If you’ve been here before, you’ll know it’s this time of year. The time when we prepare for an important event that gathers many of us around a common purpose. Halloween? Not quite. Christmas? Think again. I’m obviously talking about the Bienne Charity Watch Sale, the third edition of which will take place in a bigger, better format but still as tied as ever to its roots. Those roots is us, the geek / enthusiast / aficionado / collector community.
As you can see on our new website, we’ve spruced things up this year. There’s a little group of us now running the show, including Cédric Schiess who’s joined me to co-lead the initiative. The event will take place at the NMB Museum, with an auction conducted by Arthur Touchot, co-founder of Marteau & Co. We will have unique pieces from a dozen Swiss brands around a unifying theme, a touch of orange, the color of Terre des hommes, the organzation that will directly receive 100% of the proceeds collected. We even have a new name, Watches for Tomorrow, corresponding both to the event and the non-profit we formed to keep things clean.
At the inception of it all, what started something I hope we can one day look back at as a movement, are the watches donated by individual folks from the watch community. In 2024, on an impulse, we scrambled together a sale in a few weeks with Luigi Bonifacio and Dario Ratti. 54 watches were collected; as many were sold. Last year, we had almost twice as many watches in total, including about 70 from private donors. This year, it’s not so much about receiving more, but rather about making sure we have the best possible lineup, to raise the most funds.
To help you hopefully consider joining us with a generous contribution from your watch box, here are some less obvious but no less important benefits I’ve personally found over the years, handing a few of my cherished timepieces to this great cause.
Spoiler alert; if you don’t need to be convinced, here is the page to make a donation: watchesfortomorrow.ch/donate.
1. Next-level giving
For those of us fortunate enough to own several relatively high-end watches, wiring a few hundred or thousands of Swiss francs to a non-profit organization is generally not very difficult. I’m not saying we’re in a position to do it every month, but it’s certainly within our means once or twice a year. The hard question is usually which cause to support. While there are so many, I’m personally confident that Terre des hommes is as worthy as any, especially after visiting their Africa HQ earlier this year—but that’s beyond the point.
What I mean is, by contrast, for those of us blessed / cursed with a visceral passion for watches, letting go of a piece in our collection can be much harder than simply parting with its financial value. Our watches are the result of hours of research, weeks of lurking, endless discussions with fellow enthusiasts or with ourselves. They’re important because of their provenance, their history, and how they were made. As I’ve argued here before, our hobby is usually not economically crazy because the difference between what is spent on a watch and its residual value often justifies the ROI from our enjoyment.
You can see where this is going. Parting with a watch you’ve loved is hard. Usually, when we do this, it’s in exchange for or to fund another watch. Here, not quite. Sure, you can alway purchase a new piece at the sale (I certainly have, each year), but at the time you let go of it, it’s a one way street. And that’s actually what makes the donation so special by my book. Taking something we really cherish and letting go of it for children in need. It sounds simple, and yet it’s not easily done. For having eventually managed, despite how first-world-painful it might be, I can attest to how the positive feeling resulting from the action is felt equally proportional to the effort.
2. Next-level meaning
I’ll never forget the moment my friend Carlotta thought I was crazy for personifying my watches, talking about my relationship with them and so on. It’s pretty obvious she’s the crazy one! OK fine. But if you’re one of us, you know what I’m talking about. We see our watches as more than objects. They have meaning.
That meaning is generally associated to how the watch is or was being used. “I wore this at my wedding;” “This was your grandfather’s;” “I wore this everyday.” When there’s a watch you care about but no longer really use, part of that meaning is threatened. Last year for instance, I ended up donating my Memovox. For years it had been one of my absolute favorites in the rotation. Beautifully made, robust, somewhat unusual and yet classic neo-vintage. Eventually, as new pieces came in, it was no longer getting much wrist time. When I saw it in the watch box, asking for attention (Carlotta, I don’t care what you think), it would just create tension in my brain. Sometimes, I took it for a spin just because I felt I had to.
