The current success of collectible watches was by no means an inevitability. Without the handful of visionary watchmakers and entrepreneurs who fought tooth and nail to keep craft watchmaking alive through the difficult years between 1970 and 1990, the situation might have been very different. Independent master watchmaker Antoine Preziuso, who experienced the emergence of modern watch collecting from the inside, and made a significant contribution to it, recounts what went on behind the scenes, including the improbable but important history of pioneering auction house Antiquorum.