Javier Gutiérrez Chamorro is the founder of javiergutierrezchamorro.com a watch related site written in Spanish and author of six novels.

1. Describe briefly your childhood.

I lived a quite common childhood. Being born in 1975 I lived the expansion of consumer electronics, so as most child at that time I got enchanted by color TVs, video recorders, portable consoles, and especially personal computers and digital watches. Those kinds of innovations that made us believe in a brilliant and amazing future to come. Things that were changing fast.

At school, I remember how year by year was easy to see the latest state-of-the-art wristwatch gifted as a purchase from a business trip. In retrospect, not so different from what we see now with smartphones and smartwatches.

2. As a child did you have any driving ambition?

I always loved cars, so during my childhood, I wanted to be a racing driver. When I noticed that would not be that easy, I changed my mind for being a scientist. Science has been always my interest. After that I discovered computers and programming, which even if not considered as real job in the 80s, it ended being my profession since then.

3. What is your first significant memory as a child?

Maybe if I was not yet aware of that, I felt quite enthusiastic about watches. I recall my first timepiece, an old hand-wound Sandoz given to me by my father. I guess he got it from a street market or something. That watch made me feel like an adult.

Also reading for 20 or 30 times the instructions manual of my first digital watch (a Casio F-87W), and each time I was more and more amazed about its functions.

Finally, I have memories of me sitting down on a chair in front of my first personal computer, a Sinclair ZX Spectrum, where I spent lots of hours.

4. Have you ever had another profession?

I am the kind of person who likes only a few things. But among those few things, I am incredibly passionate. When you love something, you tend to be proficient in that, you don’t care how much time you spend studying it because it is not an effort but something that pleases you. This is how I ended working on technology when I was 20. I believe we spend lots of time working, so hope everyone would have the chance to enjoy its workday and being happy with what they do.

Regarding my website, it responds to the need for communicating and also to the fact I like writing. When weblogs appeared I naturally started mine, without any expectations behind, just expressing myself.

5. What made you decide to go in the direction you are currently in?

I started writing about things I liked. At the beginning, they were mostly technology, retro-computing and cars. As the time passed (I opened my website back in 2003), I switched to classic shaving, writing instruments and of course watches, which currently represent about 70% of the contents I publish.

Watches combine several facets at the same time. They have the design, the engineering (both in terms of technology and technique), but also the philosophy behind the time, and the human side. A watch is something that covers a need, but at the same time, something you can enjoy 16 hours per day (24 if you sleep with it).

6. What’s the worst job you’ve had to do?

Most disappointing part of running a site that leads the Spanish spoken community is that you are faced with people that are only driven by their interests. They look for your collaboration and when they have it, they forget everything they promised.

Anyway, I am happy to say that those are the exception, and forming part of the industry have allowed me to keep long-term relationships with lots of their protagonists. People whom I admire and respect, and that is a reciprocal feeling.

7. What’s been the hardest moment in your life so far, and how did you overcome it?

As I said, this is not a job, but a hobby. Even so, I spend more than 20 hours a week managing everything (writing text, taking pictures, answering comments, replying emails, updating the server…). Same as if it was a half-time job. It is difficult to coexist with a real-world job, your family, and other things you like.

When everything matches and your work require you to invest extra time, your family waits for you to lunch, and your friends need your time; I am not going to lie, it gets overwhelming and you wonder if it is worth all the sacrifice.

8. Who has had the strongest influence on you?

I was an avid reader of printed car magazines. Their reviews made you feel like you were driving yourself. They went to the supermarket and loaded it, then they measured lap times in a circuit, and at the end they placed it on the dynamometer to check its power.

I decided to write about watches in that manner, the way I wanted to read reviews but that no one seemed to be creating. A content that will add value to the reader, that somehow will provide him with a complete idea of the timepiece. From the simpler topics such as its sizes to the most complex like the power reserve, the accuracy or the lume. Not forgetting the concept of the model or the history of the brand.

Nowadays I still cannot understand why most of watch tests stay on the surface of the watch. Timepieces are rarely placed on a timegrapher nor worn on a daily basis before writing the review.

If they do not do that, how can they write a real and trusty review on how the watch is?

9. What are you most proud of?

Probably about the growth of the site. Because it implies more content, with higher quality, and not forgetting the community around it, very participative and with valuable contributions.

There is a need for professional-alike reviews, and I am glad it has been me who is covering them. When someone just comments to say thank you because he had a question and did not find the answer anywhere, I feel the pride of doing things well.

10. What advice would you give to a 20 something someone thinking of taking a similar path as you?

For sure I will encourage them to do so. Create high value content, and communicate it in order to share your passion and your knowledge, is something that makes people better, and on average is a contribution to improve the world. There is lots of room for improvement and you never know who would supply the ideas.

My advice would be: Try to do your best, be constant and prepare to work hard.

11. Name three things on your bucket list.

There is a saying in Spanish that claims before you die you should ride a hot air balloon, have a child, plant a tree and write a book.

Some years ago, I would say to write a book. For some reason, this is on the bucket list of most people. Now I have written, not one, but six books of “A contrarreloj. Paul Davis” saga, a fictional private investigator who specializes in recovering watches. It is very engaging when someone says that watches were not in his mind, but after reading he started to like them. The opposite is also true, wristwatch enthusiasts that were not used to read, but restarted the habit due to the novels.

I already planted some trees, have a child, and do not like hot air balloons. Maybe my next stage will be creating my own watch brand. Not very original, but the dream of most of us.

12. Where do you think the watch industry is going to be in 10 years time.

In the 1970s the quartz crisis we all know surprised everyone. But watches did not disappear, just evolved.

Ten years ago, the growth of smartphones made most people stop wearing a watch. But soon after that, the smartwatches and smart bands launched and the ones who were not wearing a watch started to wear smartwatches.

Now I see the hope in the form of young guys who start wearing a conventional watch. No matter if they are a digital Casio or humble mechanical Seiko 5. When they get older, probably will continue enjoying watches. This reflects the seed that will impulse watches to continue existing in the future.

Of course, personal devices will get more and more advanced: longer battery lives, more functions, and maybe going out of our wrist and becoming part of us.

Even though a classic watch is still the best way to see the time because it is “always on”, watches are becoming less a need and more a pleasure.

Probably this will cause mechanical watches to move to the luxury sphere to survive. Definitively is something we are already seeing, and a problem for young people that will not be able to afford them, and thus will not develop the watchmaking passion. As an additional surprise, the Chinese microbrands came to the rescue and started offering entry-level watches at a price that was told to be impossible for the established brands yet affordable for most. Everything gets compensated.

To find out more about Javier Gutiérrez Chamorro