The title of this column may sound like I am doing some traditional Spring cleaning, and in a sense, that is correct. However, I am not cleaning cupboards and wiping down shelves, but I am going through my watch collection with a fine-tooth comb. The reason for this is that I have changed.

When I started getting interested in watches about 25 years ago, my excitement brought me in a wide variety of directions. I was all over the place and could be as passionate about a new Seiko diver as I was about a vintage Omega Constellation. In a sense, that eclectic taste has brought a lot to my life. It allowed me to develop into someone that I could have never dreamed of at that time, and here I am sitting behind my desk writing this WatchTime column for you. What it has also brought me is a watch collection that represents that development.
While watches are a beautiful thing, I do still like to wear them, and that was something that I was doing less and less with quite a few of them. As these watches represented my journey, I kept hanging on to them for sentimental reasons, even though some didn’t even spend yearly a day on my wrist. We all know the famous saying, “you never actually own a Patek Philippe. You merely look after it for the next generation.” There is much truth in this, and not only for a Patek Philippe. Most of my watches will outlive me easily, so hanging on to them now also feels silly. It has been a process, but I am saying goodby...