Kam Daswani, the founder of whisky boutique Dram Good Stuff, who has collected more than 40 watches, tells Tatler why he dislikes wristwatch banter and the obsession with hyped models
“Once you’re a collector, the product is almost irrelevant. It’s a bug. If you’re introduced to something [you appreciate], you [always] want more,” says Kam Daswani, the founder of Dram Good Stuff, a boutique that houses some of the finest whiskies in Hong Kong for VIP experiences. His insatiable collecting obsession has spanned years and various fine collectibles. “It started off with custom pool cues, which turned to fine art, which turned into whiskies.” Now, luxury watches consume Daswani the most.
“Collecting is not an isolated thing. It is a community thing,” he says. Daswani is known to travel the world in order to share his passion with those who have a taste for the finer things in life. But the fascination with watches started decades ago when Daswani inherited his first timepiece—a Rolex passed down after his grandfather’s death. “My grandfather used to wear a solid gold Rolex. When he passed away in the 1980s, my grandmother took off the watch he was wearing and gave it to my mum to give to me,” he says.
Fresh out of national service in the Singapore Armed Forces in 1990, Daswani received the Rolex Day-Date as a memento of his grandfather. He treasured its emotional value, replacing the worn-out bracelet with a trendy leather strap to keep it functional. This revived family watch sparked his intrigue in timepieces.
Daswani’s first intentional watch purchase came a few years later, when a chance encounter led him to a platinum Patek Philippe perpetual calendar that captured his heart. “I fell in love with this watch, but it was just [beyond] my price point. I kept thinking that one day I wanted to buy it,” he says. So, when life presented the opportunity, he took the plunge. “It was sort of like a [financial] windfall. I had a choice either to keep the money or go on holiday or whatever or buy the Patek. I took all of the money and I [used it] on that one thing; it was just enough to cover that one Patek.”
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In the years to come, his approach remained measured, only acquiring a new timepiece every few years when something genuinely captivated him. “For the first five to ten years, I was basically [buying] one watch every two years, maybe one watch in three years, and I just kept them. I didn’t sell because I only had five pieces,” he explains.
His love of collecting has led to some unintended purchases, like the time he mistakenly bid on a platinum Patek Philippe at auction. “I was at home, on the internet, just clicking around Sotheby’s online auction,”he says.“I clicked ‘bid’ by accident.” He unintentionally bought the pre-owned watch for full market value. Though a surprise acquisition, he enjoyed wearing it for over a decade before reselling it.
But he has not been enticed to buy a second-hand watch since then, no matter how rare it might be. “I don’t like to buy watches that have been used, primarily because I’m very OCD and I want to take the plastic off [the watch] myself. I want my sweat to be on the leather strap; I don’t want to wear other people’s sweaty watches,” he says with a laugh. “I always said that I’m going to buy it new, so that it will be in my name.”
