The case for the second watch.

The first serious watch is almost always loud. It declares an arrival — a Daytona, a Royal Oak, a Submariner — pieces whose silhouettes the world recognises before they recognise the wearer.

The second tends to be quieter. A vintage Calatrava in rose gold, or a 36mm Oyster Perpetual with the unusual dial. Pieces that read first to the wearer, second to the room.

We think this is the right order. The first watch is the conversation; the second is the friendship.

For our part, we keep both at the boutique — the loud and the quiet — but it is the second category we go looking for. The under-37mm dress watches, the unusual references, the editions whose annual production runs to the low hundreds. They tend to be the calls we look forward to making.

If you have a brief — a reference you can't find, a dial you remember, a maker you've stopped seeing — write to us. Our buyers will reply within 24 hours with what they can source, with provenance, and a price.