My name is James Dowling and I have been collecting and trading in collectable Rolex watches for almost 20 years. I began collecting wristwatches around seventeen years ago, and soon decided to focus on early automatic watches (Harwood, Wig-Wag, Autorist etc.). Of course I also bought an early bubbleback, the first automatic from Rolex, and quickly realised that the bubbleback was the only one of the whole bunch that actually worked for any length of time. It was this first impression which started me on the Rolex trail.

Since then I have gone on to co-author the recent book on the history of the company „The Best of Time; Rolex wristwatches" with my American friend and colleague Jeffrey Hess; the book has had excellent reviews. I write on Rolex, and other associated topics, on a regular basis for a number of magazines throughout the world; for the Japanese magazines Time Spec, Watch a Go Go and Rolex fan (all published by World Photo Press) for the US magazine The International Watch & Jewelry Guild Bulletin, for the Australian magazine Luxe and for the British edition of Esquire. I am a member of the IWJG (International Watch & Jewelry Guild) as charter member number 63, the WTA as founder member 155 and of the NAWCC (National Association of Watch & Clock Collectors) as member number 94620. I am also member number 800 of the Kensington & Chelsea Chamber of Commerce.

In 1997 I was hired as a consultant to Christie’s auction house in London to help catalogue the Ravenborg collection of Rolex watches. This was the largest single owner single make sale the watch market has ever seen, and it raised well over a million pounds sterling; I have also worked with Sotheby's helping to catalogue specialist Rolex pieces. At the end of 1999, I was asked to give the Dingwell-Beloe lecture to the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers (founded 1631); I was the first wristwatch specialist ever to be accorded this singular honour. Four years ago I became editor in chief of Watchnet.com and in 2001 when Watchnet merged with Timezone.com (the world's largest watch website) I became editor in chief of the combined sites. I am also moderator of TZ's Rolex forum, the most visited of the 20+ forums on the site.

In spring 2004 I was accorded the singular honour of being invited to become a freeman of The Worshipful Company of Clockmakers (founded 1631) and I was subsequently enrolled at a ceremony in London's ancient Guildhall.

Like all collectors I soon arrived at a point where I needed to dispose of watches in order to upgrade my collection, in selling these surplus pieces I began to learn the niceties of watch dealing and before long I had become a member of the London watch dealing fraternity. 5 years ago I gave up my booth on London’s famed Portobello Road, which I had inhabited for over a dozen years. I also travel widely to buy and sell watches, usually racking up over 150,000 miles each year in my frequent flier account. I sell mainly to U.S. and Far Eastern dealers and have made a specialty of working with individual collectors helping them build tightly focussed collections (one collector has over a dozen Princes another has more than 30 Bubblebacks). This website is an extension of this philosophy, as I hope to be able to show my watches to a wider audience. The watches shown here are those currently for sale and also (on the page marked MY COLLECTION) some of which are either currently in my collection or have recently been sold. I have included them so you may get an impression of the kind of watches I handle and also because, in some cases, the images you see here will be a good guide to the original state of the pieces. However, please note that most of the watches you will see here are NOT your average Rolex; I specialise in the rare and unusual pieces. What that means is this is not the best place to find Datejusts or Presidents (not that there is anything wrong in either of those watches) nor is it a good place to hunt for slightly used watches; most of the pieces shown here are between 15 and 80 years old and all have their own special story to tell.

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