There are very few people who, at such a young age, have amassed such a breadth of knowledge and experience as SJX, the founder and editor of SJX Watches; an online platform which delivers articles about independent watchmaking. Being avid followers of his content, we thought we’d have a chat with the man behind the blog about how he got into horology at the ripe old age of twelve. 

 

Tell us a little bit about how you first became interested in watches, because it was at a fairly young age right?

Yes, well my mother had wanted to gift me a watch when I was twelve years old. It needed to be one that would last many years, decades even, so that it would be an investment of sorts.

 

And were you involved with the decision of what it might be?

I was given a budget of a couple of hundred dollars, so I began searching the internet to get an understanding of what was out there. This is when I first came across watch forums, and I was captivated by them. My passion for watches all stems from this moment.

 

So what did you end up buying?

After quite extensive research, I finally settled on a Tag Heuer 2000 series. It was automatic, of course.

 

Oh, so you managed to skip the whole quartz phase from day one…

Yes, my research quickly steered me away from making that mistake. This would have been around 1997 or 1998, and the forums were very educational back then, only drawing genuine enthusiasts who had equal measures of passion. It made my horological education very swift.

 

Do you think the world of online watch-forums has changed considerably since you experienced them back then?

I’d say so, because a lot of the forums that are thriving these days tend to focus on entry level, or mid-range watches. Today, the higher-end action seems to find itself on the blogs, with exception to the extremely narrowly-focussed forums which cover topics like military watches for example, these remain very active and educational.