Winning the Champions League with Real Madrid is impressive. Clinching a third division title with the second smallest budget can be even more of an achievement. It’s the same with watches. I love it when brands defeat strict cost constraints in design, materials and function to pull off surprisingly neat pieces. For the price of a car, the watch better be amazing. For orders of magnitude less, making it great is remarkable.
My lust for higher end watches has somewhat flattened over the years. Rather than a perpetual arms race towards the next best thing I could afford, I’ve organically settled on a small number of pieces with which I grow memories over time. Typically one with me at home, the few others at the safe deposit. But I didn’t want that to be the end of buying watches. I love the hunt, and I love that honeymoon period when the brain gets surprised every time it stares at the wrist. I also enjoy sometimes wearing a watch that’s just a bit less serious, a bit more humble. That’s how I got into “cheap” watch thrills.
Defining “cheap”
When I say “cheap” here, I mean it purely in the financial sense. “Inexpensive” – not referring to quality, or lack of. Nothing pejorative. But I won’t go into specific amounts. It’s all relative in this game. My cheap is someone else’s expensive, and my expensive is someone else’s cheap. I always think of my friend and serious collector who pulls out his five digit Sub for heavy duty I would barely consider doing with my G-Shock.
Cheap here is not just compared to whatever other watches I have. I think of it as what I can spend at close to zero opportunity cost, not really taking away from anything else. Such amounts also imply there’s so much less to worry about. No weight on the mind, no insurance paperwork, no process when leaving the house. The fact that most of the expense can be easily recovered by selling the watch makes it even easier.
Types of watches
I’m fortunate that my taste happily wonders beyond the era’s watch aficionado consensus. I usually don’t dislike what’s hot, but am easily intrigued – and sometimes enamored – by stuff you’re not supposed to want today. That gives me a lot of options, at great prices.
So many watches are interesting for various reasons, from a vintage manual to a modern quartz. It doesn’t have to be the perfect watch for every occasion. It can be big, it can be small, it can be elegant or it can be loud. It just needs to do something so well that it stands out, with a unique identity it’s proud of – not trying to be anything else.
The hunt
Living in Bienne, you have a pretty unparalleled offering of second hand watches, especially when it comes to anything Swatch Group; think Mido, Hamilton, Certina, Tissot, Longines, Omega and of course Swatch. Employees, over the years, and their families, have had access to countless corporate sales. The watches eventually end up on the local market; they’re hard to sell because so many people here have access to employee discounts already. So the prices are really low. Like all of us, I enjoy a bargain. Beyond the financial gain, it just feels like a win, and in the case of watches in Bienne, like being a bit of an insider. Not paying “tourist” price, but rather what you get when you’re at the heart of the industry. So yeah, a mix of greed and ego!
Fortunately, that’s not all. Great prices is something you can find online. What I love here in Bienne is the experience of strolling around the city, amid present and former watch production sites, and walking into the stores that sell those watches pre-owned – even if sometimes still stickered. Visiting Dario or Charles-Louis in the old town, Mario, Jérôme and Roan in the city center. We chat, we exchange tips, they let me play with the watches – to the point where I’m sometimes mistaken for staff. I try to help, when I can, with some extra info on the models or when something in the display needs to be fixed.
Dealing with minimalism
As you may know if you’ve been here before, I’m a minimalist at heart. The minuscule size of my closet is a running joke among family and friends. Watches have put that trait to a strong test. As mentioned above, I eventually managed, on the “serious” watch front, to keep it to a reasonable few. So how do the quicker thrills not disrupt the minimalism? Well, it actually works out. The places I buy from I generally half-jokingly tell to keep the box for when I bring the watch back. When I do, they usually take it in for a fair price, where I feel like it was all worth it and they still continue to make a living.
And then, even better, there’s now the annual Terre des hommes charity watch sale. It was precisely designed so that quality watches no longer getting wrist time easily find a good home, for a great cause. By the way, after a successful first edition, the second one will take place on Sunday, December 7 this year. I hope to see you there!
What is the best store in Bienne to buy those watches?