In an industry dominated by male CEOs, creative directors, watchmakers, and collectors, New York-based Zoë Abelson doesn’t see herself as different. The founder of Graal, a platform to source and sell luxury watches, Abelson has been part of the watch industry for 12 years now, and is deeply familiar with its ins and outs. But this professional trajectory has also fostered her personal love for watches and furthered her journey as a collector.
Popularly known as
@watchgirloffduty on Instagram, Abelson stepped into the watch industry in 2011, when she joined Antiquorum Auctioneers as an intern. It was a different world for her, and she was fascinated immediately. “I didn’t know about the watch industry, or if there’s a watch-collecting niche,” she says. “And so, when I saw an auction for watches, I got so confused seeing people pay what they could spend on a car or something that was necessary.” Her stints at the Berlin-based Auctionata, where she helped open their first watch department for their New York office; Crown & Caliber; and Govberg Jewelers (now WatchBox), where she moved to Hong Kong in 2018 to help open their first international office, all helped her understand, build, and hone her knowledge about collectibles and collectors in equal measure. Eventually, Abelson started her own venture, Graal. “I always loved seeing something from the start, being a part of it, and having a lot of input in how to make it successful,” she says.
So, it was only natural that her personal love for watches grew with her professional journey. Abelson recalls her first watch, a Baby-G in light blue, which she loved wearing. “I wore it until it turned green, I wore it everywhere—to summer camp, in the lake, the pool,” she says. Her next watch was an Ebel—a tiny, stainless-steel piece with a mother-of-pearl dial, which she received when she was 13, and still has. Next came a stainless-steel Michael Kors with artificial diamonds, which Abelson bought for herself when she started working in the industry. After gaining more knowledge of the watch world, she bought her first ‘real’ watch, a 1950s stainless-steel LeCoultre chronograph. It was a result of her learning about vintage watches while working at Antiquorum.
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“I had known in my mind that I wanted it,” she says. “I loved Jaeger-LeCoultre, the vintage ones, and I loved the 1950s era of chronographs. I was scrolling through Instagram one day in 2016, and a watch popped up on my feed, and I was like ‘That’s it, that’s the one’. I messaged the seller—I didn’t know him—and just asked how much the watch was and [told him] I wanted it. I wired him the money without even thinking. I know better now, but at that point, it just caught my attention. I stayed in touch with the dealer, and every time I wear it, he gets so excited to see it on Instagram.”
Another vintage watch that really spoke to her was the Rolex Day-Date Ref. 1803 in white gold and with a silver dial—she was awestruck by every detail of the Day-Date. “In my mind, one day if ever I could afford something in that price range, it would be that watch,” she says. However, as Abelson grew as a dealer and moved to Hong Kong, she fulfilled her dream by getting the Ref. 1803, which was a big milestone in her watch-collecting journey.
Being in Hong Kong also gave her access to vintage Rolexes that she added to her collection, which she has since sold. “I bought and sold them because they really didn’t speak to me,” she says. “Watch collecting is a journey, a learning. You think that you want something and then you get it and realise that it just doesn’t speak to you the way you thought it would. It’s a lot of trial and error, and as a dealer, I work with that a lot, with all of my clients who accumulate these massive collections—they wear two of their 20 watches, and they want to sell them.”
After the Day-Date, Abelson started to get interested in the neo-vintage era of watchmaking—the early 1990s to early 2000s. It was an era when brands were making their best models in smaller case sizes, like the Patek Philippe Aquanaut 5065A in 38mm, which she ended up adding to her collection in 2020, when the watch market was at a low. “There was a two-month period in May and June 2020, when prices actually dropped. After that for two-and-a-half years, it just kept going up,” she says. That two-month period was the time when Abelson got some of the best timepieces in her collection. “I was able to score this Aquanaut, as well as an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak 14790 in stainless steel in June. If you look at the markets now, I bought them at maybe half of what their worth is at this moment. I was very, very lucky.”
