Rolex, Patek Philippe, and Professional Watch Collecting with Claude Sfeir | WatchBox Talks

[@charlesnasr8824]

Let me tell you the coolest story, that took place because of this interview: I am in Beirut on vacation and today I was driving next to the FP Journe Boutique so I felt like stopping by. I rang the bell and guess who opened the door? Mr Sfeir himself! I told him how much I enjoyed the interview with you Tim and he invited me to have a cup of coffee in his personal office. We spent like 40 minutes talking watches and life... One of the friendliest and nicest persons I've ever met! Thank you Tim for this interview and thank you Claude for the espresso and the lovely encounter today.

[@the1916company]

What an amazing story! Glad that we are able to bring the watch community closer together. Happy New Year!

[@namelessrace9803]

Gotta hand it to Tim: very competent, knowlegeable and patient interviewer who steers the conversation based on the replies of the interviewee. Good stuff 💯

[@JimmyA32]

Tim is the best

[@tbd1613]

Great interview Tim. When you interview someone, you let them talk and let them lead the conversation. Best interview from a true collector.

[@LM-sc2xc]

Well done, Tim. Thanks for this amazing opportunity of knowing and listening to someone who’s been around our passion for so many years at the highest level. True privilege. 🥂

[@WonderfulFunky]

This was absolutely fantastic, loved every minute of it. What an interesting guy. And Tim is a national treasure.

[@bobbysebastian3709]

That was just awesome 👏 interviewing. Claude Sfeir is a collector par excellence with a good sense of humor & knowledge on the art 🖼 of watch collecting

[@8ttiknio8]

I have been collecting for 40 years. Mr Sfeir's synopses of the market over that period reads pretty true to me. Like Mr Sfeir, I never sold any... I have given some away. The early days of ebay were really great. I was buying around 100 watches a year.

[@Eric_Nielsen]

Claude's story about smashing watches to melt down the gold sounds about right. Having spent time in the old Dubai gold souk in 1991-92, i can confirm that almost everything was sold at or just above its gold value. The high-level craftsmanship of creating the jewelry cost you almost nothing at all.

[@watchusiast1400]

Yet another excellent interview by Tim. Claude is so candid and open it’s so enlightening and fresh to hear his comments on the market and insights into how some of this epic watches came about. Great work guys, looking forward to seeing the upcoming videos as well!

[@jolness1]

Great interview. So cool to see someone with such a collection yet a humility and love for the watches.

[@luxuryliving3082]

Fantastic interview! Claude is one of the most profound collectors with watches we won’t see! Tim delivered the interview perfectly!

[@pavanbharteey7269]

Tim - the jack of all trades when it comes to watches… walking encyclopedia, master interviewer, etc. and thanks for leaving the sunglasses at home!

[@vicks.7377]

One of best interviews you’ve done. Thanks for sharing.

[@robertschmidt9584]

Tim, wonderful interview and even a privilege to watch and listen to the conversation over quite possibly some of the most rare timepieces.

[@miroslavrnjakovic8850]

What a true gentleman, and an expert. Wonderfull interview.

[@amintaslneto]

Great interview Tim!💯 Claude Sfeir is a living legend in the watch collecting world. So nice to see Watchbox connecting the community with him. Hope we can hear more from him in the future. Thx

[@loevhagen]

I've so far only watch 17 min. of this 36 min. video, but I can already testify that this video should get a "Best watch related video of 2021" award. 😀👌 OK, back to watching the rest...and then...after watching the rest of the video; we're back to investments, prices, etc. Sad. Anyway, the first 15-20 minutes was the best video ever in 2021. :)

[@zetoch]

Huge kudos to Tim and Watchbox for scoring that interview. Fascinating discussion. Better than any Talking Watches episode from Hodinkee…

[@DialDforDaytona]

Amazing !!!!!! Respect ✊🏽 to both of you! Great vid Tim

[@shamaldass241]

Great interview Tim...you need to tell us all what it was like being in the presence of those amazing pieces!!! And what was on your wrist?

[@stickshifter8]

Wow, that was really top notch! Congrats Tim!

[@jons6280]

That was fantastic. Many thanks M. Sfeir and Tim.

[@dominickcolasanto6582]

Amazing journey from smashing Rolex's with a hammer to owing Swiss watch companies. Tim Fantastic interview!!!

