"No one needs a watch." If you have been collecting watches for awhile, or if you've even had a passing interest in this hobby in the past, then I'm sure you have encountered this dismissive, declarative sentence. The truth is that it is simultaneously right and wrong. It is right in the sense that we have cellphones or laptops to tell us the time, so we don't need a watch to tell the time. But, it is wrong in that it assumes a watch's only purpose is to tell the time.

The unboxing experience is an underrated, yet incredibly important aspect of getting a brand new watch. That being said, I know from firsthand experience with my own microbrand that creating a super unique or customized packaging can very quickly raise your costs, which in turn forces you to raise the cost on the customer. However, there are a few brands that manage to create something unique, regardless, and that's definitely the case for Walker & Crown, Farr + Swit, and

As watch enthusiasts, it’s great to stay updated, but realistically, there’s only so many watches we can track. So, I have made the ultimate sacrifice… and taken it upon myself to research some truly awesome brands, and condense it into one article. I know, I’m a saint! All jokes aside, it was great to put together this list, and I enjoyed talking with over a dozen brand owners.

No watch is perfect, but I genuinely think that Nectere have succeeded in creating a watch that functions as both a conversation starter, and a damn good timepiece, too. I will be writing a full review about this later on, but I felt compelled to write this release article simply from how much I loved wearing this watch.