Montres Publiques on Community and Merging Tradition with Tech

We spoke with Andres Ibarguen of Montres Publiques, an online collecting hub and retailer marketplace, about the industry, community and — of course — watches.

Andres Ibarguen has been a watch guy since he was around 12 years old, when he spied a Seiko Pulsar in a Lower Manhattan window while visiting with his family. He had saved enough money to pick it up, and it was his first step towards an evolving mission to help bring together in-person retail and e-commerce in the watch world.

Andres’ Seiko Lordmatic 5606-7000 from 1969, on its original bracelet. (He’s a bracelet guy! We exist!)

Founded in March 2019, Montres Publiques is an online watch publication and marketplace functioning as a community platform while connecting enthusiasts and collectors with retailers and dealers worldwide. With a background in digital marketing, Andres created the website out of a desire to tell good stories about cool watches, and it has evolved into a watch history resource known for its bite-sized 1-minute reads and vendor features.

We asked Andres a few questions about watches, Montres Publiques and what he sees in the future for the industry.

Joshua Cameron: How did you get into watches, and what do you look for in a watch?

Andres Ibarguen: I was always interested in watches here and there, but I got really into the hobby when I lived in Italy. My friend was into vintage and he got me hooked. When I’m researching watches, there’s a sort of threshold of mechanical capability that I look for, and after that, it’s all about design. I’m a fan of vintage dress watches with good original bracelets and straps because they have so much personality. My first vintage watch was a franken, I realize now that I know more about vintage — it was trying to be a Girard-Perregaux Gyromatic.

The Montres Publiques Trusted Vendors page brings enthusiasts closer to the vendors they’re buying from.

JC: You’ve featured almost 20 retailers from all over the world on your site. Why talk about dealers?

AI: The marketplace wasn’t originally the plan but we always wanted to talk about dealers and do ‘industry interviews’ to have a bit of an industry news leaning along with the vintage watch history. In Italy I became connected with so many great watch dealers who haven’t made the move into e-commerce. Montres Publiques had an audience that was looking for what these retailers were offering, so it made sense to focus more on them, tell their stories, and share their offerings. That’s what opened up the possibility for the Montres Publiques Market, where we’re able to connect these eager collectors with dedicated retailers from all over the world and help them sell their pieces online.

JC: Where do you see the industry moving?

AI: COVID has certainly thrown a wrench into things, and unfortunately, I do see the watch industry moving in the direction of something like the art market for collectors, with ‘watch hunting’ becoming ever-more difficult for the average enthusiast. There are basically two camps in the watch world, those who ‘believe’ in online and those who don’t think it will have much of an impact on the industry. I think I’ve made my bet, and I think there is a lot of data to support it. One number that helps me sleep at night is that currently about 75% of vintage watch transactions are done in-person, where that number is already down to 40-50% for new and pre-owned watches. Now, this isn’t, of course, about eliminating the personal experience of buying a vintage watch in-person – it’s about making the entire process more efficient for everyone involved. Selling watches is hard and any dealer will tell you that, even those who sell a watch within hours of posting it on their Instagram. On the collector side, for me it’s about accessibility, which is why we combine information with access to watches – often time taking inspiration from and writing about the watches for sale on the marketplace.

And while there are many people who see technology more as a ‘support’, there are also millions of dollars of venture capital being invested into watch companies around the world…This is partly why I say it is unfortunate that the watch market is going in the direction of the art (or even luxury) market, in general. There’s a lack of ‘grassroots’’ efforts if you will, or a lack of capital behind those efforts. Oftentimes the more well-funded projects come from people outside of the watch community and there is countless examples of this; both successful and unsuccessful. And, historically, it is the watch community that has kept the watch industry going through all its ups and downs, including the current down. Nonetheless, I strongly believe there is a personal or relational aspect that traditional retailers can bank on and that new entrants simply cannot replicate, not without decades of relationship building themselves. In that sense I’d say that being a dealer is an art form in itself.

Andres’ Zenith 'Tank' from the 1990s on its original strap.

JC: Do you think tech is helping the future of the industry, then?

AI: Tech is certainly a great enabler, and I think it has the potential for transformational change in the industry, some of which we’ve seen already, but I don’t think it’s had that impact so far. Watches are deeply personal and as a collector, I don’t want that personal touch to be lost through technology like we’ve seen in other sectors. I’m friends with the people I’ve bought vintage watches from and enjoy meeting them in their shops even just to chat. This hobby creates a community, and it’s so much more expansive than it’s ever been. We’re all collectors first, and that’s a human connection, not a tech one.

JC: What’s next for Montres Publiques?

AI: We have a couple things in the works but the main one would be adding an auction feature to the marketplace to do exclusively no reserve auctions. That should be really fun!

You can follow Montres Publiques on Instagram (@montrespubliques) and sign up to their email list for updates on their work.