The Three-Watch Collection of Jamie Ferguson (JKF Man) [Plus a Bonus Grail Watch]

In the world of menswear photography, there are a few names I’ve always recognized and admired. On the blog today is one of those names, Jamie Ferguson. He’s a talented photographer who’s done work for Drake’s, Polo Ralph Lauren, The Rake, Permanent Style, and tons more. He published a beautiful large format book in 2019 called This Guy, which includes wonderful photos of many stylish and great guys in the industry, with thoughtful profiles of them as well. You can hear a bit of his backstory on his episode of Blamo! from 2019.

Jamie and I met briefly at Pitti Uomo in January 2020, but it was at this past edition in June that we actually became acquainted. On the final morning of the fair, I ran into him while getting coffee in the press lounge, and we had a nice chat (check out the short Reel I made on Instagram that morning). While we were talking I noticed on his wrist an interesting watch—the Cyma he talks about below. As we talked about his small collection of interesting and unique watches, I asked if he’d be willing to be featured on the Three Watches column I do, and he kindly agreed.

Jamie talks about his everyday watch, his weekend watch, and his special occasion watch. And as a bonus, I asked what his “one watch” is—or would be—if he could choose only one. Since he’s in Northern Ireland, he agreed to photograph his watches, too (and boy he did not disappoint).

His comments have been lightly edited for clarity and length.

I’m choosing to interpret this question in a specific way. It’s not a watch that I’d wear on a special occasion but the watch itself represents a special occasion to me, which was the birth of my eldest son. It’s also a special occasion watch because it’s my first watch, which got me into “collecting” watches. I never thought that I would get into the hobby. I used to hear friends speak about watches with a level of interest that was beyond me—they’d nerd out on bezels and movements, and I had no idea what those things meant, but I was never that bothered by it.

That changed the longer I was involved in working in menswear, and kept seeing more and more friends and colleagues who had nice watches. When my wife and I were expecting our first child, I really liked the idea of getting something—I feel like all dads do this (laughs)—to mark the occasion, that I can pass on to him…but that also I get to wear until that point (laughs).

I started talking to friends because I had no clue where to start. I was on a shoot with a friend of mine, Tony Sylvester, and he had brought a couple of vintage military watches with him. I told him what I was wanting to do, and he pointed me in the direction of the Dirty Dozen. I became fascinated with the story, and I was hooked. So I started looking for pieces on that list myself, but searching is so daunting for someone like me with no experience, and I didn’t want to be ripped off. So I put out feelers to a few of my friends that I was looking for something along these lines, and my friend James Girdwood put me in touch with a store that he’d bought a couple watches from called the Antique Watch Company. It’s a lovely little store, run by a father and son team.

So it was a nice culmination of friends’ advice and being able to buy it from a cool independently run store. It started more as an everyday kind of watch, not just for special occasions. But as my collection has grown and I try to make time to wear all my watches, those occasions I do wear this are a little rarer and maybe are a little more special because of that.

My everyday watch is the Serica dive watch 5303. I’ve had it for about 6 months or so. 

I met these guys about four years ago on a train trip with Matt Hranek on the Royal Scotsman train trip he arranged for WM Brown magazine. The trip was incredible. There were about 30 of us there, and quite a few I knew. But there were also these French guys from Paris, who at the time were on the cusp of releasing their first watch—their field watch—the 4512. They’d spent a long time perfecting that watch, and it’s beautiful. They’re really nice guys, and we bonded on that trip.

Cut to earlier this year, and I was doing some work for them on a tuxedo version of their field watch. I’d been after a diver for a long time, and there were some vintage ones I really liked, but while I love vintage it’s much harder to shop for because I don’t know enough about watches to be able to hunt for them myself. Even still I had never really contemplated any new ones until I saw their new dive watch, and I ended up buying it. 

What I like about it is the price is affordable (for me), but you can see the work that’s gone into it. To be honest, it’s the face and the bracelet that I loved the most; I just think it’s phenomenal. In fact when they released a blue dial version this watch, I was annoyed with them because I love it as well, but I can’t justify buying the same watch in a different color. So I ended up buying the blue dial for my dad, knowing full well that we could swap at some point.

I love that it’s everyday, but still looks good. In the menswear industry I feel very lucky to be able to know many of the people who make clothes, and I have some of their items in my own wardrobe—it’s like I have things a friend made for me. It has that special personal connection as opposed to something I’ve just bought from a store. Now I have something like that that I can wear on my wrist—I got this from friends. I just love that.

This watch holds a very special place in my heart. It’s something I was given last year by my father. At that point I had two watches which I’d gotten for the birth of my sons, but I’ve always been obsessed with the idea (hence the reason why I’d bought the watches for my boys when they were born) of being able to pass things down to the boys that will outlast me, and something they can hold onto. There were a few bits and pieces that I had from my father that I love, but we’d never had anything like a watch.

I started getting into collecting watches on a very, very small scale when I had my first son. Watches were something that my dad was aware of but had never taken a particular interest in it. I started showing him a few of the ones I had, and he would appreciate them, and we’d talk about ones that we liked. Every now and again I would send him links to Hodinkee or AnalogShift, sharing stuff that I would think is really nice. 

So this is the watch that I now wear on the weekends. It’s not necessarily a special occasion watch because I want to wear it more than that. The fact that I now have this watch that ties into my family history and that I’m able to wear myself, I absolutely love.

I’m choosing to interpret this as a future watch. It’s a hard one to pick out. I have four watches now and there are a few in my mind that I’d like to add to the collection. But I think number one on my list is a birth-year Rolex. Of all the Rolexes that I’ve seen, I love the simplicity of a Datejust. Possibly a stainless steel with a linen dial (like the one pictured). I’ve seen several examples of it, whether on the original bracelet or on a leather strap, and I just think it’s a really cool watch. I love the idea of being able to get something from my birth year, especially with my 40th birthday coming up.