And when I say all, I mean it. We’re talking an endless collection of Rolex boxes over the decades, from Comex diving suits and a clock owned and used by the brand in their workshop, to a gift Hans Wilsdorf personally gave to a business partner. These museum-worthy items were humbly hidden behind an unassuming door in a seaside town three hours north of London.
“I’ve always been a collector first. Often I’d own a watch and then as I bought a slightly better example of that same watch, somehow that first example would get pushed to the back of the safe”, Wood shares with me.
Expect Bubblebacks, MilSubs, early Datejusts, gemset Day-Dates, and even Prisoner of War pieces. But for Wood, putting on this exhibition was never just about showing watches that otherwise spend their lives hidden away in safes and storage, nor was it about their horological significance.