How much H.E.A.T. do you bring? H.E.A.T. stands for Historian, Expert, Analyst and Technician and should describe you and your personal watch journey.
January 22, 2025
Bring the H.E.A.T. - Are You A Horological Historian, Expert, Analyst or Technician?
Marcus Siems @siemswatches
Collector, Author, Data Analyst
How much H.E.A.T. do you bring? H.E.A.T. stands for Historian, Expert, Analyst and Technician and should describe you and your personal watch journey. In other words, Are you the Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte or Miranda of watches? I promise, this is actually not one of these Cosmopolitan-esque "Which Sex & The City character are you?" type of questionnaires (Don't ask me how I know these names*). Well, maybe a bit and it's predominantly meant to be fun but hear me out first.
The problem I want to tackle here is this: I think we don't have very good categories in our hobby that describe us - people that are into watches - well and at the same time leave space for individual growth and experiences. Classic categories are for example "enthusiast" vs. "collector" vs. "professional" ([source])... but what do these labels even mean? They seem to open up more questions than they anwer. When do you for example switch over from one to another? And these groups aren't even homogeneous, are they? There simply must be a better way.
Not only do your watches tell a story about you. How you approach the watch world and what corners you take might tell me even more. Photo Courtesy of Time&Tide.
I like musing about (vintage) watches a lot but I actually come from a background in empirical psychology. And as it happens psychologists love to define every behavior on a) a spectrum rather than clear cut categories and b) split complex contexts into digestible aspects. Thus, I've been channeling my inner shrink and present to you: The H.E.A.T. scale. A measure of how interested and experienced you are with watches on four different dimensions:
(H)istorian
(E)xpert
(A)nalyst
(T)echnician
Importantly, everyone of us has space for all four of these watch geeks inside of our mechanical (or Quartz) hearts but spends their time differently with each of those four.
What do you think about first when you see this triplet of Patek Philippe refs. 1518? Is it that these were the first serially produced perpetual calendar chronographs (H)? How you'd like to feel the different weight of the material while you're louping the dials (E)? Is it how much each of these would have gone for last auction season (A)? Or do you just want to open them up and enjoy the ticking of their mechanically excellent hearts (T)? Photo Courtesy of Hodinkee.
1) The Historian
This dimension is relatively self-explanatory. Anything that you read about and research on the history of a watch, a reference, a brand is included here. And it's less about the physical object but more about what they stand for. They ask: Was this piece the first in anything? Have I seen this dial layout before? A master historian understands the deeper connections between designs and the broader influence of the era of conception and the zeitgeist.
2) The Expert
The expert is the part of us that goes hands-on with the watches. What are the haptics of a certain case dimension, lug style or material. Further, to understand what might be original and what are later replacement parts you have to spend a lot of time with your inner watch expert. A master watch expert can thus rate the condition of your watch from 10 meters across the room.
3) The Analyst
Most of us don't only look at watches online but at some point also wanna buy one and later sell a few pieces from the collection to make room for something new. It thus comes naturally that you need some feeling for the monetary value of your beloved timepieces, their rarity and how good they might sell if you'd have to let go. A master analyst thus knows the last pieces sold per reference, their prices and also how they compare to retail today and 10 years ago.
4) The Technician
The last dimension describes your interest in all the small technical aspect of a watch. What's a gear train for? What types of movement finishing do exist? What's the difference between a Valjoux and a Lemania chronograph? A master technician can not only eloquently describe the functionality of a Tourbillon but also fix one with a butter knife and a paperclip.
Let's play this game again... What strikes you the most about this 1990s Lange & Soehne ref. 101.001 with closed case back? The fact that this is one of the watches that revived German Haute Horlogerie (H)? How amazing the hue of Lange's honey gold looks and the watch sits on the wrist (E)? Whether it still features its original Breguet overcoil (T) or what the price difference would be if said overcoil would already have been replaced (A)? Photo Courtesy of SubDial & Hairspring Watches.
