2025. An event-full year to say the least. This time last year, I was coming out of my last holidays in the military, busy developing this very website that you guys are reading from right now. Can’t believe it’s already been almost a full calendar year since I last wore my military jacket. Adjusting back to the norm was needed, but I think I adjusted well. More change happened, moving back to Switzerland, and this time, being fully independent working for myself. Working independently came with a lot of lessons and quick realisation that it ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. Having to deal A to Z all by myself, laziness oftentimes testing my discipline, developing my own daily routine, facing small problems/obstacles on a daily basis, but overall this year has allowed me to deal and handle with a significant responsibility, learning to make day to day decision makings, also making Plenty (with a capital P) of mistakes along the way. Overall, it was a great leap forward.
As much as I am extremely fortunate to be doing what I love doing in this world of watches, I do question myself if this is all that meaningful. To be blatantly honest with myself; it’s not meaningful. At all. I am not saving anybody’s lives here, nor am I creating a better life for an individual or a family or community or country. The satisfaction that I get from this work is actually quite low, which is something I was not expecting myself to feel this way. I realised that I am missing that little fire; that fighting, pushing myself everyday that I loved so much when I was an athlete. Hence why I believe this journey of creating and working for myself is more of an experience and growth stage of my life rather than something I want to carry on doing until I get grey and old.
Also, to think from another perspective, as much as I love watches and appreciate the history, the beauty of these human made mechanical pieces, they are just materials at the end. On a bigger picture, they are unnecessary. So I try my best to be in the moderation of appreciating what I love and thinking in a bigger picture of what is really important and what can I learn from the position that I am currently in.
Moderation; something I try to live by on a day to day basis. The reason I carry this mindset of “moderation” on a daily basis is due to the fact that I am dealing with materials all the time, and it is extremely easy to get caught up in this world of materials. But as mentioned above, I try to regroup myself to think bigger, to look at a bigger picture. What kind of man do I want to be in 1 year time, 3 year time, 5-10 year time? This whole part of balancing my life while working with material is a lesson of its own, which I am thankful that I get to have these challenges on a day to day basis.
Plus, watches aren’t my only love. Personally, there is one passion that will always be above watches; Sports. Growing up as an athlete until 21, sports will always have a bigger place in my heart than watches. My personal highs and lows are quite related with sports as well, with highs coming from Liverpool winning the Premier League, with the lows of tragically losing Diogo Jota, and Trent Alexander Arnold leaving to Real Madrid (rat)
Heading into 2026. What am I expecting? To be honest, sort of the same. Now that I am well settled geographically, also having gone through a full calendar year of working independently, I’m expecting a bit more of a plateau as I will continue to do the same thing as I did this year, but I believe in the necessity of this plateau. The word “plateau” might not sound positive, but I believe in building from the plateau; the persistence of doing the same work over and over, the plateaus will eventually become a springboard. Which is a direct quote from Steve Nash’s last 3 minutes of his 2017 hall of fame speech. (highly recommend) So yea, I am hoping to learn more, gain more experience, make more mistakes, learn from those mistakes from doing more of the same work as 2025. But I am confident that this time next year, I will look back and realise how much more I have learned, also how much more stupid I can be for making more mistakes. Excited for what’s ahead. Happy new year to all you anonymous readers and wish you a wonderful 2026.
