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Watch Collectors.

What are collectors interested in?. How do they buy?  What do they collect and what do they expect?

Collectors collect. Collectors collect everything. You got to love collectors

Collectors collect art, belt buckles, knives, watches, engravings, coins, stamps, signatures, autographs and just about anything else from coke bottles, zippo lighters to vinyl records and celebrity memorabilia.

The list of what can be collected is as long as you want to make it.

The one certain and common trait of a collector is that s/he does not collect just one thing. Everything pertaining to what was just purchased is a collectible passion and a must have for the collector.

Example: Watch collectors will buy every bracelet (band) offered with a watch. The metal bracelet, the rubber strap, the simple buckle and the butterfly deployant buckles. He will also buy a replacement leather band or two rather than damage the original by wearing it.  Some collectors set up accounts with leather band makers to special order leather bands of different types and colors with their name stamped on the inside the band. One watch purchase is more than just a one watch purchase. The collector now has much more to do. His collection has to be complete.

I have never met a collector who limits his collection to one thing or category.

I know watch collectors who collect art, soda bottles, matchbooks, shoes, hats and cuff links. Along with these collections are the merchant displays, original cleaning kits, stories, old ads from popular mechanics and just about anything else having to do with Zippo lighters.

Imagine the possibilities a watch collector has. Trips to Switzerland, photos and perhaps putting his name on the dial at the factory.  The options are endless, exciting and to a non-collector, absolutely bazaar, eccentric and even funny but collectors are often the very opinion leaders who cause many others to buy that watch. The collector has more influence over others than is often understood.

Most collectors have routines.

Visiting watch stores or art galleries on Thursday afternoon because it’s Thursday afternoon.  It is the allotted time or space selected by the collector to gather his wits and thoughts to begin the quest for the next collected piece. 

Collectors also collect people.

I collect waitresses. I have my favorite restaurants and I like to sit at the same table and if that is not an option then at least have the same server.

For a collector it’s a disaster if a salesperson at one of the retail stores leaves the store or if his favorite waitress leaves the restaurant. All related history has been lost.  The collector is now new to the new people who replaced the earlier person. Disastrous and very disturbing especially in a luxury watch store. Being treated like someone who just walked in from the street is unsettling.

Watch collectors collect salespeople at retail stores who show them watches.

Note: This is what I do and I know this is what many collectors do, not all, but I can safely say more than just me. They need the same person in the store to talk to so a relationship can be created and  later if the collector has to invite another person into the store to show them something, the salesperson already knows the collector, there is a rapport and some affinity for each other and all will be well.

The collector will introduce the friend to the store person by name. The collector has now brought a new potential customer into the store, the sales person is happy, the friend is happy and the collector has chips invested in the store and in the salesperson.

Collectors can be demanding, arrogant, shy, unnoticeable, angry, enthusiastic and can fall into any category of hygiene but each is determined on finding the item that has to be collected.

The collector is detailed and demands detail.

Documentation, receipts, boxes, photos, magazine advertisements and stories are all part of the system of his collection.

The collector is the same kid who had every baseball card, knows every detail about the card as well as the subject of the card. Where the card was printed, how many were made, what type of paper and what type of gum came with it, the wrapper, the baseball players statistics and who knows what else are all part of the game. It’s his knowledge base.

The Watch collector knows more than you do about watches and especially about the watch he or she wants to buy and keep. Even if he doesn't, he thinks he does but he continues to listen for anything new or different.

The collector can be generous enough to let you tell him about the watch he is going to buy. The collector is not judging you, he is listening. S/He is looking and listening for something, anything s/he has not heard before.

The collector needs information, needs data.

Another common truth about any collector of any worthwhile product is: The customer or collector will not buy anything until he or she has the correct amount of information in his or her head that can be quickly and easily communicated to others.

A collector needs talking points. When something cannot be talked about with some authority and certainty then the customer will not buy the watch. Period.

That goes for just about any product. When someone buys something, the first thing they do is talk about it with their friends. Women talk about their shoes. If a woman is looking at a pair of shoes and cannot bring up enough talking points, either the famous designer who made the shoes or the color is perfect for her hand bag or these shoes go perfectly with…..then she will not buy them even if they are the most perfectly fitting shoes she has ever tried on. No talking points, no sale,

A collector wants the person who is selling a watch to be informed about the watch.

The salesperson has to have a relationship with the collector. The salesperson does not have to know more than the collector but the sales person has to talk and communicate about what he knows and what others have told him and rumors and silly little details he has heard about the watch. All of this is nourishment for the collector. When that magic amount of information is accumulated and it all makes sense to the collector and the talking points are all formulated then he buys the watch.

Collectors like to talk... BUT…

The serous collector may or may not be a know-it-all and would rather sit back and smile and most of the time collectors are very nice and are always, always willing to tell you everything he or she knows about a watch. A collector loves an audience but does not appreciate being put on the stage by a sales person or a third party who is offering his knowledge to someone else. After all it is the collectors favorite retail store and sales person and knowledge base. To be put in a situation were these talents and information are offered as a second thought or as an assist to aid some novice watch pedestrian is unacceptable and that is why the collector will spend considerable time with a sales person to create an atmosphere where it is sanctuary enough for this collector to come into the store, look, listen, buy watches and be safe enough to walk around unasaulted if he wants.

The collector wants to collect. His collection is why he has the knowledge of what he is collecting.

A watch collector can go through any number of likes and dislikes. Some watch collectors stick with a type of watch, perhaps regulators or only round hand wind watches.  Some only one brand. Other collectors will purchase limited edition signed pieces and only if the president of the watch company is present at the store at the time of purchase.

A watch collector can sell his collection and if substantial enough may decide to auction it off as the “Mr. Smith Collection of all hand painted enamel dialed platinum watches made before the year 2000” or “the largest collection of watches with screw down crowns.”

Once the collection is sold,  the collector has his next collection planned out and the game begins again.

The collector loves his collections his way of collecting and the people who help him collect.

The collector is a wild breed and just about anybody who wants to start a conversation with someone they just met should ask them if they collect anything. After a moment of silence as the person you asked performs a vulcan brain scan determining if your serious and worth his time, he may say yes and if luck has it that you too are a collector of old shoes made in Brockton Ma. before 1946, then a new friendship will begin.

Final note: There are collector and there are people who buy watches because they like them and have a lot of them. The collectors that this article is about are the experts the geeks and the watch collectors who know and love watches and have fun at it.

If you are lucky enough to sell to collectors, then work on being part of his or her collection. Don’t put up the two fingered anti-vampire cross when they come into your store. They can be fun and most likely have a wonderful sense of humor and can and will give you tidbits that will help you sell to other watch buyers and collectors.

You may be surprised at who and how many people sit up at night studying their watches like old Ebenezer by the candle light counting his gold coins.

Note: There are exceptions to every rule and there are millions of collectors. Some collectors thrive on being asked to speak to anyone about anything as long as there is an audience. There are those who are single minded enough to stay in one area of interest like train collectors and coin/stamp collectors. They tend to stay in that zone.

Not all collectors are crazy or weird. They only seem that way because of the amount of intensity or drama surrounding the acquisition of a wanted item.

Thanks for watching

Urich