I love the article that Jeff gave us a link to earlier. It made me reflect upon why I collect and why I love watches, so I wrote a little collector's manifesto. If anyone else feels so motivated please add your own manifesto. I would love to know why there are other nuts like me out there.

WHY WATCHES? I am the son of a watch-collecting father. Some of my first memories are of going to pawn shops and auctions with my old man. I am almost 60 years, old at the time of this writing and although I didn't buy my first watch until I was around 25, I feel like I have been collecting since I was about 5. My father, a mathematics professor, was very interested in mechanical contrivances in general. His heroes were inventors like Eli Whitney, and Cyrus Hall McCormick. He often said that the best trade in the world was that of a machinist or tool and die maker. His love of machines passed down to me. From early on, it seemed to me that watches were some of the most fascinating and soul satisfying machines around.

I did not, as my father wished, become a tool and die maker. Instead, I went to college and studied history, with a slant toward economic history. So, aside from the sheer mechanical wonder of watches, I am fascinated by their place in history. I am fascinated by the timeline of technological advancements one can trace by examining watches from different points in the production of the various makers. The history of time-keeping plays an important part in the study of the development of the industrial economies of Europe, and later of the United States. The development of watch production in the United States is a fascinating part of our industrial and transportation revolutions.

At this point in my life I am both a collector and a dealer. I am in love with, collect, buy and sell both pocket and wrist watches. I try not to have more than a couple hundred in my collection at any one time but I may buy and sell many more than that in a year’s time. My favorite pocket watches are the high end production from various American companies including The American Watch Company, The Illinois Watch Company, The Elgin (National) Watch Company, Hamilton Watch Company etc. In the field of wrist watches I like Heuer, Omega, IWC and a few others.

I loved what Jack Froster had to say in his excellent article “Wanna Buy A Watch?” on Forbes.com which Jeff Stein point to in his recent post. However, I disagree with one point that he makes. Although I have some nostalgia for the good old days of collecting, I love the hunt today and although the internet has made it different, it has made it no less exciting….at least for me. My father taught me that as a collector/buyer I should stick with what I know. The internet, this forum for instance, makes it much easier for me to gain knowledge and knowledge is the key to success in collecting or buying and selling. While I think I have a good basic knowledge of watches and a cultivated instinct for what is right and wrong, I am a Heuer novice and there would have been no way in the “good old days” to gain as much knowledge in as little time as I have here on this forum.

Anyway, there you have it….the collecting manifesto of John Cote. Thanks for all the help I have gotten here…On The Dash.

JohnCote: September 3, 2012