When I spoke with Erik Strickland for our ?Ask the Collectors? series, one of the topics we discussed was the idea of a sleeper watch. Erik?s a great collector of watches that fit into this category, and to get a sense of some of the most interesting and esoteric sleepers out there, definitely head over to his Instagram feed, and prepare to learn a lot about watches that are equally impressive and important as they are under the radar. We wanted to put together a guide in the same spirit, because there?s something undeniably appealing about a watch that does a lot, but does it in a way that doesn?t call attention to itself. And while Erik?s collection focuses mostly on sleepers of the vintage variety (and you’ll a lot more about this in an upcoming podcast episode), we think the term can also be applied to modern watches, which is what you?ll see in this guide.
The Tissot Gentleman Powermatic 80 Silicium, an affordable modern sleeper

Sleepers exist in areas other than watches. In car culture, a sleeper is a vehicle that appears to be generic or unassuming, but has been modded to achieve incredible performance in a racing environment (in other words, a hustler?s dream). When it comes to watches, it might be instructive to think of some pieces that are decidedly not sleepers, either because their greatness is readily apparent, they simply draw your attention immediately from across a room, or their attributes are generally well known to most. A Patek Philippe Nauti...