Coffee Morning Friday 18th Dec from ATG Vintage Watches on Vimeo.

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Omega Tuning Fork and Electronic Speedmasters

ATG - You’re from a famous Industrial Northern town in the UK right…? How come you’re a creative not an engineer?

Fecklessness, stupidity and stubbornness really. The secondary modern school I attended was geared for churning out factory or canon fodder. You were forced to do the entrance test for the local big employers, who at the time were Rolls Royce, Crewe Works and Midland Rollmakers, If you failed all three it was a case of “off to the Army for you then laddie”.

Essentially I didn’t have a clue as to what I wanted to do but I was certain I didn’t want to work in a factory. So I flatly refused to take any of the entrance tests, much to the consternation of my teachers. Then I heard about a thing called the Art Foundation courses and decided that was for me.

Unfortunately I was too young to enroll so I did a ground course instead and got my A-levels at the same time. I was a good way to find a direction and decide what you wanted to pursue. I was also a complete culture shock to a naive, small town northerner. The tutors treated you as equals, called you buy your christian name and took you to the pub at lunchtime, despite being 16. It didn’t take me too long to adapt though.

Crewe Station 1952

ATG - What interesting places has your job taken you?

Mainly Europe but no-where out of the ordinary really. I find the people you’re with and situations you find yourself in are usually far more interesting than your location. Probably the most surreal situation was in the Italian Alps with a German stunt driver, blacked up and in drag. He was driving on ice and playing the part of a black American female doctor on the way to a helicopter crash site. Hans was on route to his car for the first scene and came over to me and said “Hello Gary, I’m feeling a bit off colour today”, which was his attempt at humour but delivered in a Schwarzenegger like flat, monotone voice. You had to be there really but it did sum up the sometimes daft nature of what I do for a living very well.

ATG - What was your first watch..?

Can’t really remember in all honesty, I did have a very 70’s style Timex at some point when I was young.

ATG - When did you realise that watches were not just to tell the time?

At this point I’d love to utter some profound epiphany moment. However the truth is I came to watches pretty late in life. It’s a cliché but I make no apologies for it but my interest was sparked by arrival of my 40th birthday. I was looking for something to remember it by and thought a decent watch would be a good idea.

My first choice was a Heuer Carrera re-edition. I’m a motor racing fan and the fact that the Carrera was originally released a year before my birth (close enough for me, or it could have been a conceived year watch maybe) was all it took for me to decide this was the one. However the internet deal I’d hatched from a site in Switzerland was too good to be true and I never saw the watch, fortunately I did get my money back though after a lot of aggravation. I often wander if, had I got the Carrera, would I have been content and stopped at just the one watch? Probably not, knowing me.

ATG Does anyone at work notice your watches?

Very rarely and if they do they never really say anything. But then they’re all a bit blasé about international packages arriving these days. If anything arrives without a name on the label they automatically put it on my desk now.

ATG - I know you have quite a cool collection of vintage watches… Do you wear a different one every day?

Thanks mate, coming from you that’s quite a compliment. Yes I try and rotate my watches on a daily basis whenever possible. I don’t believe in safe queens so even the rarer and more expensive pieces get an outing now and again.

Omega Seamaster 200 'Shom'

ATG - How do you choose what to wear?

They choose me, I just pick a watch that vaguely goes with whatever I’m wearing on the day. I tend to keep them all running just in case I have a last minute crisis of confidence.

ATG - I notice a lot of your watches are from the late 60’s and early 70’s. Is there a reason for this…?

There’s something about that period I really like, and that applies to music, architecture, engineering and a lot of other disciplines as well. I think it was a time that was uninhibited by too much fiscal control which in turn led to a lot of madcap ideas going into production. These days it’s all seemingly about profit and how quickly you can see a return, too much short term thinking in other words.

