While it’s only the second edition, the Bienne Charity Watch Sale for Terre des hommes has already become a seasonal ritual for me. Even after a long day of work or a (usually more tiring) Saturday with the kids, I’m always up for spending time on it.
It basically combines my two favorite topics, watchmaking and humanitarian aid, with the 1 + 1 = 3 benefit that modestly helping with the latter helps reduce my guilt about spending so much time, energy and resources on the former. Most importantly, I get to connect with amazing people from very different backgrounds all united around the shared passion for watches and the desire to do something for a great cause – the team at Terre des hommes, our newly formed advisory committee, donors and so many others helping in various ways. So, then, what is it I’m moaning about this time?
When people ask me what it’s like living in Bienne as a watch aficionado, I usually respond with an analogy: imagine you have gambling tendencies, and then you move to Vegas. My three year-old post “Confessions of a Watch Addict Moving to Bienne” has the full story.
Now, being the one receiving all the watches donated for the charity sale has taken it all a step further. Imagine you have gambling tendencies, you move to Vegas, and not only the casinos are everywhere you walk outside, but croupiers also knock on your door to offer a game of blackjack on your dinner table or a spin of roulette in your living room. That’s basically what receiving 54 watches felt like last year.
Yes, I know, they weren’t for me. But hear me out. I had to prepare the catalogue. That meant getting very exposed to each watch, learning about its history, playing around with it, taking pictures and staring at it on my desk. In other words, building desire to own with much more intensity than something I would just see on Instagram or in a store. I had no idea how successful the event was going to be, and thought I might end up buying some leftovers just to help out. That meant spotting favorites and starting an imaginary list. Fortunately – I guess – we sold out.
Of course, not each of the 54 watches was a good fit for me. But there were at least a dozen I would have happily purchased, especially at the great prices we offered as part of the win-win-win sale. A vintage IWC Yacht Club, a Unimatic GMT, a titanium Formex Field, a vintage Tissot, a (stickered) Zodiac diver, a LeCoultre dress watch, an 18k gold Piaget, a Swatch Chrono and a Grand Seiko were among the ones that I kinda obsessed over. Seeing them, hearing them, testing them and learning about them just made me want them even more. I was constantly being triggered.
This year is even “worse”. With still two weeks to go before the donations campaign is wrapped up, we’ve already surpassed last year’s number of watches donated. Like last year, there’s something for every taste, and for every budget. I don’t want to reveal too much of the catalogue ahead of time, but I already have my eyes set on a Horage, an Omega, a Tissot pocket watch and an Ebel chronograph, if no one else is going to take them. For someone like me who refuses to be called a collector and keeps his “set” to no more than six or seven watches (six-seven anyone?), it’s all getting a bit intense.
Needless to say, the causes we’re aiming to support with this sale can’t quite be compared to some privileged white male whining about drooling over the dozens of watches he’s being trusted with to sell a few weeks later. But hopefully you’ll appreciate that at the micro-scale of my twisted mind, a brain is being squeezed with a level of intensity that it’s not quite fit to support. And yes, I’m loving every bit of it, including finding a way to complain – after all, I’m French, what do you expect?
