THE COLLECTOR
“I will admit that once I started collecting, I went a little bit crazy. Watches allow me to express my personality.”
Rob Cherry’s most precious timepiece is this Omega pocket watch from the World War II era. It was given to him by his step-father, who in turn had received it as a gift from his own step-father.
which I’d seen on a watch forum.” It was not long before Rob’s online odyssey brought Christopher Ward watches to his attention and in June 2008, he joined Hans van Hoogstraten’s CW Forum, on which he has become an enthusiastic contributor. He now enjoys the opportunity to become a watch designer by contributing ideas and comments to the limited-edition watches that are available only to CW Forum members. “It’s been great to learn from other people’s passions and to meet fellow watch geeks at GTGs (get-togethers),” says Rob. “But unlike many other collectors, I am a bit eclectic in my taste. I don’t collect just one thing. I like to be different, which is why usually I tend to go for something that I know not many others will have. I love that feeling when you come across a new watch and something inside you says ‘That’s it, that’s the one for me, brilliant’. “I will admit that once I started collecting, I went a little bit crazy.
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Watches allow me to express my personality. We have a smart casual dress policy at work (he is a London-based European civil servant) and I only occasionally wear suits, ties or cufflinks, so my watches permit me to wear something that says something about me. Everyone at work knows me as the watch guy.” Among his curiosities is a Finnish Suunto Core Everest Extreme, a ‘Stealthy’ Moray V1 Stealth diver’s watch from Benarus in the US, a Kiwi Magrette Regattare Moana Pacific cushion-cased model with a fossilised Kauri wood insert and a Christopher Ward C4 CF18 Royal Canadian Air Force limited edition with a vivid red dial. For Rob, a major criterion for his selection is that the watch should be legible (“My eyesight is not the best!”). He likes to have a date window but remains unconvinced about the need for the day to be exhibited (“Surely everyone knows that Monday is Monday…”). And he is democratic in his preference for a bracelet or a strap (“My collection is split about 50:50 on this. Bracelets are probably better for work as they go with my usual chino- and-casual-shirt look, but also look good on the rare occasion when I wear a suit. But like lots of CW Forum geeks, I like to change my watch straps regularly anyway.”) One of his favourite watches is a World
War II vintage Omega pocket watch that was given to him by his step-father, who in turn had received it from his own step- father. “I like the unusual idea that it is a stepfather’s stepfather’s watch. But I have told my family that I am not about to divorce Natalie just so I can carry on the family tradition!”
So it seems that there are some limits to what Rob will do for his watch collecting.
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