[@stevesmith7997]

what a fantastic interview ! Claude you are a star ! Tim you are the best !

[@007-i6z8v]

Now this was a great conversation, wish to hear more! Such knowledge and expertise...!

[@greaterbayareahero1401]

I love listening to Claude. So passionate.

[@MrPolowu]

Fantastic. More of this please Tim and team

[@jimgreene4248]

Wow what an awesome interview! He is an absolute gentleman who’s knowledge is incredible!

[@derekfox6752]

Great interview, it's great to see great watch collectors for the first time.

[@simmysharma6845]

very Interesting interview. Claude has shared some very interesting stories. Thanks Tim

[@CQ_TheWatchGuy]

Great Job as always Tim! Two legends here.

[@andrewjames9963]

Really enjoyed that, could listen to him all night

[@nramalho]

Amazing interview. Congrats on the content folks!

[@danysaliby9951]

Great interview, humble man Mr. Sfeir

[@roberthiers5606]

Great video. But what Claude says between 20:10 and 20:40 is priceless. I hope I have the honor of being seen this way.

[@bronsonsmith7692]

Absolutely amazing great content Tim please do more of these Absolutely stunning 😍

[@kresimirpleic]

I'm two years late to this interview, but this was awesome!

[@byunjoe]

This makes me think. There will never be a time again like the 80s - 00s where you could buy now coveted watches almost wholesale. With the internet, most people are informed, most have access to records and data, most will be aware of the value beyond materials cost. In addition, with the hypebeast mentality of people "investing" in watches and the brand recognition Rolex and Patek command, I doubt there will be another time where pieces trade for materials cost. Anyway, fascinating interview and insight.

[@kittenfan]

your logic makes sense. but if i may add. there are many things you just cant predict. you can go back too all the things you thought 5 years ago and see your prediction today, you will realize how wrong they are. people cant tell whats gonna happen. i ve seen many predictions and only a few come true. the market can collapse tomorrow , who knows. but all i know is we are not in normal time. but yes, it can get crazier from here.

[@randotooming2433]

Superb interview and knowledge! Thank you, sirs!

[@tockingwatches2377]

Did I hear correctly that Claude started the bidding on the Journe and Patek at Only Watch at $2M and $3M respectively?

[@travelman158]

Tim your interview skills are superb. Keep up the excellent work and bringing to us amazing content.

[@mahirhaque1801]

He started of with saying he was smashing gold daytonas... ended with a piece unique FPJ.. there are obviosuly levels to this.. and does it get any bigger?

[@uptheorg]

Great stuff, Tim. Thanks.

[@MrBeard-et1yi]

Great interview Tim! What are you wearing?

[@salmana4239]

Greetings from Dubai Thank you for an amazing and insightful interview. The work a master watchmaker puts in is in par with fine arts so why shouldn’t the watches be as much valuable

[@Joe-xo3xy]

@Tim Mosso and Mr. Sfeir- I am Joey Fadel from Lebanon, a watch enthusiast and You guys moved me to speak out; Before I say what is on my mind, thank you for restoring my faith in the fact that there are still a few people out there that truly love watches. The internet and certain parties have built a new flock of collectors and I do not want to call them collectors who are just in the hobby to diversify their portfolio of assets. You guys must know of the KZbin channels and there must be many figures involved in the entire process of inflating watch prices. I have no more respect for this new age of watch collectors. I may even go as far as to say that Ben Climer is involved in instigating this new form of collectors. I have always compared watch collecting to similar hobbies like collecting stamps or baseball card, ppl will always pay more for something this is beautiful and not so common, there is no need to think of money, it will naturally follow. I have sort of isolated myself from so many watch media outlets and their followeres

[@JCM8800]

I love the amazing account of how he used to scrap Rolexes and Pateks for gold !;) It was a time when products were worth their actual value !;) without the effects of marketing and speculation of the present day .

[@SAGHAJAR]

Very interesting, thanks for sharing.

[@ronp4737]

Tim great interview this is what watch collecting is all about....keep up the great work!! What's on your wrist? Looks like blue dial tourbillon? Let us know!!

[@Matter-of-Time]

Same question. Tried playing the home game to figure it out.

