Perhaps the main aim of Watch Affinity is to help you find and buy the right luxury watch for you. The time between deciding that you would like to make a purchase, and finally finding the right piece, can take a varying degree of time – sometimes this might be years ahead of a first purchase, 6 to 18 months perhaps, or for those who like to shop on a whim, perhaps only a day in the right boutique! More commonly, the timeframe would be a 6 to 18-month period; of course, a luxury watch is a big purchase and it is right that such a decision is given the time and diligence it warrants.
You can always reach out to us directly via our Contact page or our Instagram, and we will be happy to help where we can.
This is exactly what Ms. S did. She was looking to find her first luxury watch, having owned one or two other pieces down the years but wanting something that was a little more of a statement piece. She told me that she had recently visited a boutique with her partner and tried on an Audemars Piguet CODE 11.59 chronograph, which to use her words, had given her a feeling of empowerment. This is something that she wanted from her new piece, however she was unsure where to look next, and so decided to contact Watch Affinity for some ‘personal watch shopping’ help.
Personal Watch Shopping – Ms. S’ Story
Fortunately, Ms. S is relatively local, and so after some initial discussion she and I felt it best to visit a variety of boutiques in London to try many different pieces, in order to get a flavour of what kind of watches might meet Ms. S’ needs.
We started with a visit to the Harrods watch room to revisit the CODE 11.59, so that we could talk about what it is about this piece that gave her the feelings it did. We ended up talking at length about how frustrating she found it that ladies’ watches tend to be overtly feminine and thinking of something as “a man’s watch” is in most cases an unnecessary and unhelpful perspective to take. Why shouldn’t a woman be able to consider a 41mm chronograph? Or any watch for that matter?
Audemars Piguet CODE 11.59 – photo courtesy Ms. S
It was a really interesting discussion, and over the course of the day we looked at several different pieces from multiple brands, before finding that there were really two recurring ‘types’ of watch that she liked. Firstly, there were several pieces which quite comfortably fell into the category of chronograph:
Omega Speedmaster 38 – photo courtesy Ms. S
Breitling Navitimer – photo courtesy Ms. S
The others tended to fall into the category of a dress watch, although this category proved to be a little trickier. Ms. S was looking for a timepiece that ideally had an open caseback so she could appreciate the calibre and was (at least initially) hoping for a moonphase complication. We explored a variety of options, including a beautiful Longines which had a mother-of-pearl dial, a moonphase as well as diamond hour markers – all for under £1000. However, as the price might suggest, this was a quartz mechanism which was unfortunately a deal-breaker in this instance.
We continued trying watches from many brands, including high-end pieces from both Breguet and Blancpain. The reason for this being that, despite them being a little way out of budget, it serves a purpose to help understand what about a timepiece you may like or dislike and ultimately helps to make a more informed decision. This is something I would always recommend trying and made sure was part of Ms. S’ personal watch shopping experience. Here are some of the timepieces that Ms. S tried on over the course of trying out different things:
Breguet Marine Dame – photo courtesy Ms. S
Longines Conquest – photo courtesy Ms. S
IWC Schaffhausen Portofino – photo courtesy Ms. S
Blancpain Villeret – photo courtesy Ms. S
Whilst during this trip Ms. S did not make a purchase, she ended the day extremely happy at having been shown a much greater selection of choices and having a greater understanding about what options were available in the market after a personal watch shopping experience.
It was about one month or so later when I received an excited message from Ms. S telling me that she thougt she had found the perfect watch for her on a visit to Sydney, Australia. She had found a dress watch that would work for every day wear as well, that was an automatic movement with a sapphire caseback through which to enjoy it. The dial was a smart black colour, with a date window aperture that was the same colour, such that it was hardly noticeable. It even had subtle diamond set hour markers for that extra sparkle.
To my delight, it was even one of the timepieces that we had looked at during our day visit to London, a TAG Heuer Carrera. She had found it in the Sydney TAG Heuer boutique on Pitt Street, and as she was visiting it was going to be available to her at a very reasonable price. Sure enough, before long I was sent a series of photographs, and a message to say thank you for the help provided and couldn’t be happier with her purchase (and an assurance that the Breitling Navitimer is still on her list – no doubt she will be extremely pleased to see the latest Navitimer 35 releases from Breitling this year!)
Finding that feeling of your perfect watch is what all of this is all about, having something that you can enjoy every day – a watch that doesn’t just tell you the time when you look at it, but a whole lot more. Congratulations Ms. S and thank you for letting Watch Affinity be a part of your journey!
To ask about your own personal shopping experience, or any other questions, please get in touch via our Contact page, or via our Instagram.
TAG Heuer Carrera – photo courtesy Ms. S
You might also be interested in:
- Personal Shopping with Watch Affinity – Mr. C’s Story
- Watch Sizing Guide
- Introducing Watch Affinity Interactive Maps
- Watch Stationery and Gift Ideas
- Watch Books, Watch Boxes and more at the Watch Affinity Shop on Amazon (commissions earned)
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