For a long time, watches have been considered a hobby for men. However, the number of women who are attracted to watches is steadily increasing. One such woman is ST, who lives in Tokyo. She became interested in watches during her university days, and by sticking to her own taste, she has built up a carefully selected collection. "There's no reason to make a watch sparkle with jewels. As long as the inside is good, that's all that matters," says ST frankly. Her unwavering watch selection shows her sincere attitude towards her watch hobby.
Born in Tokyo. She became interested in watches during her university days, and after joining a regular company, her interest in watches intensified. She finds automatic watches difficult to wind, so her current preferences are "three hands, dress watches, see-through backs, and manual winding watches." Aside from watches, her hobbies include growing orchids, wearing kimonos, and collecting earrings.
Photographs by Yu Mitamura
Masamasa Hirota (this magazine): Interview and writing
Text by Masayuki Hirota (Chronos Japan)
Edited by Chronos Japan (Yukiya Suzuki, Yuto Hosoda)
[Article published in the July 2024 issue of Kronos Japan]
"A watch is fine as long as it's good inside. There's no reason to make a watch sparkle with jewels."
I vividly remember meeting Ms. ST, who lives in Tokyo. She told me she loves watches, and what she showed me was, of all things, an IWC pocket watch. Even a regular model would be surprising, but Ms. S owned a reference 5500 with a triple calendar moon phase, designed by Kurt Klaus in the 1970s. Why does Ms. S own such a rare piece that even serious collectors don't have?
"I discovered watches as a hobby during my university years. However, I had been wearing a watch since I was in elementary school. Then, as a high school graduation gift, my mother gave me a 1963 hand-wound Seiko Birdie watch. It was a watch that my grandmother had given to my mother. That was the beginning."
When Ms. S got her first mechanical watch, she felt that it was a good idea to take the time and effort to care for it, winding the mainspring by hand and having it overhauled regularly. For her, whose hobby is growing orchids, perhaps Phalaenopsis orchids and mechanical watches were the same thing.
Later, Ms. S, who wanted a titanium, radio-controlled, solar-powered watch, purchased the Citizen Exceed, which offered excellent value for money. "I decided to only have one watch from one brand. I already had a Seiko, so I chose Citizen." Wanting a mechanical watch, she later bought an Orient Star. "I wanted a Japanese-made mechanical watch. At the time, Citizen didn't have any mechanical watches. Minase didn't have any yet, either. My only choices were Seiko or Orient Star. The Orient Star was small and comfortable to wear, and I also liked the maroon strap."
Ms. S, who says she buys one watch a year so she has no regrets, is surprisingly serious about her watch choices. "I started researching watches when I was a student. I found Goro Yamada's book fascinating, and that's how I got hooked. When choosing watches as a fashion statement, the more watches you have, the more options you have." After graduating from graduate school and getting a job, her mother gave her a Rolex Datejust. Within a month, she spent all the money she had saved from her part-time job to buy a Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Duetto and a Cartier Santos Galbee.
"The Santos was the first commercially available wristwatch, wasn't it? My goal was to own one. But I wasn't particularly keen on buying a new one, so I bought a used one," says S. He says that getting the Santos changed the way he looked at watches. "The Santos bracelet has no gaps, so it gets hot in the summer."
After getting a job, Ms. S bought a pocket watch to use as a desk clock. The desk clock she had been using broke, so she thought a pocket watch would be fun, she says, but no one would suddenly buy a Taban pocket watch. She wanted a watch with a moon phase and calendar. "But there are hardly any women's wristwatches with a moon phase display and calendar. Even if there were, the letters would be too small to read. So I thought a pocket watch would be fine."
The result was the IWC pocket watch mentioned above.
"I chose this IWC pocket watch because I liked its design, with its triple calendar, moon phase display, and crown at 12 o'clock. After purchasing it, I sent it to the IWC headquarters in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, for an overhaul. I thought large watches were great."
She laughs innocently, but the jump from a pocket watch she used as a desk clock to a rare IWC model is no small feat.
The next purchase was, of all things, the Ophion "Velos." Needless to say, it's a masterpiece, but it's not a watch he would normally choose. "I was told that the Ophion was good, so I went to Chrono Theory in Ginza to see it. Since the regular dial would overlap with the occasions I would use it on, like a watch I already own, I chose the Singapore limited edition model with a red 12 o'clock index."
After getting her hands on the Ophion, she says she clearly understood her preferences. "In the end, I settled on a three-hand watch, a dress watch, a see-through back, and a manual-winding watch. Before that, I mostly had automatic watches, but while Rolex watches had good winding efficiency, other models didn't. But it's not good to wind an automatic watch by hand. In that respect, a manual-winding watch is safe to use, and with a see-through back, you can see the movement well."
Mr. S laughs, saying that his interest in watches accelerated as a result of his increased spending money after entering the workforce. His next purchases were a Patek Philippe Calatrava 5096 and, of all things, a Henri Caputo minute repeater. "The Patek Philippe was recommended to me at an offline meetup. Today's Calatravas are flashy, aren't they? This one is more understated. It was expensive, but I couldn't find a better one." He also explains his reasons for choosing the Caputo. "I've always wanted a watch, but the only ones available are men's models. They're also out of my reach. I don't want a watch with features I don't use. I figured there might be an affordable pocket watch I like that didn't have the features I didn't want, so I bought one at Masa's Pastime."
"I want to pursue what I love and find good things among practical items," says Ms. S. With so many female collectors emerging, the Japanese market is sure to become even more interesting in the future.
