This is an edition of the newsletter Box + Papers, Cam Wolf’s weekly deep dive into the world of watches. Sign up here.
Few watch collectors can claim the dialed-in taste and idiosyncratic perspective of Roni Madhvani. Strip the handles off of Instagram, and I’m certain I could still point out with 100% accuracy which wrist photos belonged to the Uganda-based Madhvani. It helps that if I had his kind of cash, I would be picking up exactly the same pieces: Patek Philippe’s most daring designs, often dreamt up by Gilbert Albert in the ’50s and ’60s; beautiful enamel-dial watches from Omega, Universal Genève, and Eska; plus a fleet of the rarest, funkiest Cartiers ever made. But while I’m used to seeing new pickups from Madhvani on the ‘Gram, I wasn’t expecting his recent announcement that he was selling a few of his most prized timepieces in an upcoming Monaco Legend Group auction.
“It’s me testing the water for the first time and getting rid of some things,” Madhvani says on a call from London. The collector decided specifically to put these pieces up for sale after his relationship with reps at present-day Cartier soured. He’s now planning to set loose nearly all of the house’s pieces from his collection. “Some of those I’ll probably hang onto for sentimental reasons until the grave,” Madhvani says, “but I’ve lost that emotional connection with the others, unfortunately.”
It’s fitting that I first learned of Madhvani through Instagram, because the platform has been one of the most important tools for him to grow his collection. He is a great case study for how the watch business operates at the highest levels. Because his tastes are so crystal clear, he says that dealers frequently reach out to him with pieces they think he would like before they go to market. Madhvani estimates that 40 percent of his collection came to him through Instagram.
“That’s the biggest thrill to me every morning: to wake up and see on Instagram what direct message someone sent offering something,” Madhvani says. “It’s really like a child waiting for something.” He says he gets a message about an interesting watch at least five or six times a week. “Instagram’s changed the dynamics of collecting watches totally,” Madhvani says.
A couple of the watches below came through a dealer he met on Instagram and are now estimated to sell for over six figures at auction. I spoke with Madhvani about what makes each of these four watches special.
