A journalist for more than two decades, Tracey Llewellyn has been writing about watches for half of that time. She worked at specialist publication QP for five years before leaving to become the launch editor of Revolution UK. Tracey is now the watch editor at The Telegraph and a regular contributor to titles including Vanity Fair and GQ.

1. Describe briefly your childhood.

I grew up in the Midlands where my father had moved for work, but with a huge Welsh family, we spent a large part of the year in Wales. I’m not sure if it was just different times or my parents’ lack of responsibility and care, but my sister and I spent most of our time outside with friends and cousins. I vividly remember playing Charlie’s Angels on the old pithead in one grandparents’ village and spending hours out on the Beacons with the family dog when staying with the other grandparents’ – miraculously, we all managed to survive.

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

I say this with a certain amount of shame, but I really had no ambitions at all as a child, beyond desperately wanting to have blonde hair – something I am still to achieve. I always did well academically so my complacency must have driven my poor parents crazy. I tried a few careers before I finally found what I really wanted to do when I was in my mid-20s.

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

My father worked as a toolmaker at Smiths Industries in Rugby – so maybe it’s fate that I ended up working with watches. Every Christmas they threw a party for employees’ children and I remember my dad proudly showing me and my sister around his workspace. I clearly remember his old toolbox, which he made during his apprenticeship, and which had his initials “JGL” carved into the wood. He still has it today and I get a wave of nostalgia and memories of a happy childhood when I see it.

4. Have you ever had another profession? 

For reasons long-forgotten, I decided to study transport engineering. I was one of four women in a class of men on an MSc course at Cardiff and, while I really enjoyed the taught course and the research for my dissertation, once qualified I wasn’t prepared to deal with the male/female imbalance that existed in the workplace. I believe that things are different today with organisations like WISE encouraging and supporting women who choose a career in engineering.

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

To be honest, it was luck. I started working in publishing in the late-1990s when it was still a buoyant industry and there were many more jobs around. I had just moved to London and two friends, who were already working on a magazine, found me a job as an editorial assistant. I loved it from Day 1 and have never looked back. I have worked on titles covering building, architecture, travel, women’s and men’s lifestyle and then, about 13 years ago, I found watch writing and that was it. I can’t imagine doing anything else now.

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

Oh, I have done many! I have dealt with some pretty dubious characters in the publishing world and as a student I did some bar work, which I really hated. But I think the absolute worst has got to be when I worked a summer of night-shifts at Watford Gap service station on the M1. I was at university and wanted to buy a car so I spent two months there while all my friends were off travelling. For anyone that thinks service stations are bad now, you should have seen them then! It took a long time before I could eat in one again. However, I did get my car – a Fiat Panda that only just managed to get me through my degree.

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

I think I’ve been lucky so far as nothing really dreadful has happened to me. There have been work hiccups and people I love have had to face hard times and illness, but I think you just have to accept it and deal with it head on. I am fortunate that I have great friends and colleagues who are always around and I think being honest with them is really important – a trouble shared often is a trouble halved.

8. Who has had the strongest influence on you?

I suppose it would have to be my parents. They brought me and my sister up to believe that we could do anything and that nothing was out of reach. We were taught to work hard to achieve the things we want and they instilled a work ethic in us that I think would stand most people in good stead. They also brought us up to know that nobody is better than us, and equally we are no better than anyone else.

9. What are you most proud of?

That’s a difficult question and I’m really not sure how to answer. I suppose in a career sense it would be working on the redesign of Revolution UK in 2014. I got to work with an amazing team of really talented people and in a shockingly short space of time, we managed to produce something that I still think is pretty amazing.

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

Honestly, I would say think long and hard about how much you want to do it. The publishing industry is not what it was when I started and I think it’s a hard world to work in today with long hours, huge competition and low wages. I would say make sure you have the skills to work across all platforms and definitely specialise in an area that you love – that way it won’t seem like a slog. And if you can combine journalism with another skill then I would definitely recommend doubling up.

11. Name three things on your bucket list.

· Write a book

· Own a Roger Smith

· Dye hair blonde

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

I predict good things for the watch industry. Hopefully the craziness of the auction world will have settled down and there will be more attention on the new markets. I look at the teenagers in my own family and they all have an interest in mechanical watches. Although they are a little too focused on the obvious brands at the moment, I am sure their tastes will mature as they do. I think Apple has done the industry a huge favour by encouraging a new generation to wear something on their wrists, and young people are starting to see watches as more than a means of telling the time. The increase in watchmaking courses and the number of people applying for them is also a hugely encouraging sign.

To learn more about Tracey Llewellyn