THE EXCHANGE
Every watch has a story.
These are the ones worth telling.
Watches have a way of becoming part of the moments we remember. The one you wore when something changed. The one handed down to you. The one you saved for, searched for, beat up, or simply refuse to take off.
The Exchange is a collection of those stories.
Stories about the watches we wear, the people connected to them, and the memories they carry with them.
Take a look around. Read a few. You might recognize a little of your own story in someone else’s.
ENTRY 001
The One I Didn't Ask For - Trade Watch Syndicate
Some watches matter because of where you've worn them. Others matter because of who knew you well enough to choose them.
For my 40th birthday, my wife surprised me with a Sangin Instruments Neptune completely out of the blue.
I hadn't picked it out. I wasn't waiting for a call. There wasn't some long search leading up to it. She simply knew me well enough to know what it would mean.
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By that point, she had come to understand that my interest in watches was never really just about watches. They're markers of time. They become attached to people, places, and moments in ways you don't necessarily realize until later.
The Neptune doesn't get the wrist time it once did. And that's okay.
Some watches rotate out of the collection when you stop wearing them. Others become even harder to part with because of what they represent.
This one isn't going anywhere.
Someday, it'll be passed down.
The watch is the object. The memory is the value.
ENTRY 002
I met TWS via Instagram and instantly became homies. Excited to see what TWS grows into.
PS the coins came out sick!
— DEREK / SIXTYCLICKSAVANT
ENTRY 003
Rolex GMT-Master II and Relax GrumpyMaster - Cole
The day my son was born, I decided I needed a watch to commemorate the occasion. I didn’t have a clue about watches, but Instagram had been bombarding me with targeted ads for the Relax watch shop. They are a group of cool watchmakers who build Seiko parody watches to poke fun at luxury watch owners. I liked their story and, while a bit sleep-deprived, I landed on their black and blue bezel GMT and ordered it. It’s called the GrumpyMaster and I appreciated the humor as a salty patrol cop. A couple of hours later my first son was born.
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Occasionally, the GrumpyMaster got compliments from people who thought it was an actual Batman and I briefly enjoyed the shtick of showing them the dial so they could read it: “Relax it’s not what you think”. About a year went by and I started to really get into mechanical watches, spending a lot of time looking at watches online and thinking, “One day…”
I spoke with a buddy (Overheard Watches) who is a big watch enthusiast and he implored me to go chat with his AD at a local chain of jewelry stores. In a nearly unbelievable sequence of events, I convinced my Dad, a golfer who has never worn a watch for comfort reasons, to come with me to speak with the AD. My dad lives out of state and was visiting and predictably I had been yammering to my dad about watches for days. I had forced him to try on a couple of the Seikos and mod watches that I had begun to collect and he told me he would like to own a nice watch in his advanced age (my term, not his). Initially, my dad could not wrap his head around the concept of going to a store where they sell Rolex and not being able to purchase a Rolex from the display case. I explained how the AD game was played and he told me he did not want to wait for years. He shopped for around 10 minutes in the store before he landed on a blue dial IWC Big Pilot Watch. (A year later and it’s his daily driver and he wears it constantly and when my dad passes, that watch will be my most prized watch.)
The AD who had helped us asked me if I was interested in a watch and I told her “One day…” I’d love to pick up a Batman or a Bruce Wayne. We chatted about our respective time in the military and I told her about my very recent start on our regional SWAT team. She told me that she thought she could make that happen pretty easily and as a favor to my buddy (Overheard Watches). I thought, that’s cool, I better start saving up for a phone call in a couple of years!
The next week I left to attend my SWAT Basic class and while having recovery beers in my hotel one night, I got a phone call from her and she asked me if I wanted to purchase a Bruce Wayne. I said yes.
As Adam.Haidary on IG so eloquently explained, we are merely a custodian of watches and things for our children. I am building the dad lore into this watch and so far it has been worn on nearly every SWAT callout that I’ve participated in as a probationary guy on the team. The watch culture on the team and other teams is very strong and it has been very enjoyable as a conversation starter.
I hope that one day, when my son becomes a dad, I can remind him about everything I experienced with the watch and in the mean time I can continue to build memories with him while wearing it. I hope that he keeps it at as an heirloom to remember his dad.
His baby brother was just born and I reasoned with my wife that it would be unfair for him to not also have an heirloom watch waiting for him, but that’s a story for another time!
ENTRY 004
Learning to Value Time Again - Gupton
My first watch came from my mom when I was 15. A basic Nixon chronograph. I still have it today, even though it doesn’t get much wrist time anymore. At the time, it was just a watch. I had no idea that years later watches would come to represent something much bigger in my life.
I’ve been in the military for six years, and somewhere along the way I struggled pretty heavily with addiction and alcoholism. When I was 24, I finally started getting sober. Around that same time, I was attached to an infantry company whose platoon sergeant happened to be a huge watch guy.
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I noticed pretty quickly that he was always rotating watches. Different watches for different days, different ones for field problems and training events. I didn’t know much about them, but I started paying attention.
One day, he mentioned that he was selling a Seiko 5 Sports. I bought it from him, and I wore the hell out of that thing.
It became my everyday watch, and before long, one watch turned into several. I started learning about movements, brands, history, and all the little details that make this hobby what it is. That PSG also introduced me to the Sketchy Boyz Watch Club, a community full of military guys, law enforcement, and other dudes who just genuinely liked watches. I fit right in.
More importantly, watches gave me something healthy to throw myself into at a time when I desperately needed it. Instead of drowning myself in a bottle, I could spend my time learning about watches, talking to people in the community, and figuring out what piece I wanted to add next.
About six months into my sobriety, the Sketchy Boyz did a collaboration with Christopher Ward. I bought one to celebrate the milestone. It wasn’t just another watch in the collection. It marked six months of choosing something different for myself.
Now it’s been 806 days since I got sober.
In a strange way, getting into watches at the same time taught me to think about time differently. Early sobriety wasn’t measured in years. Sometimes it wasn’t even measured in months. I started living my life by seconds, then minutes, then hours, and eventually days.
One day became a week. Weeks became months. Months became years.
A watch used to be something I wore on my wrist. Now, every time I look down at one, there’s a reminder that time is something worth holding onto.
That Seiko helped start a collection, but the man who sold it to me gave me more than a watch. He was a platoon sergeant I looked up to during a point in my life when I was trying to figure out who I wanted to become. He believed in me, introduced me to a community that gave me a healthier place to put my energy, and unknowingly helped start a hobby that became part of my sobriety.
Two years later, I’m still sober. I’m still collecting watches. And that platoon sergeant I looked up to is now a crusty old First Sergeant.
Funny how much can change with a little time.
ENTRY 005
Vintage Omega Seamaster Deville - Dave J
I inherited this Omega Seamaster from my paternal grandfather after he passed. It wasn’t written into a will, and it wasn’t something he really told me about. It was simply in a box of his things, and my dad and uncle knew I was into watches, so they gave it to me.
As best as I can tell, he wore it up until he retired from NASA, which was commemorated with a similar-looking Marshall Space Flight Center quartz Hamilton watch that I also have.
He taught me a lot of things that I’ve tried to live out in my own life: always dress for the occasion, treat everyone with dignity, carry yourself with a quiet, assured masculinity—and that Blue Bell vanilla ice cream is the superior brand.
I connect with the Omega more than the Hamilton, even though the Hamilton is what he wore at the end of his life, for a reason only watch guys can really appreciate.
The heartbeat of that watch, powered by the motion of my wrist, used to be powered by his.
Even though he’s been gone a while now, I always feel a connection to him whenever I look down and see this watch on my wrist.
