Nothing is created, nothing is lost, everything is transformed
Ending a collection is, without doubt, every collector's greatest fear. There are several ways of bringing a collection to a close: selling the watches is possibly the worst, and handing them down to one's descendants the best. It can also end with the acquisition of the final piece, or with the creation of a museum. What we all know is that, however unsettling it may be, its end is certain.
Yet, just as in Lavoisier's law, in which nothing is lost and everything is transformed, a collection can find new forms of existence and renewal, living on in unexpected ways.
COMPLETING A COLLECTION
A collector of Universal Genève's Compax line, for example, knows that he faces an arduous journey, just as he knows that there is always an end in sight to that road. His collection is concluded when it reaches its final goal. It is always possible to replace watches in poorer condition with others in better condition, but once the goal has been reached, one can safely say that the collection is complete. In this situation, an end is reached through the fulfilment of one's objectives. A completed collection such as this can be preserved within the family or even in a museum, thus outliving its collector.
When buying his first Compax, the collector may have pondered the possible outcomes for the end of his future collection. Such thoughts may even have influenced the decision to start the collection. The collector may have considered the possibility of leaving a fine legacy to his children, or of leaving a way of being remembered, linked to his greatest pleasure. He may also simply have thought that the great purpose of his collection would be the search for new watches, even duplicates, and that this would be its only end. As if it were a path towards an unreachable horizon.
COLLECTIONS IN METAMORPHOSIS
A collection with the capacity to regenerate itself takes on an air of eternity. Selling the watches in poorer condition and replacing them with others in better condition can be a seemingly endless task. Let us imagine a collector who gathers in his collection only the most recent versions of Rolex's sports line. Whenever a new version appears, he sells the previous one. If such a thing existed, this would be a highly dynamic collection. Breaking this habit of replacing old versions with new ones would create a potential collection of vintage watches from a very specific period. In this case, the end of a collection of recent watches turns, over time, into another of vintage watches. We are witnessing a regeneration of collections. Sometimes collections are like living organisms that transform and recreate themselves.
COLLECTIONS WITHOUT A COLLECTOR
Many collections outlive their collector and become the narrators of his story. Watch collections can be found in various museums devoted exclusively to horology, such as the Museu do Relógio, or with horology as part of their holdings, such as the Museu Medeiros e Almeida. In these cases, it is possible to discern the guiding thread of the collection, as well as the style and condition of the watches. These aspects, among others, allow us to understand the collector's story. Collections can thus outlive their collectors and tell their story. They remain living collections, merely frozen in time, with no capacity for renewal or growth. Sometimes collections donated to museums are brought back to life, simply because the curators devote themselves to adding new pieces, becoming the new collectors themselves. Of course, this will always be a delicate task requiring an in-depth knowledge of the original collector. The end of a collection need not, therefore, be permanent. On a smaller scale, collectors' children can go on adding to the collection. It is also possible to acquire a collection from someone else and carry it forward. Once created, collections are organisms with enough vitality to adapt to new members.
THE SALE
The worst nightmare for an active collector is the unwanted sale of his collection. In such a situation, all we can do is think that the journey was enough to justify the goal. There are several ways of breaking up a collection by selling the watches individually. One of the most common options is to auction all the pieces. Although this outcome may be unpleasant, there is some comfort in the fact that auctions are often attended by watch enthusiasts, who thus find an opportunity to obtain hard-to-find watches.
Auctions are an increasingly sought-after world. They work almost like football: they have a referee who uses a hammer instead of a whistle, every participant has a number, you can win or lose, and they even have specific seasons.
For some kinds of collections to stay in good shape, it is advisable for their collectors to practise this "sport". Of course, there are other ways of selling watches too, but all of them are less competitive. The end of a collection can serve several purposes; facing financial difficulties is one of them. It is also possible to sell an entire collection in order to start a completely different one. After all, collectors are living organisms in constant evolution.
It is therefore natural that the collection and the collector do not always follow the same pace and the same direction of growth.
LAVOISIER'S LAW AND CATRINA'S LITTLE DOVES
If watches are like Catrina's little doves, passing from hand to hand, the only way to start a collection is to learn to close your hand at the right moment, when the right watch lands in it. Collectors know full well that watches flow, moving from collector to collector, and they also know that the only way to create a collection is to hold on to them and halt their movement. Every collector knows that watches have a natural tendency to circulate among owners, and that a collection only comes about when we manage to retain a set of watches. A collection is the temporary interruption of the natural movement of watches between owners. Its end is always inescapable; yet we also know that, in horology, nothing is lost, everything is transformed.
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