We also seemed to have far more ambition too, whether it was Kennedy’s decision for man to go to the moon before the end of the decade or the British / French collaboration that led to Concorde. Both of which I doubt would get off the ground - no pun intended - if instigated now). Where’s this generations equivalent projects? Apart from the Hadron Collider (which I just don’t understand) there’s not a single project that is really capturing the publics imagination at the moment. A fact which considering the amazing leap in technology, materials and computing power I find faintly depressing. It’s said that the whole of NASA’s computing prowess at the time of the Apollo 11 could now fit into a mobile phone, so just imagine what we must surely be capable of doing now. When I was growing up the year 2010 seemed light years away and would surely be full of amazing science and wonderment. By now I thought we’d have a worldwide teleportation grid or at the very least personal atomic jet boards or such like. What happened to all that promise, potential and pioneering spirit? Killed of by the bean counters and health and safety, that’s what.

Seiko 6138-3002 FS

ATG - How many watches have you owned…?

I lost count a long time ago. I’ve experimented with an awful lot of brands and types of watches but found having a theme really helped give some direction. That’s why I restrict myself to mainly Omegas and Seikos these days.

ATG - What is the worst watch you have owned that was supposed to be good?

I doubt you’ll print this but probably a Rolex Submariner (14060). As a time piece it was exeptional, keeping time to a second or two a week. It felt good on my wrist and seemed like a perfect fit for me. It was also in amazing condition with boxes, papers and all the rest of the gubins that goes with them.

So what was the problem? Well I suspect the answer says more more about me and my parsimonious tendencies than the watch in all honesty. After the initial honeymoon period died down I became acutely aware of how much it had cost me and how easily it would be, for a clumsy oaf like me, to damage it. Every slight knock on desks and doorframes resulted in a tremble in the pit of my stomach quickly followed by a frantic inspection.

I know I could easily have had it repaired / refinished if necessary but once that feeling of doubt was instigated there was no going back, it had to go. I think, depending on your budget, certain tool watches are unfit for purpose and the Sub fell into this category for me. I consider Seiko dive watches more appropriate in all honesty, at least you can just wear and treat them with impunity.

Having said all that would I buy another? Without a doubt but it would have to be a 5513 (the lack of AR coating on the sapphire really annoyed me too) and preferably a battered example I can just enjoy for what it is, the ultimate tool watch.

ATG -What is your most expensive purchase?

See above

Rolex Submariner 14060

ATG - Is there a watch out there that you would love to own but can’t bring yourself to spend big?

See above again, plus loads of others but I have to admit the fact that I’m a man of limited means. When I started my search for a 40th birthday present to myself I never dreamt that I’d spent the amount I have or that it would become a hobby / obsession even. Not to mention the amounts of hours, actually make that months if not years, I’ve spent researching them.

ATG - Who do you think are making interesting new watches right now?

I’m primarily a vintage watch collector so most new watches, even Omegas, hold little interest to me. However I think Bremont are producing some very interesting pieces at the moment. I think the case design is a work of genius and having had the privilege of meeting both Nick and GIles their enthusiasm is contagious. I also like a lot of the re-editions but find the originals far more interesting and characterful as a rule.

ATG - Where do you see things going as the prices of vintage have been going up and up..?

I guess prices will continue to spiral. I have mixed feelings about this, on the one hand it’s increasing the value of my modest collection, on the other I can’t buy quite so frugally now. Plus it will mean collectors on a budget will be more attracted to the less well known brands and models increasing there profile and values too.

I’m sure we all lament the passing of the days when SM300’s could be had for £500 but ultimately there’s not a lot we can do about it really.

Personally I try and pick out pieces that are aesthetically pleasing to me, have an interesting history or technology behind them but aren’t yet in the public limelight. That’s why I like my esoteric Omega Megaquartz and tuning fork watches. You can pick them up for a reasonable amount, they were by far the most advanced and accurate movement of their day (the cal.1510 is still one of the worlds most accurate movements nearly 40 years later) and they look brilliant. Think Bootsie Collins meets K9 on your wrist and you’re half way there.

Omega Constellation 'Stardust' Mega Quartz

ATG - If there could only be one then which would it be…?

What a horrid thought, I don’t even want to think about that one.