A Watch Collector Found His ‘Grail’ in the Indie Scene

LONDON — Paul Blandford may well not have been putting on a check out on his wrist for the duration of the pandemic lockdowns, but one timepiece did accompany him each and every working day.

“I experienced this sat in its box and I didn’t even have to have to put it on my wrist,” the collector explained, motioning towards the MB&F HM9 view, with its aerodynamic, avant-garde layout. “It efficiently was my desk clock while I was doing work. What far more do you want? This was my pandemic enjoy — it was great.”

His nicknames for the HM9 are “Her Majesty” and his “grail watch” (“I individual my grail,” he stated, utilizing the view world’s buzzword for a coveted timepiece. “Nothing makes me come to feel like the HM9 does.”). The enjoy generally appears on his Instagram account, resting on the equally futuristic-hunting Robodog view stand from MB&F’s horological shop, the M.A.D. Gallery.

There is a print of the HM9, from the horological artwork web page Eleven:11, on a wall in Mr. Blandford’s condominium, also, which overlooks the Battersea Energy Station (on social media he calls it “Bezelford Towers”).

All that may possibly audio like a bit much, but Mr. Blandford, 44, credits the minimal-edition titanium look at with focusing his assortment on independent watchmakers.

He bought the piece only final 12 months, but by now he has obtained seven a lot more watches from indie brand names, which includes a 2nd MB&F and his 1st Urwerk, bringing his complete selection to 25 timepieces.

In advance of the pandemic — a time when, he recalled, he would go into the office environment “suited and booted and desired a enjoy that could healthy beneath a cuff” — Mr. Blandford, a fiscal providers government, wore additional classic watches. Even though, he included, he often favored outré variations.

“Give me a thing unique, give me one thing uncommon, give me a little something initial,” he mentioned in an impassioned tone that punctuated much of our conversation. “All the watches in my assortment have one thing a bit unique about them. Which, I think, is why I’ve ended up with independents, definitely.”

Mr. Blandford, who was born and raised in the English county of Kent, came into enjoy gathering by means of cars. In his late teenagers and early 20s, he stated, he was a frequent on the motor vehicle-collecting discussion board PistonHeads, but he shortly found himself paying out time in its watch sub-community forums. On his 21st birthday, he was provided what he explained as his to start with proper watch, a TAG Heuer Kirium Components 1.

Its 1990s model, quartz mechanism and digital date display screen now make him cringe, he mentioned, but at the time, “I assumed it was the coolest factor at any time. It is my 21st birthday present, so it’s priceless in that respect.”

Above the a long time, Mr. Blandford said, he adopted a relatively regular collecting path, notably headlined by Rolex designs, including both equally a modern-day and a vintage GMT-Learn “Pepsi,” whose nickname was motivated by its red and blue bezel a Submariner “Hulk,” with a eco-friendly bezel and dial a 1973 Red Submariner 1680 a 2009 Sea-Dweller 16600 with an aluminum bezel (“that I desire I even now had”) a 1956 GMT-Grasp with a scarce Bakelite bezel (nevertheless “one knock and you’ve weakened 20,000 lbs really worth of Bakelite bezel”) and a 1999 Daytona 16520.

He called the Daytona, the only Rolex now left in his collection, a “perfect seize ’n’ go watch” that he has worn with both equally denims and a tuxedo. And despite the fact that he may have sold his other Rolexes to fund his modern buys, Mr. Blandford mentioned, “I would often say to a non-enjoy person: Get a Rolex.”

Between the timepieces now in his assortment are a 2006 Patek Philippe Nautilus 3712, with a date and moon phase, which Mr. Blandford mentioned he chose mainly because it was developed for just a handful of months an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak 5402 C-series, a person of the to start with Royal Oaks and an F.P. Journe Resonance.

A massive portion of observe amassing is the tales obtained alongside the way, and Mr. Blandford’s acquisition of the prototype of the Urwerk UR-105 T-Rex is among his finest.

Previously this yr, whilst traveling to Urwerk’s new headquarters in Geneva, he was telling the brand’s founders Felix Baumgartner and Martin Frei that a single of their marketed-out pieces was on his desire listing. Mr. Baumgartner immediately retrieved the prototype from the brand’s archives.

“We requested Paul to near his eyes and we strapped the UR-105 T-Rex on his wrist,” Mr. Baumgartner wrote in an electronic mail. “He went ‘Wow!’ His enthusiasm was so pure, so potent. It was a authentic pleasure to witness. It was then not possible to action again. So this observe is unquestionably gone and Paul is now the delighted operator of the very, pretty very first sample of it. No regret! This is that variety of nuts bond we are living for.”

This kind of relationships are the reason Mr. Blandford now focuses on unbiased watchmakers and states he wishes to insert De Bethune and Greubel Forsey to his cache — and why his collection is no extended the 50 items that it was at its peak. “For me, it is all about relationship,” he stated, “the link with other collectors and the link with the brands.”

A situation in position is the jumping hour Maghnam watch, featuring a situation that can be flicked to any wished-for way, made by Sohaib Maghnam, an automotive design and style engineer in Milan who generates made-to-order watches in his spare time.

Mr. Blandford arrived across the look at on Instagram and purchased just one that he gathered at the 2021 Dubai View Week, when he met and turned mates with Mr. Maghnam. The view is priced at a lot less than €4,000, which “proves that unbiased watchmaking does not need to be seriously substantial-priced, crazy stuff,” Mr. Blandford claimed. “It’s a talking piece, but you are not fearful about it currently being a 6-determine check out.”

A 7 days soon after we spoke, Mr. Blandford wrote that he was attempting on Maghnam’s newest design and style and considered about sending alongside a photo. “But it’s underneath embargo,” he wrote in a WhatsApp message. “It appears to be epic and I can’t wait around to get mine!” His enthusiasm felt as palpable as at any time.