5) Your H.E.A.T. Profile
Importantly, the dimensions on this scale are not capped. Much like everything in life you learn (and sometimes forget as well) and the more time you'll spend in our little watch bubble the more abstract "points" you'll score on those dimensions. But I'd argue that our personal preferences and interests strongly influence in which dimensions we're more invested to learn.
I thus asked around in the Goldammer office and wanted to know how we'd all rank ourselves on the H.E.A.T. scale. To keep it simple** for now we all got ten points that we could allocate to the four facets depending on where we see our strengths:
The results from the Goldammer office - All of us allocated 10 total points to the four dimensions - (H)istorian, (E)xpert, (A)nalyst, (T)echnician - based on how we view our own watch expertise and interests.
We're all quite different in our habits and experiences but you can already see that we're all working with a vintage dealer ... We're scoring high on (H)istorian and (E)xpert and you can see how our roles in the company have an impact, too. Marc is the one selecting the watches for the store and needs to be an expert. Martin is responsible for sales and interacting with clients thus needs to know a bit of everything. Felix and I are more concerned with researching the pieces and letting them shine, which drives our interest towards their history.
And much like our roles at Goldammer this brings me to how we can describe distinct "characters" based on this framework.
6) Finding Your Niche
I'd like to stress again that I think about these facets as open-ended spectra - the more you'll see and learn the better you'll get in each aspect... For example all watchmakers will be high in the (T)echnician dimension but individuals like George Daniels and Rexhep Rexhepi will score god-tier levels due to their personal talent, experience and work. But there's probably some roles that we all play in this that might be best described through relative scores. Let me give you a few examples...
The vintage collector:
(H) Vintage collectors are drawn into this sphere because of their deep appreciation for holistic design, which often escalated into the credo that "all good designs were already envisioned". Knowing the case maker and who else they provided to is as important as the name on the dial.
(E) But to collect vintage watches you do not only need to understand their heritage but also be able to spot a redial and get the pieces in the best condition.
(A) On the other hand, the vintage market is passion driven. Market prices only exist to some extent when originality and condition make almost each piece a one-of-one.
(T) Generally, your understanding of the technical aspects of these vintage pieces doesn't need to be necessarily high. It's more about knowing if your watch was "the first column-wheel chronograph" than actually being able to spot said column-wheel in a given movement. This can of course vary with the niche within the community... But let's not branch out further for now.
The collector of modern watches (Photo Fratello):
(H) The historical background isn't necessarily important to the modern collector. A repetition of the phrase "it's an iconic design" typically suffices. Quite cynically I might also add that a certain ignorance to the rich history of some brands and models is even beneficial...
(E) As almost every aspect, angle and original part of these pieces can readily be googled or looked up on the brands website the threshold to get into watches through in-production models is probably the lowest. Asking "box and papers?" doesn't count here by the way.
(A) This is probably were collectors of modern pieces have to excel the most. As the pieces are still in production, retail prices are somewhat transparent and the dynamics of the market can be anchored relatively well. The prices of the latest acquisitions are tracked on apps and conversations can open with "I got this one below retail".
(T) The technical aspects are actually non-negligible in modern watch collecting. All watches come with display case-backs anyway and the exposure is for real. But jokes aside, knowing about the specs, level of finishing and intricacies of complications is pivotal when you want to choose in a sea of possibilities.
The Indie collector (Photo Monochrome):
(H) The history with most independent watchmakers might not be long but when you're investing serious money into a piece made (or envisioned) by one individual, you want to know as much as possible about it. Understanding the namesake person is often part of the appreciation for the watches themselves.
(E) Similar to modern... as these are mostly contemporary and well-documented pieces - pieces that are also not necessarily designed for wearability - the score on this dimension doesn't need to be super high.
(A) About 10 or so years ago you'd even have to score negatively to get into striking distance of an Independent as you'd definitely lose money on them. This has changed in the recent years but I'd still (naively) argue that the motives to go for an Indie do not need to be driven by monetary aspects.
