The Grumpy Collector

Ending 2024 with gratitude and sharing a tried and true approach for collecting by playing the "long game" with the watches and things we love.

Ride along as the Grump applies the theory of constraints on his watch collection to reduce it to a more manageable size through curation by focusing on value, quality, sentimentality, and purpose. Nearly 60 watches will enter, but only 30 will remain!!!

You've heard the rest, now hear the best, of a Watches & Wonders recap. In this episode, we don't focus on the new watches and novelties as much as the experience of actually attending Watches & Wonders and the other shows and events taking place in Geneva during that time. Get a first timer and insider perspective on what it's all like to be at ground zero of the Swiss watch industry during their largest trade show.

In this episode broken into 3 acts, the Grump recounts three sticky stories of watch repairs and servicing going awry. Some key messages and tips are shared that every single watch collector should know and remember during the course of ownership with their watches. Enjoy!

In this episode as we close the book on 2023, we do a personal state of the watch collection (SOTC) review, highlight some of the biggest news stories in the world of watches, and share our picks for the best watches of the year. Enjoy this hour of getting inside the mind of an incurable collector!

In this episode we cover some of the highlights of GPHG and hot topics and then dive head first into our main topic of what it takes to create, grow, and run a watch club. Learn from the Grump, who has co-led RedBar, Raleigh Chapter for the past couple of years as he shares how to create value for your members and keys to maintaining a healthy club to common pitfalls to avoid. Remember you can't do it all yourself!!!

In this episode we interview Martin Braun, watchmaker and watch-designer behind some epic contributions to the world of watches including the first mechanical watch to tell sunrise and sunset to reinventing and reinvigorating the moonphase complication. We cover Martin's past, present, and future in and around the world of watches.

REMINDER: The show notes for this and every episode can always be found at: www.TheGrumpyCollector.com.

At this point we all know the major releases that were Watches & Wonders 2023, THE largest trade show of the year for the Swiss and broader watch industry. But, do you know which were the strongest and weakest offerings as gauged by the Grump? We'll pick apart the new releases by Rolex, Patek Philippe, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Panerai, IWC, Cartier, Vacheron, and many others. If you are looking for the most comprehensive yet curated review of all the new watch releases, you've come to the right place.

As always, show notes for this and all past episodes can be found at www.TheGrumpyCollector.com.

The grump has been away for awhile, but is BACK!  We get caught up hearing about traveling through Europe with just a single watch (gasp!), the state of the watch collection (what watches were added and removed during 2022), and finally what are the Grump's predictions for watches in 2023.  It's a full packed episode, hope you enjoy!

Get the scoop on all the activities, events, and parties during the first ever New York Watch Week, aka the trifecta of watch events that took place between October 19-23, 2022.  This included RedBar Global Meetup, WatchTime NYC, and Worn & Wound's Wind Up Watch Fair.  Hear first-hand what it was like to attend all the events and things to keep in mind if you want to attend similar events in the future.  Learn from the Grump's mistakes!