Midlife Crisis WatchesThe Journal
40 entries · newest first
- Opinion
Slept On vs. Overhyped Watches: The Full Roundtable
4 min read - Collection
Building a Championship Watch: Kicking Off a Custom Artisans de Genève Rolex
Kicking off a bespoke build with the team who does this better than anyone.
4 min read - Opinion
The Rise of the Independents: What Actually Makes a Watch Brand Independent
A Framework for Telling Independent Watch Brands From Microbrands
8 min read - Opinion
Three Watches Each: What We're Obsessing Over at Shreve Right Now
4 min read - Reviews
Watch Strap 101: What Actually Separates a $40 Strap From a $400 One
11 min read - Opinion
My Horological Holy Trinity - Sort Of
Two watches earned this. One is borrowing history to get in.
6 min read - Photography
The Studio Evolution
Three chapters, one lightbox, and a learning curve I didn't see coming.
7 min read - Collection
100 (and Counting)
A look back at the year this blog became a real thing, and the posts that explain how.
4 min read - Collection
I Didn't Break My Rule. I Finally Had Time to Follow It.
On the Ming x Shapiro, and why the watch that gets you isn't always the one you say yes to first.
5 min read - Opinion
The Should Complication
What role does the word 'should' play in watch collecting?
10 min read - Opinion
There Are Only Seven Watches
Everything else is a facelift.
8 min read - Opinion
I Asked an AI for My Fundamental Watch Archetypes. Then I Graded Its Answer.
The machine found six. It missed the one that matters most.
8 min read - Collection
The Chase, the Cull, and What's Left
Purchase emotion and ownership connection are two different currencies.
7 min read - Collection
Has Photography Changed How I Collect? I Checked.
I analyzed 348 posts to find out. The influence runs in reverse.
4 min read - Collection
NWA: A New Watch Alert
How Louis Vuitton talked its way out of the handbag aisle and into serious watchmaking
6 min read - Opinion
Would I Start a Watch Brand?
The easiest time in history to start one. Maybe the hardest time to win.
4 min read - Opinion
Three Questions from the DMs
Conversation pieces, gateway watches, and a fragment about Breguet numerals
5 min read - Opinion
Watch Shopping in Boston: A Collector's Guide to Newbury Street
A one-mile street. A 600-foot block. Hundreds of watches tried on.
9 min read - Collection
If I Could Only Keep Three
An AMA question forced me to choose. Here's what survived
4 min read - Collection
Two Watches That Blew Past What I Expected
One watch that exceeded high expectations. One that exceeded low ones. Both are stealing wrist time.
7 min read - Opinion
My Top 5 Chronographs (This Week, Anyway)
Four watches I've decided on. One I keep not buying.
6 min read - Collection
140 to 40: What I Learned About Owning Watches
139 watches are doing nothing for you right now
5 min read - Collection
140 to 40: What I Learned About Buying Watches
The watch is only half the decision
6 min read - Collection
140 to 40: The Data Knew Before I Did
How 469 days of wear data, a want list, and two LLMs talked me into cutting 140 watches down to 40.
6 min read - Collection
140 to 40
Buying 140 watches, keeping 40, and what the run did to me
4 min read - Collection
The Watch That Was Always Going to Happen
The watch 99.9% of people will never recognize. That's exactly why I bought it.
4 min read - Opinion
Watches Are Terrible Investments. Buy Them Anyway.
A friendly response to @NYCWatchGuy's bull case, with sports cards and a 1996 Cartier auction as evidence.
9 min read - Collection
AMA Recap: Bracelets, Controversies, and What's Next
The AMA Files: Hot Takes, Strap Preferences, and a Daniel Roth I Shouldn't Have Passed On
4 min read - Collection
Taking Back Time
My executive coach told me to put the phone down. I ended up with 140 watches.
5 min read - Collection
What My Watch Measurements Say About Me
Diameter, lug-to-lug, weight: the numbers reveal a thesis I never set out to have.
5 min read - Opinion
Maybe I’m Thinking About Independent Watches All Wrong
Trying to make sense of independent watchmakers as a rational buyer
7 min read - Collection
The Strap Rabbit Hole Has a New Accomplice
The strap decision is a design decision. Now an AI renders every pairing before I commit.
4 min read - Reviews
Ginza to Nakano: Watch Shopping Tokyo in 48 Hours
From Ginza's boutiques to Nakano Broadway's vintage stalls, 48 hours deep in Tokyo watch culture.
8 min read - Collection
The Long Hunt for a Cartier Tortue Monopoussoir CPCP
Chased for over a year. Lost by twelve hours. Landed anyway.
9 min read - Haute Horlogerie
The Snap of the Hour: Chopard vs. Andersen Genève
Two takes on the quietest flex in watchmaking, separated by a single instantaneous click.
4 min read - Reviews
Watches & Wonders 2026: What Caught My Eye
I wasn't there. I never am. These are the releases that survived a week of open browser tabs.
8 min read - Opinion
The Watch Internet Has One Prediction for 2026. That Should Make You Nervous.
I read every prediction piece this season. The consensus is exactly what worries me.
10 min read - Collection
I Take Pictures Of My Watches. Here's What The Data Says
And why I still wouldn't buy a watch for Instagram.
17 min read - Opinion
AI Prompts For The Watch Collector
Your watch collection has more to say about you than you think.
3 min read - Opinion
The Velocity of Time: An Exhaustive Analysis of Release Frequency, SKU Proliferation, and Market Saturation in the Global Watch Industry
The data behind release fatigue: how many watches the industry really ships, and why the hesitation is rational.
2 min read