Roger Ruegger is the founder of diveintowatches.com and Editor-in-chief of the US edition of WatchTime.

1. Describe briefly your childhood.

I grew up in a town just outside of Zurich, Switzerland. Short version is, I had a happy and secure childhood, and my older brother and I were inseparable, despite our age difference of six years.

The watch craziness started for us with the launch of the Swatch, especially the Goldfinger and Silver Star chronographs, and the Happy Fish Scuba 200. Back then, we quite often saw people camp in front of watch stores on Bahnhofstrasse, and, ultimately, we begged our dad to reach out to his contacts at Swiss Timing (part of the Swatch Group), since he was working in the sports industry almost all his life. Much to our surprise, he did come through, and my brother and I eventually each got a highly sought-after Swatch chronograph. A couple of years later, at the age of 20, I bought my first ‘real’ watch, a vintage Speedmaster Professional, while being briefly stationed in Schaffhausen as a Combat Medic.

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

If we skip the mandatory astronaut and policeman phases in kindergarten, I almost immediately wanted to become a writer, once we started writing essays in school. I completely fell in love with the blank page in front of me, and I was (and still am) absolutely blown away by the brain’s ability to come up with creative ideas. I think I got my first typewriter in 6th grade and skipped the Hi-Fi tower phase because of it.

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

I do remember sitting proudly on a green police (toy) tricycle in front of our house, filling the tank with gravel from the yet to be finished cul-de-sac road. I am guessing I was around two or three years old and we’d just moved there.

4. Have you ever had another profession?

Having known comparatively early that I wanted to make a living with writing has fortunately allowed me to plan, or rather pursue, my professional path in a much straighter line. In 1991, I started out in advertising and went from Junior Copywriter to Executive Creative Director over the following years. Coincidentally, while working at Leagas Delaney in London in 1995 (where I had purchased my first Tudor Submariner), I briefly came in contact with the newly developed Patek campaign, which was just being developed there. But, more importantly, in 1998/99 (and back in Switzerland), the digital agency I was working for was tasked with creating a micro site for the launch of the IWC UTC Pilot’s Watch (simulating a flight through all the time zones). For the following 10 years, we were not only responsible for the Swiss brand’s website and digital activities in general, we also got to produce the Portugieser 2000, Big Pilot, Aquatimer, AMG Ingenieur, Da Vinci and Portugieser Perpetual launch movies for SIHH (plus develop some B2B tools for them). Definitely one of the best, closest and most fulfilling agency-client relationships I’ve had in this chapter of my life, thanks to an absolutely amazing and visionary client, which is perhaps also a reason why I love my GST Aquatimer so much.

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

In advertising, you occasionally get to work on products that are, let’s say, not as fascinating as the launch of a new movement with 7-day power reserve. Plus, you almost never get to publish stuff under your own name. As a result, I decided to create my own ‘personal website’ — as they were called back then — more than 20 years ago. It was a perfect way to have a digital training ground, portfolio website and to enjoy the editorial freedom of running my own publication at the same time. Content-wise, diveintowatches.com combined my passion for mechanical watches, the underwater world and the online watch community, and has allowed me to follow the watch industry’s shift to digital from an early stage on — even though it was at first almost impossible to convince a brand in Basel to take out a watch just to satisfy a blogger’s desire to have hands-on photos. In short, two decades ago, I started to attend all the Baselworld shows, went to the all the SIHHs (in the beginning sometimes seamlessly switching roles between journalist, communication expert and collector), went to almost all the museums on my own and soon built up a reputation as a leading expert in dive watches outside the internet, with writing assignments for various publications. And when I was offered my current position at WatchTime in 2015, I didn’t have to think twice, it felt like the most natural next step in my career.

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

As they say, beggars can't be choosers, and in advertising, you sometimes get to work for clients and industries that are a bit more difficult. Perhaps one of the most, let’s say, ‘challenging’ projects for me was a writing assignment for a brochure for the national-conservative, right-wing populist political party in Switzerland, at quite a young age, and having been almost completely apolitical back then. Also, I will probably never forget this one day during my basic military training in 1994, when we had to clean a farmer’s field after an extended stay of an assumedly large group of nomadic people.

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

Oh boy, you guys really mean it with the ‘taking everything surgically apart,’ don’t you? :-) I would say the day I rather unexpectedly had to realize that my marriage was over, and that, consequently, my life would almost instantly take a very unexpected turn from that moment on. On the upside, the whole experience of not being in control, going through the separation and then the divorce, has made me better cherish the moments and allowed me to be much more focused on the present and the people around me. So, while it was definitely the hardest moment in my life so far (knocking on wood), I am very grateful for who I’ve become because of it, and where I am today.

6. Who has had the strongest influence on you?

It’s obviously hard not to mention my family, one way or another. But I am eternally grateful to Rolf Bollmann, a Swiss executive in the publishing industry, who helped me tremendously in getting my first job. Not sure where I would have ended up without his help and advice.

7. What are you most proud of?

Definitely my two kids.

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

Be persistent. Always have a plan B. And ideally, think about a prenup. :-)

8. Name three things on your bucket list.

I’ve been very fortunate to have had many wonderful experiences in my life so far. The first item on such an imaginary list takes me all the way back to my childhood dream — writing a book. Next to that, there are still a couple of places I really want to visit, especially now, with travel having been almost completely suspended since spring 2020. Finally, if James Cameron or Victor Lance Vescovo happen to read this, a dive to the Mariana Trench would be the proverbial icing on the cake.

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

While I do think the industry has to change and evolve in some ways, I honestly don’t think that we’ll see a lot of that happen in the next 10 years. On the other hand, the mechanical watch itself has been perfect for a while, and resisting change and preserving tradition and craftmanship has kind of been the industry’s trade secret for centuries. The good thing is, I believe that as a result of the ongoing digitalization of our society, ‘time’ will ultimately become even more valuable, and mechanical watchmaking, representing a counterweight to that shift, will always allow us to take a deep breath and reflect on how we spend the little time we have in a more meaningful way. On top of that, mechanical watches will always be highly connected — they allow us to be part of one of the greatest communities on earth. I do, however, expect that we will see the top brands become even stronger at the expense of some smaller mainstream brands with less loyal and passionate customers, and that we will see a lot of brands factor in more personalization options to increase the buying experience (especially with the continuing shift to digital). And I really hope that we will see more accessible pieces from Swiss brands in the future — after all, the Swatch watch did not just have an impact on me…. In short, while the watch industry as a whole won’t change that much in 10 years in my opinion, I expect to see more radical changes that will happen in retail, events and watch media.

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