Why Watches Are Special to Me

 

Seems like I always have.

 

Before I became a journalist covering the watch industry, I started out my writing career in industry publications – I wrote for SOAP magazine (writing about actual soap!), Snack Food magazine, Mass Transit magazine, Ink magazine, Law Enforcement Technology magazine and many others.

 

But watches were always part of my wardrobe...and my life. I read all the magazines and big achievements in my life (the births of my sons, books published, screenplays produced, etc.) were marked with new timepieces.

 

When I got to the point in my career where I could choose what to write about, I chose watches. I was lucky enough to connect and work with Glen Bowen, the publisher of what was then InSync - and is now the Watch Journal, who believed in me as a watch writer, and I have been covering watches ever since, more than 25 years now.

 

I have been fortunate enough to step out of the specialized watch press and write for general interest publications, like the LA Times, the Chicago Tribune, the New York Times, the New York Observer, Hemispheres magazine and Fortune Character magazine in China, helping to spread the watch word to a wide audience.

 

After all these years, I am still fascinated by watches. For men, especially, watches are really the only adornment we can get away with, and watches can really capture the personality, style and taste of the wearer.

 

I am in awe of the creative geniuses in watchmaking: the designers who can continue to come up with amazing watch designs year after year; the engineers who design these complicated movements we love so much; the watch presidents who never fail to craft ever more interesting ways to get the word about their brands across.

 

Working in watches has given me some amazing experiences as well. I’ve been able to travel all over the world covering watches – Europe, Egypt, Latin America, China and more. I’ve jumped out of planes, learned to ski in France and to surf in Hawaii, trained on the beach with the Navy SEALs, ridden Ducatis in Italy, Harleys in Las Vegas, treasure hunted in Venice, to name but a few. I’ve met some incredible people, both inside and outside of the watch industry, the most important of which being my lovely wife, Sophie, who I met at a watch event during BaselWorld.

 

I have a small collection of watches, and they all mean something near and dear to me. I like the fact that one day these watches will be handed down to my children, who will cherish them and hand them down to their children; and a century from now, a Strandberg might still be wearing one of my watches, marking time and important events with my Zenith, my Bovet, my TAG Heuer, my Tudor or one of my Hamiltons.

 

As you can see, watches are truly special to me and always will be. I hope it will be the same for you!