{"id":4080,"date":"2026-05-14T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/?p=4080"},"modified":"2026-05-14T05:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T05:00:00","slug":"how-a-28-year-old-collector-built-one-of-the-rarest-vintage-patek-philippe-collections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/?p=4080","title":{"rendered":"How a 28-Year-Old Collector Built One of the Rarest Vintage Patek Philippe Collections"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a few short years, Jaclyn Li has built an
\nenviable haul of vintage and modern watches \u2013 and a reputation as a shrewd and sophisticated navigator of the industry’s heavyweights.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"collecting<\/div>\n

Although she didn\u2019t know it at the time, the piece \u2013 a gift for her mother\u2019s 50th birthday \u2013 would open a portal to a watchmaking universe she now inhabits as both a devoted enthusiast and a seasoned professional. Over the past two years, Li has worked as a contractor for Phillips\u2019 watch department in New York<\/a>, where she recently spent 30 minutes inspecting the Patek Philippe Ref 1518 wristwatch that sold at the house\u2019s Geneva sale in November for $17.6m. \u201cI would have paid to do it,\u201d she tells Elite Travele<\/em>r.<\/p>\n

At the time of her first purchase, however, Li was an undergraduate at Harvard University with a proven track record of savvy collecting. Born in Harbin, China, she moved to Canada aged 12. In middle school, she developed a fixation on collectible sneakers, particularly Nike SBs. \u201cI had Paris Dunks, Yellow Lobsters,\u201d she says. \u201cI had a YouTube account and was doing all these unboxing videos instead of going to class.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"collecting
\u00a9Rose Callahan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

See also:\u00a0The Pocket Watch Comeback You Didn\u2019t See Coming<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

When lockdowns forced her to return home to Vancouver, Li, now 28, discovered the wide world of wristwatches online. \u201cI fell in love with vintage Cartier,\u201d she says. During one of her countless late-night Instagram scrolls, she came across a rare 1980s platinum Tank Louis model with burgundy numerals and hands, offered by a dealer in Thailand. \u201cWhen I woke up and saw the transfer had gone through, I thought, \u2018Did I just get scammed?\u2019\u201d she recalls.<\/p>\n

\"collecting
\u00a9Rose Callahan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On the contrary. The dealer was legitimate \u2013 and Li, who\u2019d cashed in her sneaker collection to help fund her watch hobby, was just getting started. Not long after, she acquired her first vintage Patek: a small, two-tone cushion-shaped model from 1926. \u201cI still have it, but I don\u2019t wear it,\u201d she says. \u201cIt means a lot to me symbolically because without that piece, I don\u2019t think I would have ventured further into Patek.\u201d<\/p>\n

See also: The 11 Best Timepieces from Watches & Wonders 2026<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\"collecting
\u00a9Rose Callahan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

That\u2019s Li\u2019s nonchalant way of describing what, by most standards, is a starry collection of nearly 40 rare and highly desirable timepieces. Her focus remains primarily on vintage Patek Philippe, but she also buys both vintage and modern watches by Cartier, as well as contemporary models from a selection of sought-after independent watchmakers, including Simon Brette, Rexhep Rexhepi, Petermann B\u00e9dat, and Kari Voutilainen. \u201cI love independents because it\u2019s about the memories I get to make with the people who create these pieces,\u201d she says. \u201cThe first time I went to Geneva was in 2021. Back then, I didn\u2019t know any of these ateliers or watchmakers. Now I call them my friends and I can watch my timepieces being made.\u201d<\/p>\n

Li, however, reserves her greatest admiration for Patek Philippe. The company, in her view, has the best archive and extract system in the industry. \u201cI can request information about a watch I don\u2019t know much about, and when it comes in the mail, it\u2019s like Christmas Day,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\"collecting
\u00a9Rose Callahan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

She\u2019s currently awaiting the extract for a pocket watch she recently purchased \u2013 it matches the 1926 Patek she acquired in 2021. Both pieces were sold by the Swiss retailer G\u00fcbelin and feature dials with what appears to be an identical guilloch\u00e9 pattern. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like finding missing pieces of a puzzle and fitting them together,\u201d Li says. \u201cThat\u2019s why vintage speaks to me. It\u2019s one thing to walk into a boutique and wait for an allocation, but stumbling upon a piece that\u2019s 100 years old purely by luck or chance is magical \u2013 and it makes the experience far more gratifying.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not about dollar signs or flexing on Instagram,\u201d she adds. \u201cIt\u2019s about collecting memories and reuniting the past with the present. And the fact that these objects are so much older than we are \u2013 there\u2019s something incredibly humbling about holding something you know will outlive you.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a few short years, Jaclyn Li has built an enviable haul of vintage and modern watches \u2013 and a reputation as a shrewd and sophisticated navigator of the industry’s heavyweights.\u00a0 Although she didn\u2019t know it at the time, the piece \u2013 a gift for her mother\u2019s 50th birthday \u2013 would open a portal to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4081,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","beyondwords_generate_audio":"","beyondwords_project_id":"","beyondwords_content_id":"","beyondwords_preview_token":"","beyondwords_player_content":"","beyondwords_player_style":"","beyondwords_language_id":"","beyondwords_title_voice_id":"","beyondwords_body_voice_id":"","beyondwords_summary_voice_id":"","beyondwords_error_message":"","beyondwords_disabled":"","beyondwords_delete_content":"","beyondwords_podcast_id":"","beyondwords_hash":"","publish_post_to_speechkit":"","speechkit_hash":"","speechkit_generate_audio":"","speechkit_project_id":"","speechkit_podcast_id":"","speechkit_error_message":"","speechkit_disabled":"","speechkit_access_key":"","speechkit_error":"","speechkit_info":"","speechkit_response":"","speechkit_retries":"","speechkit_status":"","speechkit_updated_at":"","_speechkit_link":"","_speechkit_text":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4080","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4080"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4080\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}