One thing that never ceases to amaze me is the incredibly rich history of watchmaking. Whenever I have a spare moment, I like to go on sales platforms like eBay and simply browse. It often turns out to be a trip down the rabbit’s hole, as one search string leads to another, often discovering watches I have never seen before. I find it an excellent way to increase my knowledge and look further than the usual suspects. There are so many unique, even rare, vintage watches that can be found. Surprisingly, many can also be acquired with a relatively modest budget, as their rarity often goes hand in hand with unfortunate obscurity.

The latter also brings them into the vicious circle of the unknown, but people who don’t care about wearing an instantly recognizable timepiece can have a lot of fun with it. You might have to shed part of your ego because of this, but even that part of the process can be quite refreshing. One of my first discoveries this way was the Ernest Borel Cocktail many years ago. These so-called mystery watches have a disc in the middle, acting as its running seconds, that gives a kaleidoscopic effect. Powered by a manual wind movement, which in some models is even visible through a display back. They were quite popular back in the days as their wide variety of different sizes, case shapes, and kaleidoscopic discs testify. I would have never known if it wasn’t for a random search on eBay. I have deliberately not included a picture of an...