If I were to put the first half of 2026, it can be described as some sort of “controlled, fulfilling chaos”. As much as I wanted to write more on this lil page, I’ll blame my laziness, lack of time and effort for it. Travelling across continents, meeting, building, finding this little object called watches. As summer is here, we can lay back a little bit and reflect over last couple of months, I have nothing but feel how grateful to be able to do what I’m doing on a daily basis, to be able to handle all these pieces that I love, to build relationships with people, and learn and grow from every experience.
Watch wise, it’s been a real pleasure to secure such a selection that I have curated, collecting pieces I have dreamt of owning in the past, and I’m extremely thankful that collectors and friends share similar passion and interest in this little world of watches. I’ve learned a lot from every experience, meeting people from different continents, sharing our passion. So a big thank you to everyone I have met throughout.
Talking a little into watches, when curating and selecting what to get, I am anal about my selection of watches I like to get, as my eyes often gets bothered by little things, like disproportionate date functions or Blue/black or colored dial that has a white date disk rather than color matching date disk, slight uneven polishing on the lugs, strap material + color pairing with the watch, balance of the dial design, symmetry, proportions of the case size, thickness and overall dimensions. I would like to believe that the selection/collection I try to curate goes way beyond just brand name, value, and hype.
Every watch that I’ve owned speaks to me, and every piece in the collection has a connection to me. The term ‘buy the dealer’, can’t be truer on my end, not because I am the most trustworthy or knowledgeable person, as a matter of fact, I am far from being the most knowledgeable person. But my own definition of ‘buy the dealer’ is that I want people to have a piece that is personal to me, to purchase an item over a relationship with me rather than just a transaction. Maybe we might first chat or get in contact over a watch, but I want people to come back to me because it is me, this stupid little kiddo Brian. And vice versa, I love to buy watches from selective watch friends not because I get the best deals from them, but because I genuinely like that person first, then the watches come next. Just like that I want the rest of the people to have that same feeling towards me as a person.
Every operation is personal; selection of watches, photography, writing this very word, it’s all part of showcasing my personality in another form. I can hire professional photographers, and to be honest, maybe I should since they will do a significantly better job than me, but I purposely choose not to, and would rather learn it myself, as I love to take pictures. My imperfections are part of me. This has nothing to do with dealers/collectors who do use photographers, I personally do recommend using them. This is purely me.
I never want to be at a place where I buy pieces cuz it’s cheap and I can make money out of it, because that completely loses my purpose of why I started this whole thing. This mindset might come off as not ‘hungry’, and yes, it may not be, I fully admit it. But the more important thing for me is that I don’t want to forget my “why”. It was a passionate, emotional hobby that eventually led to this life, and I never want that passion to go away, cuz if it does, I might as well find another job. I want to continue to build this selection out of passion, not just for transactional purposes. It may not pay off to be the best business idea, but I can sleep in peace knowing that they were my idea and decision, so I can learn from it if it doesn’t work out.
As I’m writing this on a laptop on my way for a little holiday, I’m excited to see what’s ahead for the remainder of the year, and whatever comes next, I’m sure I’ll approach with the same energy. See you all around soon