[@Matter-of-Time]

Thanks Tim. Beautiful watch. Will you be reviewing it on the show? I’d love to learn more about it.

[@Matter-of-Time]

Just saw a review from a month ago. Looks fantastic!

[@fa5234]

Great format and great guest. 👍

[@sivakumarsathiamoorthy6583]

fascinating guy. a good storyteller.

[@porscheoscar]

My takeaway here from his reflecting on the Patek crash in BOTH modern and vintage was that market bubbles are determined by the durability of the wealth of the buyers and sellers. If crypto millions are propping up current prices then the brands with the greatest supply are the most at risk. But everyone but the micro volume producers like FP and RM are at a considerable risk. But of course crypto will never ever crash....

[@artaudcharles]

Amazing stories!

[@gonzalorojo6815]

this was awesome

[@watchman6141]

Tim, what kind of watch are you wearing in this video?

[@roycedot]

How did Tim not react at all when Claude described hammering such works of art? haha

[@steelmember6326]

great interview.

[@allenmf9808]

,,...more expensive by the meter than fine art." -Claude Sfeir

[@papricep6248]

I'm going to form a similar partnership with Gruebel Forsey.

[@dgb6355]

A great interview with a great collector, Mr Sfeir should open a watch museum showing his collection.

[@BarisPalabiyik]

Claude is not a regular watch collector, stuff he has is insane, he can have the things only a watchmaker can have for themselves pretty much. Titanium pateks and unique grande sonnerie. Also he owns the piece unique tourbillon souverain blue.

[@carlosoruna7174]

Ahh lebanese love of life applied to watches.

[@davidjb3671]

Interesting interview, but his advice to collectors seems hardly relevant to the vast majority of people who don't receive free or piece unique watches from FPJ and Phillipe Dufour. And his advice "if you collect Calatravas, collect only Calatravas etc" flies in the face of his own eclectic collecting habits. Still, I think we can all agree that hammering gold Rolexes to extract the precious metal is a sign of good taste and judgement 😏

[@chaosad4508]

Interesting story and scary too.

[@Tone_Jammer]

He's right, no real collectors anymore, just flippers. Very sad

[@herbmerced7780]

Excellent! What is Tim wearing?? Hmmmm….LOL

[@DonLee1980]

"buy the best quality" There's an old saying, buy cheap, and you buy twice. This is the reality of saving longer, waiting longer but going straight to the prize of the watches you truly want. If you factor in market value appreciation, buying an AP, a Rolex, and PP watch, is cheaper than buying any Omega, or JLC.

[@christianellopm]

The irony is that young people cant collect, because of people like Mr Sfeir and his generation. Nonetheless, seems like a genuinely good man.

[@SP-pn7xx]

I really enjoyed this interview and guest, but I'm getting sick of the discussion...

[@Translation-in-Malaysia]

Please look into open a store in Bangkok, people love luxury watches here and bigger population than Singapore.

[@the1916company]

Hi Matt - We have lots of great customers in Thailand and it has been harder to reach them with the Hong Kong lockdown. Hopefully we'll have a local presence in Bankok one day!

[@Translation-in-Malaysia]

@@the1916company Thank you so much :-)

[@jgc3434]

Tim cringing during his hammer story, classic.

[@W67-o5c]

No gold Nautilus, RM, Royal oak or Liberace Rolexes?? This legit watch guy will never be in the clique of Anthony and the rest of the squad from "planet-look-at-me."

[@dannysimenauer5745]

I winced when Claude broke Rolex watches for the gold.

[@ElderPinto254]

The pain Tim felt wen he said yeah patek rolex i crushed them with hammer

[@gelmibson883]

Professional collecting = being rich

[@TheJonCruise]

No sunglasses on the head? 🤣

[@porscheoscar]

Okay an actual watch collecting expert like John Goldberger. Not a watch accumulator like ..uh everyone right now.

[@songoku-jx3cb]

This is the difference between pre and post internet you couldnt pull this in 2023

[@chrisgosselin7351]

Glad you took it serious enough to lose the stupid sunglasses. Good job.

[@SeanSchwifty]

It sounds like he has his origins as a scammer 😬

[@anonymousonlineuser6543]

Ohh god.....this was the most horrible story I have heard about watches. Then I remembered , it was all a lie and I felt better.

[@pierremartin9048]

Terrible