Also in my garage: classic cars and timeless wristwatches

| 22 Dec 2020
Classic & Sports Car – Also in my garage: classic cars and timeless wristwatches

Toronto-based designer Mike Kingsborough grew up around classics, visiting countless car shows with his father, but it wasn’t until relatively recently that he began to appreciate them for more than their aesthetic appeal.

“My father passed not too long ago and I thought it was time to really make a commitment,” he explains.

After years of considering American classics, he purchased his 1970 MGB GT in 2017: “I saw the GT version of the MGB and thought it was stunning, so slick and sexy; the cockpit reminds me of an aeroplane. My wife Darlene and I buzz around in it on weekends and it catches a lot of looks.”

His eye for style carries across to his wrist, too: “Just like cars, I love the design, the precision and the quality of watches.

“I always wore an inexpensive wristwatch growing up, but I never acknowledged it as more than a necessity until we got married and Darlene asked me what I would like for a wedding gift.

“I quickly realised that collecting watches can be really complicated or very simple – there’s something there for anyone at any entry point.”

Classic & Sports Car – Also in my garage: classic cars and timeless wristwatches

The pair eventually settled on a handbuilt 2018 Stowa Marine, which served as the foundation for a 13-strong collection that includes a 1970 Vacheron Constantin and a 1986 Rolex Submariner from the year of his birth.

“My wife and I circled around that particular watch, it’s beautiful to me. That would be the one that I would rescue from a fire.”

Much of the Stowa’s appeal stems from its military history, and it’s a common thread that runs through many of the pieces in his collection.

Prized among the set is a 1960 Glycine Airman, the same model worn by US pilots during the Vietnam War and by Pete Conrad – the third man to walk on the moon – during the Gemini 5 and Apollo 12 space missions in 1965 and ’69.

“I like watches that connect to some meaningful aspect of history,” says Kingsborough. “I have some generic Rolex watches that have great stories, but you see them every day – they don’t catch your eye like the Glycine.

“It’s a fraction of the price of a high-end watch, but to me it means so much more. It has this strong connection to space travel, to US military history, to intercontinental air travel – all these great things.”

Following the Glycine was a 1960 Omega Seamaster, a model famously worn by the king of rock ’n’ roll: “Elvis was an innovator and wore watches in the most impractical and unusual ways. It might have had Seamaster in the name – it was waterproof – but it became a dress watch for Omega and not the sort of thing you’d go in the water with.

“Elvis wore a beautiful Seamaster while he was enlisted in the US Army, when everyone else was wearing very utilitarian military watches. There was such a contrast between him and everyone else in the music industry, and it was the same with how he dressed and his watches. I love that.”

Kingsborough spends a lot of time considering his next purchase, and there is one he prizes most.

“The watch that went to Everest – a Rolex Explorer 1016,” he says with some excitement. “They’re very small and dainty, but they’re also extremely robust.

“It’s really versatile, and I love the story and the connection to Sir Edmund Hillary on that first trip up Mount Everest. It’s something that I’ll always have my eye on.”

Images: Darlene Kingsborough


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