When, after a lot of back and forth, I finally took the plunge and donated the watch for the sale, I was relieved. Part of that was probably about winning the fight with myself, as described in the previous section above. But also, I knew the watch had reached a new level in terms of its significance to me. It was no longer “just” the fascinating piece I wore on our family trip to California, when I visited the White House—under the previous administration, I insist on specifying—or when I was invited to visit the (overwhelmingly fascinating) JLC manufacture. It became the watch that could save children’s lives. Specifically, based on some figures Terre des hommes shared with us, that watch alone generated sufficient funds to take three children out of severe malnutrition and treat them to full, long term recovery. Now that’s a pretty heroic watch.
3. Next-level tax deduction
Okay, here, the phrase “next-level” is a bit of a stretch, but my OCD wanted to maintain some consistency in the headers. That said, we’ve smoothened the process compared to previous years, making it easier than ever to get a hefty tax deduction for donors living in Switzerland. And while I know the primary driver for most donors is not the tax cut, it is an important part of the equation, especially when we’re dealing with pieces of a certain value.
Up until last year, the process was a bit scrappy. We would first receive the watch, and the tax deduction was conditional upon the actual sale of the watch. That means that if the watch did not sell, it was just returned to the owner. And if it sold below our target price, well, the deduction was only for that amount.
This year, it will be a lot better for everyone. Once a watch is submitted on the website by a donor, we appraise it at fair market value. The value is then shared with the donor for acceptance. After the watch is handed over to us, it becomes property of Terre des hommes and the donor is instantly and irrevocably eligible to the tax deduction for the appraised amount, regardless of how the watch performs in the actual sale. In February, when all the tax deduction documents go out, donors will receive theirs from Terre des hommes. I want to insist that our new setup is very favorable to the donor because even if the watch ended up performing above fair market value in the auction, the donor could not, fiscally speaking, be eligible for a deduction of the delta. However, even if the watch ends up being sold for less, the donor is eligible to the deduction for the full amount of the appraisal.
4. Next-level coffee
If you’re inclined to take the jump and donate one of your watches, you may wonder how to get it over to us. In practice, there are many ways, and over the past two years we’ve received watches through the post, collected them in train stations or in corporate offices. However, for anyone donating in Geneva or Bienne, there is a unifying theme: amazing coffee.
For the second year in a row, we have the pleasure to count Coffee UP Geneva as our partner for the event. Switzerland’s first specialty coffee shop inspired by watchmaking, Coffee UP made it into the World’s Top 100 Coffee Shops the year it opened. The place to be for watch collectors and industry figures in Geneva is so successful that they recently opened a second venue, in the old town, earlier this year—for those who follow me on Instagram, that’s where the wild Patek Philippe golf bag picture was taken earlier this month. Any watch donation registered through the site can be dropped at either of Coffee UP’s locations, Rive Droite or Rive Gauche.
If you’re in the Bienne region, the path to excellent coffee is a bit more subtle, but still pretty straigthforward. Art du Temps is a key partner of this year’s event. Among other things, the auctioned watches will be displayed there ahead of the sale. And in the meantime, any donation can also be dropped off directly at the boutique, without an appointment. If you’re not in a hurry, I suggest taking the time to discover the fantastic selection they have, and more generally appreciate the incredible thought and effort put into designing and building the space. As you settle in, the team there is likely to offer you something to drink. If you choose coffee, you will be entitled to a dedicated Art du Temps blend put together by Cocuma, the wood-fired coffee roastery owned by Cédric Schiess’s family. In fact, Cocuma is also a generous sponsor of the November 28 event, providing coffee for all the attendees.
Closing thoughts
Look, at the end of the day, we each donate for our own reasons. Maybe you relate to all, some or none of the above. And if you cannot or don’t feel like donating, well, of course, that’s entirely fine too. Perhaps you’ll find some pieces you want to purchase from the sale. We’ll publish the catalogue a few weeks in advance. And of course, if any questions, just let me know, in the comments section, the contact form or Instagram. In any scenario, thank you for reading this far.
To find out more or donate, please visit the Watches for Tomorrow website.
