The Watchuseek story really began in 1995, in the earliest days of the commercial/consumer oriented internet that we know today. Those were the days when your puny router would crackle, whine and burp into life while you went and made a cup of tea, or of course coffee if you were in Europe or Stateside. In fact in those early days of dire and unpredictable download speeds you could go out for the day and come back to find a large file (and in those days 5MB was considered huge) still downloading. Remember just 15 years earlier Bill Gates famously said '640kb ought to be enough for anyone.'

Watchuseek was the brainchild of an increasingly avid watch collector in Holland by the name of Ernie Romers, a name later to become synonymous with all that Watchuseek stands for. By the mid 90's Ernie was starting to appreciate watches more and more. By coincidence, Ernie began his collection with the first watch I was ever given, an Oris. He particularly liked their alarm watch, the regulator series. His first serious watch was the 36mm Big Crown Small Second watch (Ref. 640 7463 40 61.)

It was Ernie's brother-in-law who really got Ernie excited about watches when he returned home from a business trip and showed him a vintage Universal Geneve and a Raketa Pilot's watch that he had bought on the trip. It was a great way to get initiated into watches. Depending on the age of the watch, Universal Geneve watches were largely designed by Gerald Genta, one of the greatest watch designers of all time, and the Raketa Pilot's watches are still much sought after.

Ernie started researching more information about watches on the internet, today that sounds so simple, but let's not forget, in those days online information was extremely hit and miss, many of the watch brands did not have an internet site. There was a long wait and see period while companies of all kinds sat on the fence waiting to see what would happen with this strange computer based thing called the interweb. But Ernie was ahead of the trend as he already had a website with links to cars and watches. At this point he decided to start building a website purely with links to watches, manufacturers and information about the watches. This was the genesis of the Watchuseek we know today.

Watchuseek site circa 2000

In the early days, as seen by the screen print from 2000, the name evolved from the link page title which was "Watch you seek is Watch you get!" so named because the site was designed to help people to find news and information quickly. And again, in those days, such a site was a rarity, it was even pre-Google, which came along in 1998, so you had to rely on search engines such as Netscape Navigator and Alta Vista, now confined to history, and you'd be gazing at clunky sites with a choice of frames or no frames depending on how desperately slow your internet connection was. The site took off when Ernie began adding forums and people started to join, first as a trickle, then by the hundreds. For the record, the first two forums on the site were for Oris and Zenith, and traditionally they have always been a great supporter of the site.

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Watchuseek site circa 2005

As can be seen from the site archive shots, Watchuseek gradually evolved and became increasingly more sophisticated.

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April 2005: Introduction of Watchuseek logo

Sometime in early April 2005, the Watchuseek logo we recognize today replaced the somewhat rudimentary homegrown Watchuseek logo of the early noughties. By August 2007, French watchmakers Bell & Ross stepped in to be the sponsors of the Watchuseek homepage, and their presence has remained highly visible ever since.

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August 2007: Bell & Ross sponsorship begins

Meanwhile, Ernie soon discovered he had given birth to a ceaselessly ravenous horological monster. He was handling the rapidly growing demands of the website in the early mornings and the late nights, in between a full time job in a school for kids with learning difficulties. As more Watchuseekers joined the site each day, firing off questions and comments to the Forum, Ernie quickly found himself in need of moderators.

In addition to running the site, Ernie was aware that he needed to be known to the watch manufactures in the real world, as they are the life blood of the site and the means by which the growing audience could stay intrigued, entertained and informed. It took Ernie several costly annual visits to Baselworld, driving all the way from Holland, before he became accepted by the watchmaking fraternity. Everything about Watchuseek was achieved one step at a time by Ernie putting in as many hours as he could each day.

For too many years his inbox was bulging with hundreds of unanswered emails, and those were just the important ones that needed answering. By 2014, Ernie realized the beast he had spawned was gobbling him up whole, and it was time to let go, which he did, to Canadian forum specialists Verticalscope.

Watchuseek was already the world's most visited watch forum long before Ernie decided to hand over the reins. In fact, starting so early in the history of the internet gave Ernie a massive head start in building the site and the forum, and anyone trying to replicate such a feat today would find it a formidable undertaking. So much so that it's best not to even go there, as there are already several forum based watch sites, and besides, why bother, because there is the best of them all in Watchuseek!

Today marks another turning point in the ongoing evolution of the Watchuseek site, approaching 10 months AE (After Ernie), with the introduction of a brand new home page. The new home page contains a lively blog which will separate the daily news and article features from the day to day debates raging in the forums, yet still plugs in directly to the best of what's happening and who's saying what on the site.

With a solid team behind it, it's safe to say the Watchuseek story still has several pages just waiting to be written, and everyone from newbie to seasoned watch collector has a say.

Feature image on homepage of Ernie Romers, Watchuseek Founder. Photo courtesy of Topper Fine Jewelers