When Chris George, now 33, was 10 years old, he inherited a gold, Illinois-brand pocket watch that had belonged to his great-great-grandfather.
The thought of the watch's intricate gears keeping time across parts of three centuries -- starting in the hands of an immigrant farmer in rural Pennsylvania -- is a daydream-provoking fact.
A writer in Wired magazine once aptly said mechanical watches are a good example of "action being converted into information," while today's digital technology does the opposite: It converts information into action -- and we are the ones expected to act.
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George, a senior vice president at First Horizon Bank here, just knows the inherited pocket watch provoked a sense of wonder in him that propels his hobby today. He is an horologist, a person who studies and collects timepieces.
Today's smartwatches are barely watches at all and can even feel like handcuffs that tether us to our smartphones and laptops.
"We are so connected to everything today," George said in an interview. "All day long, you're texting, and (our watches are) buzzing and emailing. (Wearing a mechanical watch) is just another way to disconnect from that and really hold onto the past."
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George's day job involves advising clients on investing and money management, but he says his watch collecting hobby is more about appreciating the watchmaker's art than trying to turn a profit. He is not concerned about his collection appreciating or depreciating in value.
While some of his watches are five-figure purchases -- he favors luxury brands such as Breitlings and Rolexes -- he has others (Seiko and Swatch) that are relatively inexpensive -- in the range of $100 to $300. He says collecting timepieces is a hobby that's accessible to almost anyone, not just people with lots of disposable income.
George says he likes to purchase watches to celebrate landmarks in his life -- things lake major promotions at work or the birth of his children. When he first became a manager of a bank branch, he bought a Breitling Superocean II, and when his daughter was born in 2020, he purchased a Rolex Submariner, which has become his everyday watch.
While he started buying watches for fun about 10 years ago, George said it was the pandemic that turbocharged his interest in collecting. In February 2022, the Wall Street Journal reported that major auction houses said their sales of preowned watches had doubled in the previous two years.
The surge in interest in watches collected during COVID-19 created a curious, upside-down market in which used collector watches were actually worth more than new ones. Supply and demand dictated that purchasers would pay a premium for available used watches rather than marking time for new watches to arrive -- if you could get one, at all.
"In 2020 and 2021, let's say a Rolex cost $10,000 if you could get it at an authorized dealer. (Well, on the) secondary market they may run $20,000, double the price," George said.
George says watch prices have come down since the pandemic, but he doesn't need to follow the market swings because he doesn't plan to sell his timepieces.
"That would never be a thought in my mind, to flip these watches for monetary gain," he said. "There are many ways to make money in life, (but, for me) watches aren't one of them."
On the other hand, he doesn't plan to hide them under a bushel either.
"(Watches) are made to be enjoyed," he said. "They are not made to be put in a watch winder or in a safe somewhere."
The Life Stories column publishes Mondays. Contact Mark Kennedy at mkennedy@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6645.