch collecting journey?
[GG] If you go into an AD or boutique and express genuine interest and enthusiasm and are treated poorly, leave, and don’t go back! I’ve had good luck over the years going into dealers in places where I’m not known and simply engaging the salespeople with questions that make it clear that I’m interested in learning and already know a thing or two – without being condescending or baffling them with trivia. More often than not, the eventual response is the sought-after “I have something in the safe you might like to see…”
The other thing is that there are a lot of brands out there! With the rise of single brand boutiques this is a bit tougher, but if you are at a multi-brand retailer it often works well to say something like “I love the Submariner (or Journe Chronometre Bleu, or Vacheron Overseas) but they are of course really tough to get – what other brands do you have that I might be interested in seeing?” Retail reps spend more time than they’d like saying that no, you can’t have the same watch that the last twenty customers asked for, and most of them will be happy to introduce you to a Parmigiaini or Bulgari or Omega or Hermes that you might just love.
[KK] Other than your involvement with the GPHG, Quill & Pad and social media, you do not really occupy a formal position in the industry. But when you speak, write, and post something, I am 100% sure everybody in the collector community, including brand CEO’s and senior leadership, put their pens down, stand to attention and listen to you. I just wanted to say that the presence of Gary Getz on watch forums and social media is a Real Asset to the world of horology. And with this, thanks so much for your valuable time. It has been a real pleasure interviewing you.
[GG] My pleasure entirely! I really respect your openness and enthusiasm and all that you do to promote our hobby and build our community.
