So, you may have noticed that it’s been a while since we have refreshed the “Winding Down” series. Like all good things, it was ruined by children. (Not entirely – but I’ve had a few in the “can” for a while, and just haven’t had time to get to them) But, now that I’m sitting at home, literally at home, all day, what a time to resume! And there is no better person to resume with, than with Dana Cook a/k/a @Watchin_around on Instagram. I met Dana back in November of 2017. Back then, he was bigd5504 (or some other random assortment of numbers). I can assure you, this only has to relate to the fact that he’s tall. I had seen his Instagram account full of interesting watches and various four wheel exploits. He seemed like a good hang. Then, he ventured out to a GTG we hosted at Resident Culture where we picked a tactically vulnerable location near an exit, showed up with an exquisite Vacheron, and we’ve been friends ever since. He’s also a recent entrant into the “New Fathers Club”. With that, let’s welcome Dana to Winding Down!
CWC: How did you get into watches?
DC: I got into watches as a little kid. For as long as I can remember my Dad always wore a two-toned Datejust so it was sort of imprinted on me that you are supposed to wear a watch. As it turns out, he got that Datejust the year I was born so it’s fair to say I have seen him wear it for my entire life… Needless to say, seeing him wear that watch to the pool, doing yard work, fixing my bike, etc. taught me that wearing a watch is a part of life.
CWC: Funny enough, I have the exact same memory. My dad wore a two tone Datejust his pretty much as long as I can remember. It would actually be neat to compare the two to see how similar they are. Do you remember your first watch?
DC: I think so…. I don’t remember the brand but I do remember we bought it one night at a Eckerd’s Pharmacy; it was a digital watch kind of like a G-Shock and I wore it 24/7. The first watch I remember having that really pushed me towards watch collecting was a Seiko Flightmaster that my dad got me when Overstock.com was the new hit thing.
CWC: One thing that I love about watches, is a watch with a good story. What's one watch from your collection that has a sentimental story behind it?
DC: My favorite watch and the one I have the most attachment too is my Dad’s Rolex Datejust. So, birth year watches are awesome and seem to be a big thing in the watch community. I, by complete happenstance, have a birth year watch. My dad has been in the furniture industry for over 40 years. He started off as a sales rep so he traveled throughout the southeast calling on accounts; he was able to amass a metric crap ton of Marriott points in the process. He told me that back in the 80’s having a two-toned Rolex meant you were somebody so he looked in the Marriott points catalogue and saw a black tapestry dial two-toned Datejust for 300kish points. He clicked “add to cart”, or whatever you did back in the 80’s…, and got the watch.
CWC: I think in the 80s you chiseled a message on a tablet of granite and then a flock of pigeons carried it back to the headquarters….
Dana with his son, Everett
DC: *laughing emoji* Fast forward 25 years to the morning of my wedding, Dad took me out to breakfast and we talked about life, my recent overseas deployment, and marriage. Towards the end of breakfast, I noticed that he was wearing his old Datejust, which I knew he had put in a drawer a few years back after buying a Daytona. He saw me notice it, took it off, and proceeded to tell me the story about how he got it and said he knew how much I enjoyed watches and that he wanted to pass it along to me as I started the next chapter in my life with Sarah.
Having a two-toned Datejust as my first Rolex and as my birth year is something extremely special and it is hard to convey the level of attachment that I have to that watch. The bond I have with my dad and that watch is something I want to try to pass along to Everett, my son. I really like the symmetry of Everett’s birth year watch being a two-toned Rolex as well and I was fortunate enough to be able to source a Rootbeer GMT; unfortunately, our local AD doesn’t accept Marriott points! I plan on giving it to him on a significant date like his wedding or college graduation, assuming he isn’t an asshole and there is a low probability that he will sell it for beer or drugs.
CWC: That really is a special story. I love the symmetry between your dad’s watch and your two-tone GMT too. What an awesome idea. Do you have any regrets with watches sold or watches you didn't buy?
DC: I wouldn’t say I have any regrets…there were a few times I sold or traded watches and took a bit of a financial hit because I was impatient to make a deal. There were a couple of watches I wish I could have bought along the road but I just wasn’t in a financial place to buy them at the time. Two that stick out are a serviced, but unpolished, Rolex GMT-Master II 16760 “Fat Lady” Pepsi bezel on a jubilee bracelet and a complete set and one owner 1965 Patek 5115 Calatrava that was factory serviced and unpolished. That Patek was amazing, Sarah and I saw it in the window of an antique store in New Orleans’ French quarter. I wish I could have bought it but I would have had to sell 3/4 of my collection to make it work financially….hard to make that sort of decision while on vacation….
CWC: That just tells me you weren’t hitting the hand grenades hard enough while you were down in NOLA. So, for someone that hasn’t been to a get together, what would you say they are missing out on?
DC: Honestly, it’s the people. Sure the watches are great and it’s amazing to see something like a Paul Newman Daytona show up one evening, but there’s a sense of community, camaraderie, and inclusion that is palpable. I was new to Charlotte 4 years ago and the GTGs introduced me to a lot of great humans and I have made some really great friends.
CWC: What advice would you give to your younger self (the watch collector version of your younger self, I don’t think we have enough space/time for broader life guidance)?
DC: Buy what you like to wear. Enjoy what you have in the moment, don’t focus on the next kill and how to get your collection to “the next level”.
