Old is gold for this young vintage expert

BRIMMING with enthusiasm as he fields questions about vintage watches and the evolution of Tag Heuer, Nicholas Biebuyck’s excitement belies the fact that he had just flown into Singapore from Switzerland that same morning, and is battling jetlag by sheer force of will.

Perhaps his age helps a little. At 36, Biebuyck still qualifies as a young and energetic enthusiast – only he isn’t quite the ordinary watch aficionado.

Armed with vast experience in the vintage watch trade and an encyclopedic knowledge of horology, Biebuyck is the heritage director of Tag Heuer – a position that he has held for the past year and seems destined for.

He stumbled into the world of horology when he was just 17, when he bought his first watch at an auction – a vintage Heuer Carrera.

Right about the same time, Biebuyck chanced on an article about the late master watchmaker, George Daniels, which piqued his interest in watchmaking even more.

“I was just blown away by this idea that one man sitting in a workshop in the Isle of Man could make an entire watch from start to finish,” he tells The Business Times (BT).

Later, a serendipitous chain of events, which involved Biebuyck dropping out of his mechanical engineering course at university, and completely changing his career trajectory to work in the vintage watch trade – first in Hong Kong, then with auction houses such as Christie’s and Bonhams – eventually led him to work for Tag Heuer.

Today, Biebuyck is tasked with overseeing the brand’s archives that dates all the way back to its founding in 1860.

He also perpetuates Tag Heuer’s legacy through work at its museum in La Chaux-de-Fonds, travelling exhibitions, restoration workshop and retail networks, as well as by getting involved in the development of new watches.

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Certainly, Biebuyck’s role at Tag Heuer is a lot more multifaceted than his job title suggests.

“There is a thread that connects everything Tag Heuer does, from our values and philosophies to our innovations,” he says.

“I feel like there are so many stories to tell about Tag Heuer with its watchmaking heritage, cultural impact in motorsports, contributions to avant-garde technology and so on, and this is just the beginning.”

BT: Tell us about the Heuer Carrera that you bought when you were 17.

It was a vintage Carrera from 1986. I bought it at an auction. Initially, I had my eye on another Carrera, but the price for that went up to about £600 (S$960) and my limit was £500. I had no prior auction experience, and I made the mistake of being so angry at not getting what I wanted, I went and bought something else that I didn’t need.

Even after that unwanted purchase, I was still annoyed. So, I eventually went back to the auction to get the 1986 Carrera. But that experience opened my eyes to the excitement of an auction. It was almost like theatre.

BT: How has the appreciation of vintage watches changed over the years?

Around 2005, before I started working with vintage watches, the level of scholarship was nowhere near what we have today. Since 2015, we have taken a very data-driven approach by looking at auction houses’ records, speaking with private collectors, and examining the very small nuances and variations in conditions to understand the watches.

For example, since 2010, auction houses started adding information such as casing movement numbers in a big way, because of the data that is now available.

Before that, research took on a very macro view, focusing on areas such as the anthropological understanding of the brands and watches, and the brands’ positioning.

BT: So, are buyers today making more informed choices?

The huge amount of information is a bit of a double-edged sword.

Today, we have a lot of armchair experts and bedroom brokers. They go away, study this stuff, and they think because they looked at a few high-resolution images online, they know a lot about watches.

But there is a lot more to it. Once you physically wear a watch on your wrist, or look at it under a loupe, then you will have a much deeper understanding of the watch.

I do my research and speak with people, but it’s only when I hold the watch in my hand or have a trusted friend take a close look at it, that I really have the complete picture.

BT: Where do the vintage Heuer models stand at auctions?

Pound for pound, a vintage Heuer watch like the Carrera reference 2447 is comparable to a hugely coveted reference by one of the top performing brands.

Yet, despite sharing almost identical components from the same suppliers, design details, and so on, the Heuer watch auctions at roughly one-third of the value compared to the other watch. This is beyond belief.

It has to do with the perceived value and, clearly, there’s a massive opportunity for growth.

BT: What advice would you give to people who want to invest in vintage watches?

Rule No 1: Buy what you like. The moment you’re chasing the market, you’re in trouble. There are many people who are living and breathing the watch business, and are playing this game far better than you.

Secondly, it is all about the condition of the watch. Rarity does not equal value, and the condition of the watch absolutely outranks everything.

BT: Can you share a few emblematic watches from the brand that touched you most?

I’d have to start with Heuer Carrera gold reference 1158 CHN. The great-grandson of the founder, Jack Heuer, who also designed the Carrera, said that this was one of his favourite watches. Jack would gift the watch to Formula 1 drivers who he admired and had a personal relationship with.

There is also the Heuer Monaco reference 1133. I never understood this watch as a collector – it looks so square and brutal.

But when it achieved success several years after its launch, and you see people like Stanley Kubrick and Sammy Davis Jr wearing it, you understand that this is a true avant-garde icon that was so far ahead of its time.