Scottish Watches Podcast #757: Why We Buy Watches and How Brands Get Inside Our Mind Featuring Helene

Date: March 2, 2026
Length: ~57 min
Host: Scottish Watches
Guest: Dr. Helene Duvall – Consumer Psychologist, Watch Collector

Episode Overview

This engaging episode dives into the psychological reasons behind why we buy watches, how brands influence our decisions, and what makes timepieces more than just objects that tell time. Dr. Helene Duvall, a consumer psychologist and avid collector, joins from Canada to unravel the ways marketing, psychology, and emotion intertwine in watch collecting. Together, the hosts and guest explore personal collecting journeys, the role of iconic brands, the power of scarcity, and the persistent allure of stories that animate every watch we wear.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Guest Introduction and Collecting Origins

• [00:28] Dr. Helene Duvall: Introduces herself as a French-Canadian consumer psychologist and lifelong “watch person.”
  • Collects many things—fountain pens, comics, chocolate, and especially watches.
  • “I own too many watches for normal people. I have a small, reasonable collection for, you know, the people like us.” [01:10]
• Collector Roots:
  • Grew up in a watch-loving family, especially influenced by her father.
  • Started with Swatches as a teen; maintains affection for funky, affordable pieces (e.g., 2000 Sydney Olympics Swatch still running) [06:37].

2. The Power of Influence and Hype

• Wrist Check: [01:42] Helene is currently wearing a vintage Omega Polaris—her ebay find spurred by influencer coverage:
  • “[S]uddenly there were 67 people watching it. And of course, it was tied to the fact that someone had talked about those watches...That kind of kicked my butt into stop watching them and just getting one before people just decided they were cool.”
• Influencer Effect: Touches on how watch prices and attention can skyrocket after media exposure—parallels with other collectibles like video games. [03:01-05:31]

3. Journey to “Serious” Watches

• Milestone Purchases:
  • Gave herself a mechanical watch for her 40th birthday—a Black Bay 58, coincidentally chosen by her father for his retirement. [09:15]
  • Ultimately “needed” a Rolex as a psychological and collector’s milestone (“milestone brand”). [11:23]
    • On Iconic Brands: “There is something incredibly hard to be that brand, to be the point of reference for everybody...it’s not based on value, it’s going to be based on image.” [12:18]
  • Acquired an Oyster Perpetual after befriending her local AD.

4. Big Brands, Scarcity, and Perceived Value

• Rolex, Montblanc, Ray-Ban as "default" luxury choices—offering peace of mind to buyers new to a category. [11:57]
  • “Even if you don’t know, you know that brand.” – Helene [12:18]
• Scarcity and Hype:
  • The psychological impact of scarcity (“fear of missing out”)—applied to the rise of the Moonswatch [24:30]
  • “People...went after it because if it was difficult to get, it was valuable...the only reason why it was this valuable is because not everybody can get one.” [24:51]

5. Consumer Psychology: How Brands Get In Our Heads

• Mental Shortcuts (“Herd Mentality”) [21:58]
  • People rely on popularity as a shortcut for quality/value: “We purchase a lot of things by using shortcuts...we are going to vouch for one that has 3 million views...it’s not always a bad shortcut.” – Helene [22:51]
  • Reciprocity: Humans feel obligated when a brand “does something nice.” [35:06]
• Scarcity as Motivator:
  • E.g., “limited window” ordering versus fixed-number drops—a tool to nudge immediate purchase decisions. [37:13–39:28]
  • “It does seem to apply everywhere now. I do believe that some brands are playing a little bit too much the scarcity game...At this point, I think you’re going to start building some resentment that will exceed the desirability and goodwill you find from it.” – Helene [37:13]

6. Stories and Emotion Over Function

• Watches as emotional artifacts versus mere tools [28:44, 54:41]:
  • “We are in a hobby of liking a technology that’s completely outdated, that has no specific value in terms of what it’s bringing. There are tons of other ways to read time and we are still attached to this thing that is just doing a job that a lot of other tools can do.” – Helene [28:44]
  • Tangible, analog objects retain meaning in a digital world.
  • “It’s a very expensive photo album. That’s what our watch collections are.” – Host [54:41]
• Buying watches while traveling becomes “collecting postcards” (Swatch stores in airports). [54:41-55:32]

7. Trends, Content, and Generational Shifts

• Younger Consumers:
  • In her classroom, more traditional watches than smartwatches; reflects changing trends and counterculture notions. [31:58-32:27]
• Influencer Marketing:
  • Daniel Wellington discussed as “gateway” for younger buyers—trend now waning. [32:27]
• Virality and Fads:
  • Social trends (e.g. NFT, VR) are compared with “Emperor’s New Clothes”—most don’t last. [26:08-27:12]
  • Time-limited or exclusive drops drive urgency, engagement, and sometimes later regret or resentment. [39:28-40:29]

8. Famous People and Watch Value

• The Paul Newman Daytona phenomenon: Sometimes “lightning in a bottle”; not always easily explained or replicable. [47:19–48:11]
  • “Sometimes you catch lightning in a bottle and there is no explaining it. And that’s also what is hard in marketing, right?” – Helene [47:19]
• Celebrity effect: “Just having a celebrity wear something is going to make it more memorable...they are not going after us.” [50:51]
  • Taylor Swift’s vintage Cartier worn during a public proposal sparked a spike in student/eBay interest. [43:35–46:05]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Collector Mindset:

  “You can’t own too many watches. That’s an impossibility.” – Host [01:00]

• On Aspiration and Brand Power:

  “There is something incredibly hard to be that brand, to be the point of reference for everybody...it’s not based on value, it’s going to be based on image.” – Helene [12:18]

• On Scarcity:

  “At the opposite end, we love to have what we can’t have. And so if something is limited in availability for one reason or another, it makes it more valuable.” – Helene [22:51]

• On Emotional Significance:

  “The hunk of metal is not that important, but the story we tell ourselves really are. And that's how these things work.” – Helene [52:40]

• On Trends Repeating:

  “The world, the norm, society change; human nature doesn’t.” – Helene [42:34]

Important Segment Timestamps

• Guest Introduction & Wrist Check: [00:28–05:44]
• Getting Into Watch Collecting: [06:37–11:18]
• The Psychology of Rolex & Milestone Brands: [11:18–14:18]
• Finding Watches that ‘Fit’: Niche & Vintage: [14:18–16:45]
• Most Out There / Quirky Watches: [16:45–19:30]
• Consumer Psychology Principles: [21:09–25:23]
• NFTs & Fads: [25:23–28:15]
• Role of Tangibility & Mechanical Watches: [28:44–31:23]
• Student Watch Trends: [31:58–32:27]
• Marketing ‘Shortcuts’: Scarcity, Reciprocity: [34:45–37:13]
• Time-Limited Drops & Marketing Approaches: [39:28–42:00]
• Virality and ‘Lightning in a Bottle’ (Paul Newman): [47:19–51:59]
• Storytelling & Emotional Connections: [52:40–54:41]
• Swatch at Airports & Collecting Memories: [54:41–55:32]

Final Thoughts

This episode is a rich, insightful exploration of what really drives the passion and business of watches. Helene’s academic expertise and enthusiastic storytelling illuminate both what’s on our wrists and what’s in our heads, from herd mentality to deep nostalgia, from iconic marketing to personal milestone purchases.

By the end, listeners will reflect on their own collecting habits, the subtle nudges of “scarcity marketing,” and the often unexplainable magic that makes a simple watch so much more than a way to tell time.