(T) Modern independent watchmaking kinda defines itself more often than not through ingenious technical solutions to problems us mere mortals weren't even aware existed. Thus, understanding these innovations is part of the fun.
The serious watch journalist (modern) (Photo Forbes):
(H) As a journalist you should be a jack of all trades. First, the job description covers storytelling. Knowing the ins and outs of the brands and models you cover - beyond the press release - is thus the bare minimum.
(E) You'll predominantly cover modern pieces and shouldn't worry about originality. However, having an understanding of dimensions, functionality and wearability is a must.
(A) Well, you report the retail prices. But, you need a feeling for the market context to compare the pricing with other available options.
(T) If there's a typo in the press release or a bad description you should still know what you're talking about. Your job literally is to break down innovation and complex storylines to interested readers. Who knows what's the difference between a Breguet overcoil and a free-sprung balance? Hopefully you...
The watch repairer (Photo Quill & Pad):
(H) You don't
(E) have to
(A) understand this...
(T) You only have to be an expert in repairing these things. Well, you do have to give your opinion on the originality of components at times but rarely. (Don't be triggered, this is rather a strawman to understand the upcoming example)
The watchmaker (Photo SwissWatches):
(H) To get a watch back to its old glory you'll also have to understand the time it was designed and what it stands for. How can you preserve a timepiece when you work on it? The same insights need to be used when you're actually making a watch from scratch, too.
(E) And this understanding doesn't end with the history but comes with expert knowledge as well. If you restore a dial you need to know what signature has been used in what epoch, how the standard for case polishing has been, etc. etc.
(A) But you only need to know as much about the market on these pieces to tell your client whether a restoration might be worth it or not.
(T) Lastly, you'll still have to do the manual work.
The watch investor aka the "Kryptobro" (Photo WatchExchange):
(H) Irrelevant.
(E) You keep your watches in a safe deposit box anyway, so...?
(A) You gotta have some basic idea about watch prices, okay. But, no offense, you think you can outplay the market.
(T) Negligible.
7) The Conclusion
Aren't you entertained? Please take a deep breath everyone and imagine me with a wink while reading the examples. But apart from riding all the stereotypes, I do strongly believe in the underlying premise that our experiences, interests and exposure shape how we approach the watch world, how passionately we interact with it and what we get in return.
The four dimensions I've outlined are a start and by themselves affected by my own line of thought. Very likely there are other dimensions that I've missed. At least we have a starting point, A framework so we can use to better understand our personal horological journey and where we might need to make an effort to grow.
And when you're into strict categories you can at least easily see where, when and how we might switch between them based on our exposure. Maybe, it helps also with finding the right "professional" angle for you?
One last time: What tickles your fancy the most... That the Beta 21 ticking inside was actually the first Swiss Quartz-powered wristwatch (H)? That inside are a Quartz crystal and a tuning fork that hum at 8kHz and 256 Hz, respectively (T)? That you'd need to know whether it's actually a first-gen or later generation Beta 21 to make an offer (A)? Or do you think about how the weight of that piece actually makes for tremendous wrist presence and how that dial has aged to a lovely hue (E)? Photo Courtesy of Bulang & Sons.
However, this is an opinion piece. And more than just stating my own thoughts I'm as interested in how You, my dear reader, views the issue?
With me it's always about passion and what fuels this passion. I think the H.E.A.T. can help all of us to find our spot, our niche. And isn't that what we're all looking for in the (watch) community?
Acknowledgements
This rather colloquial piece of writing is the result of a discussion with Erik Gustafson (@HairspringWatches) of Hairspring Watches about one of his and Max Braun's (@mrbwatches) latest podcast episodes (Ep. 49). He is probably at least 20% responsible for what you've read here although he might deny to have anything to do with it. And getting feedback from Chris J. Hall (@ChrisJamesHall, The Fourth Wheel), watch journalist with balance, did help as well. Thank you very much!
* It's Google
** How you'd actually quantify points on these dimensions in a somewhat objective manner is something we'll have to put a pin in for now.
All rights on text and graphics reserved to the Author.