Around that time, Rolex also came out with colourful dials in its Oyster Perpetual line and being someone who likes anything off-beat, she “had to buy them”. Though a little hesitant about the smaller size at first, she bought her first 31mm watch, the Oyster Perpetual with the ‘Tiffany’ blue dial. This buying experience also opened doors for Abelson to try on and add small case sizes to her collection.
Vintage watches have no doubt informed Abelson’s choice of timepieces. “Vintage speaks to me more because it has more character,” she says. Today, the vintage watches in her collection include a 1989 small yellow-gold Rolex Datejust, with a coral Stella dial, which was a recent purchase; the heirloom Patek Philippe Calatrava with ‘flame’ lugs from her great-grandfather, and a Cartier Santos in an octagonal shape that she inherited from her grandmother after her death.
Abelson often finds herself drawn to masculine watches rather than those with diamonds or ‘feminine colours’, and also has a list of timepieces that she would have loved to add to her collection but are just too big for a small wrist like hers—her sweet spot is between 36mm and 38mm. “I want to have more masculine designs in smaller case sizes that actually fit my wrists,” she says. She believes it is not important to have categories for watches anymore. “There are brands that are starting to listen to consumers in the way that you don’t need to pink it and shrink it,” she says.
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One such ‘masculine’ watch that Abelson picked up when she left WatchBox to start Graal was a 40mm white-gold Daytona with a black mother-of-pearl dial. “I purchased [it] from WatchBox as a kind of sentimental thing,” she says. “That was the first stone-dial watch that I purchased for myself. And after that, I was strictly looking for Rolex stone dials. I also purchased a gorgeous white-gold Rolex Day-Date with a lapis lazuli stone dial with diamonds on it.” Vintage Rolex Day-Dates with stone and Stella dials are always on her list. “What I like about vintage Rolexes is that even though these watches are mass-produced, you’re never going to see any two of those watches that are exactly the same because they were taken care of in different ways, or worn in different ways, or have aged differently,” she says.
Being a watch dealer and collector has its pros and cons, and being fairly visible on social media, people tend to know Abelson and her taste in watches. “I find myself to be really lucky, where I’m offered things,” she says. “Sometimes people reach out to me saying ‘I thought of you for this watch, this is such a Zoë watch’.” There is also the fact that Abelson found her most expensive watches in Hong Kong, bought from small, under-the-radar dealers, and at__ online auctions. On the other hand, there are many times she falls in love with a timepiece that she is dealing with for her business. And being in the watch industry has taught Abelson valuable lessons to help build her own identity as a dealer and a collector. “If you want to build a watch collection, it is really important to know that your first watch should be the one that you are going to keep in your collection forever,” she says. “Your taste and choices in watches are always evolving. You should always buy what you love, and not what others tell you to. It’s always fun to look back at my collection and see how much my interest has changed.”
Looking Ahead
Abelson’s latest purchase is a 36mm Little Lange 1 with an aventurine dial. “Because I have access to so many watches, I need something different and a little funky to catch my attention and the dial of the Little Lange 1 is mesmerising,” she says. For that reason, she also loves F.P. Journe. “He makes traditional complications but would go a step further and elevate them,” she says. The F.P. Journe Anniversary Limited Edition Tourbillon T-30, a 99-piece edition based on the first pocket watch he ever produced, is one of Abelson’s grail watches. The second is the F.P. Journe Octa Calendrier with a black mother-of-pearl dial. Another brand that appeals to her is MB&F. “I think what draws me to MB&F is how crazy they are and how fun their watches are, yet so wearable and you can never get bored looking at them on your wrist,” she says. She is currently on the waitlist for MB&F’s purple dial LM101, which she expects to get by 2024. “That’s the next step in my journey to modern independence,” she adds.
So, what do watches mean to her? “Not only are watches my main focus for my career for the last 12 years, but they are a deep passion and hobby,” she says. “It may sound a little corny, but watches have really become one of the biggest parts of my life.”
The story first appeared in WatchTime India's Watches for Women 2023 issue.
Images: Courtesy Zoë Abelson
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