ODE TO JOY

For Delhi-based watch collector Ravi Sethi, the pleasure of collecting lies not just in timepieces but also in the people and community that help further it

- Preetika Mathew

Time is precious, shouldn’t your watches be, too?” Ravi Sethi says this nearly at the end of our conversation, but it encapsulates everything that we spoke about over the last hour, perfectly. It’s Sethi’s motto, something he has chosen to collect watches by. “It’s very precious to have a good watch, and it actually means it’s not just time itself, but exudes value about your personality,” he explains.

Sethi, a Delhi-based American diplomat assigned to the American Embassy in a legal attaché capacity, has been collecting watches since 2005. His watchbox features nearly 20 timepieces, and in front of us lies only a part of it, the rest kept safely in his bank, back home in the US. Picking up timepieces that speak to him, Sethi says he is “someone who enjoys watches, loves the chase of finding them, and likes sharing my passion for watches with others.”

The nonpareil watch of his collection is a steel and gold Rolex Submariner Date Ref. 16613 ‘Sertie’ with a champagne dial, and diamond and blue sapphire hour markers, which Sethi has on his wrist. Other Rolexes in his collection are the GMT-Master II Ref. 116710LN, the greendial Oyster Perpetual 41, the Submariner ‘Hulk’ Ref. 116610LV, the GMT-Master II ‘Coke’ Ref. 16710, and Cosmograph Daytona. There’s also a Panerai Submersible, Omega Seamaster in yellow gold and steel, IWC Schaffhausen Aquatimer, Oris Aquis Regulateur ‘Der Meistertaucher’ in titanium, Bell & Ross BR 05 Blue Steel 40mm, and a personalised Breitling, among others. “People talk about the Holy Trinity [Audemars Piguet, Patek Philippe, and Vacheron Constantin], and they’re great, but the price points really shock me. Rolex, Omega, and Panerai make good watches. The Trinity gets a lot of attention and that overshadows these,” says Sethi. “I love this one,” he says, picking up the Omega Seamaster. “It was an impulsive buy, but it’s beautiful, and the Seamaster, a classic. Plus, that two tone!”