A few weeks back, I found myself sitting at the end of my kitchen island on a phone call with a man I have never met, but with whose collection I am intimately familiar. After all, CB ? better known as @onlybuyingtime ? has over 30k followers on Instagram, he is a voting member of the GPHG, and he is the owner and caretaker of, quite frankly, one of the most diverse collections of independent watches I?ve seen anywhere.
CB has been collecting for the entirety of his adult life, though his fascination with watches extends back further. As he describes it, CB had ?fun watches as a kid,? but it was only in adulthood that he really started collecting in a tangible way.
?It wasn’t like I had a parent or anybody that was really into watches. I think I really fell into it as an adult and realized this is something that’s very unique to each man. It tells a lot about a personality. If you are in a sports watch vs. a dress watch; the colors, the make, the models, the complications, all that stuff tells a lot about somebody. And for me, it’s just another level of expression.?
Modern Day Patronage
One of the great treasures of Philadelphia is the Barnes Foundation which is, for those unfamiliar, one of the world?s stand-out collections of impressionist, post-impressionist, and modern art. When I first moved to Philly in 2022, it took me less than a week to visit the Barnes for the first time, and, in a city filled with great museums, it remains my favorite, and ...