Some other random advice I would pass along to any new collector is enjoy the “slutty college years” (pause for effect). I gave another fellow watch enthusiast this advice not too long ago ,you know who you are, and what I mean by that is if you are just getting into watches, don’t be in a rush or feel like your collection has to have certain brands, elements, complications, or a dollar value. Buy what you like (and can afford) and enjoy it! Watch collecting is about embracing the passion and experiencing watch culture; it’s not about spending a bunch of money or having the “best” collection.
I have some extended family members who like to make comments about how much some of my watches cost or couldn’t I just give one of my watches to them…What most people don’t realize is I embraced the “slutty college years” and went through a ton of watches over the past 13 years to get my collection to where it’s at….moral of the story….don’t be in a rush.
CWC: Hah, that’s a really good point. I think sometimes people lose sight of the fact that some of us have been doing this for over a decade at this point in time (or, several decades). It’s not like you went out and accumulated your entire collection with the stroking of one check….. though I know there are some of our members (and you know who you are), who have looked at me and said, “I remember those days where I just wanted to acquire everything. You have to go through that to figure out exactly what it is you love, and then that’s what you’ll collect.” I think there’s some merit to that, but haven’t quite got there yet. Is there any merit to that in your opinion? Do you think you could ever get to that point?
(CWC note: to be fair, I don’t think I’m in my slutty college years currently, but maybe closer to my ‘working professionally, want to have a good time, but not ready to settle down” stage)
DC: I have been thinking about that a lot recently too and I agree with him to an extent. I think over time and as a watch collection matures every collector will narrow his/her focus on what they really like. For me I don’t think I could ever collect a specific brand or two. I can easily imagine what my Rolex, IWC, or Patek specific collections would be; but as awesome as those collections would be, there would be elements and watches that I love that would be missing. There would always be exceptions – my Patek collection would have to have a Seiko SKX… (ed. note: the man doesn’t lie!)
As my collection has evolved over the years it has somewhat narrowed to sport/utility watches – I like that idea that 95% of my collection could be the one watch I take on a beach or active vacation and do virtually anything in and not worry about water resistance of having to be super delicate with… So like you, my watch collection is pretty much a series of asterisks that somehow synthesize into something pretty special just for me.
CWC: So, if you aren't reading Hodinkee or refreshing your email for the next GTG invite, how do you like to spend your time?
DC: I try to be active whether it be working on the house, yard work, golf, working out, shooting sporting clay/skeet, or getting up to the mountains and hiking around. Sarah does dressage (rides horse…Google it) so being at the barn and taking care of the horse is a big part of our routine.
CWC: What's the secret to convincing Sarah to be a tolerant spouse when it comes to watch collecting, letting you take wrist shots, etc? What's the watch she's most likely to steal? She’s' got a pretty dope collection herself though - is there anything you get tempted to steal from her collection from time to time?
DC: When it comes to watch collection, there’s a level of trust; I tell her what I’m going to sell in order to buy something else or how I am going to save up for a future acquisition…. it’s a pretty good system. I think she tolerates me taking wrist shots and the overall obsession because I wore her down…just kidding…Sarah’s pretty awesome and I think she gets that there’s more to it that just buying/having watches…it’s about the culture and the community. It doesn’t hurt that she has a horse which gets its own portion of our discretionary income and she takes a lot, and I mean a lot, of selfies with the horse. Makes my wrist shots look tame IMO.
She does enjoy wearing my Explorer II, I think mostly because he dad has the original Explorer II from the 70’s. She can wear anything in my collection (except the Patek, that’s mine) but she really doesn’t go outside her watches. She does have dope collection, I love both her watches but they are both designed for women and aren’t really my style.
CWC: You're also a car guy too. You've had what, Corvette, Porsche and the Hellcat? Anything else I'm forgetting about? Why do you think so many watch guys are car guys (and vice versa)? If you were to associate each of your cars with a watch (either just generally, or one from your collection) what would they be?
DC: I am definitely a car guy, my family is car family, here’s my list:
-Cadillac Escalade
-Hummer H2
-BMW 745i
-Corvette Grand Sport
-Porsche 911 C4S (997.2)
-Dodge Charger SRT
-Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat
I think watch guys are also car guys and vice versa because we appreciate engineering and craftsmanship. There is something about hand shills (welding, milling, polishing, etc.) and where finished product is greater than the sum of the parts that constitute this visceral attraction to machines. To the laymen, a car and a watch are just appliances…they move us from A to B and they tell the time just like a washing machine washes my clothes. There is a level of understanding and appreciation for not what watches and cars are but what they can be. Handmade, hand-built, tight tolerances, mechanical, high performance, precision - not because it’s what we need, it’s what we can create.
Car/watch associations...this should be interesting
Porsche 911- Patek Nautilus: Both are highly developed, sought after, collectable, delicate, and have pedigree. Every swirl mark hurts…
Hellcat- Big Pilot Perpetual Calendar /AP Royal Oak Offshore: Lots of RD spent on the inner-workings and they are not exactly subtle
Corvette- Omega Seamaster Professional: Both can perform at a high level and have a great value proposition.
Range Rover- IWC Big Pilot: Not sure why, it just feels right
Hummer/Escalade- AP Royal Oak Offshore: I’m big and flashy….look at me
BMW 745i- Sea Dweller / Explorer II: Something about a stainless-steel Rolex and a 7-Series works
CWC: So we’ve got to end it with the Ryan Webb question: what's your perfect 3 watch combination?
DC: Patek Philippe Nautilus 5712
Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso
Rolex SeaDweller 16600
CWC: If you’ve already got 2 out of 3, I’d say you’re doing better than the rest of us! Thanks for taking the time brother, and for your service.
