An Introduction to Unpolished
A start here guide for new enthusiasts and collectors.
I’ve been writing about watches for the better part of a decade. This all started as a newsletter—the first time I hit send, it went to 51 people. Eventually I became an editor at Hodinkee, then I launched Unpolished in January 2025. Before that, I was an attorney.
What is Unpolished?
Unpolished is a 2x/week newsletter for watch enthusiasts. Most issues are built around a main piece, along with a handful of shorter hits—market notes, recs, whatever’s worth flagging. It’s pretty casual, but calls out bullsh*t when we see it.
It doesn’t run ads from watch brands and is supported by paid subscribers, in addition to selling a growing array of straps and accessories in the Unpolished Store.
Who am I?
I’m Tony Traina. Unpolished is the newsletter I wish existed as I was becoming an enthusiast. Opinionated, grounded in history, fascinated by collectibility, and not concerned with brands or PR agendas. Based in Chicago.
What I cover
I love vintage watches: Cartier, Rolex, Patek Philippe, but also niches like Movado, Longines, and Gallet. Neo-vintage: 1990s Chopard, Lange & Söhne, and Blancpain. Plenty of modern coverage too—much of it focused on independent watchmakers—but always with an eye on what came before.
The back-and-forth between past and present is the whole point of Unpolished.
A few themes you’ll see come up again and again: constantly questioning what it means to be “collectible”; skepticism toward hype and the social pressure that distorts everything; a running argument about what “good taste” actually means versus what we’re told it means; the difference between rare and important.
That’s all informed by reporting with real names and numbers instead of vague gestures at “the market.” I talk to plenty of collectors, dealers, and independent watchmakers who know more than me.
What you get as a subscriber
Free subscribers get a taste. Paid members ($8/mo or $80/year) get 2 issues per week, plus:
10% off all U.S.-made straps in the Unpolished Store
$50 off any service at Watchcheck
Care Package—Unpolished polishing cloth + stickers
Access to comments and Q&As
Founding Members get an annual gift and Rewind Magazine. 2026 is sold out, so more on that when the time’s right.
Podcast + YouTube, too!
🎧 Unpolished Podcast: A regular chat with collectors, watchmakers, or insiders, as well as audio editions of select newsletters. Subscribe to the feed: Spotify / Apple / RSS
Listener favorites: Bradley Taylor; Wei Koh; Jack Forster; Ben Dunn (Watch Brothers London); Nicholas Bowman-Scargill (Fears); Steven Holtzman (CD Peacock); William Massena
🎥 Also on YouTube. Subscribe here.
Where to start
The thesis pieces, to understand how I think about collecting:
47 Unpolished Rules for Watch Collecting—buy what you understand, and other practical and theoretical rules to guide your collecting (or not).
How to Actually Develop ‘Good Taste’—understanding what moves you and when you’re being moved for the wrong reasons.
Are You Playing the Game You Wanna Play?—What happens when numbers replace judgment—and how to take it back.
Rarity is Overrated—is it rare or is it obscure?
🧑🏫 How Tos and Collector’s Guide—practical and specific:
📚 If you want reference guides for some of my favorite watches:
Collector’s Guide: 1970s Cartier (Hodinkee, but useful)
Collector’s Guide: The Chopard L.U.C, and One of the Best Automatic Movements Ever Made
Quick Study: Omega Seamaster Chronographs with Caliber 321, one of my favorite midcentury chronographs.
For Your Reference: The Movado M95 (by Rich Fordon)
🗣️ Reporting and takes, the stuff that gets the most comments:
The Boomer Watch Is On Sale, but is anyone buying it?
The Closest Look You’ll Ever Get at a Steel Patek Philippe 1518, an exclusive look at the most expensive watch to sell in 2025.
When a Watch Becomes a Trophy, what happens when a Chronomètre Résonance becomes ‘the $14 million Journe.’
Beyond Unpolished: Let’s Talk about Restoration, Eric Ku on why he ‘f*cking hates’ that word—and what collectors get wrong.
The A. Lange & Söhne Conundrum: when world-class watchmaking meets modern luxury headaches.
❤️ Other favorite reviews/watches:
Patek Philippe 5000 vs. Lange 1815 Up/Down (1990s Rematch) | Tudor Black Bay 58: Gilt vs. Burgundy | Berneron Mirage 38 and 34—All Gold, No Notes (Almost) | Sinn EZM1 | Universal Genève Ferrovie dello Stato
📍 The Ref., a weekly Sunday story about a forgotten watch or moment in history:
When Damage Became Tropical | Error-Proof or California Dial? | The Steel Lange That Was Never for Sale
📈 Reader favorites—some of the most-read issues:
🔎 This map is pinned, so you can always find it on the homepage. You can also scroll the archive here. There’s also a search box in the top right, though I often find it easier to append “site:unpolishedwatches.com” to a standard Google query to search the archives (that trick works for any site).
Get in touch
Drop me a line or reply to any newsletter and I’ll respond.
Email: tony[at]unpolishedwatches.com
Leave a comment on this, or any other newsletter. I try to respond to all of them. Read through, and you’ll also see that some of the best articles began as reader comments or questions, so every comment section is also a suggestion box:
💕 Tap the heart on your favorite posts. It helps me understand what you’re actually enjoying so I can do more of it, and it helps others discover the best Unpolished has to offer.
