Help me push this hobby even further into the pathology zone.

May 12, 2008 1:22 PM

What's a good magazine subscription for a 30-something guy who is really into watches and pens?

My brother is young, hip dude who is super into (obsessed with, really) collecting and repairing and tinkering with old, antique and collectible watches and pens/ink. What are some cool publications for a collector like him? I'm especially interested in anything slightly less popular and a bit more off the beaten path (that he's less likely to have already stumbled upon).

I'm sure I can just google around for titles but I was hoping for feedback about quality of specific publications.

posted by sneakin to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (4 answers total)

Stationery Magazine is fantastic if you can find it. It's in Japanese, but it has fantastic photographs. It's not available for subscription in the US, but you might be able to find it in your local Japanese bookstore. If not, it can be found at the Kinokuniya in Manhattan. Most of the stuff featured in the magazine is newer, but there is usually a bit about traditional/antique writing instruments.
posted by Alison at 1:41 PM on May 12, 2008

You might want to poke around the NAWCC site to see if you can find something.
posted by bondcliff at 1:51 PM on May 12, 2008

I don't know that there are any magazines currently publishing other than Stylus Magazine but it's been a while since I've hung out online with the fountain pen obsessed.

Fountain Pen Hospital has a catalog/calendar that makes for good "pen porn" (and the catalog is free).

There are a few vibrant online communities for collectors. Check out the "Zoss list", for instance.
posted by QuantumMeruit at 1:57 PM on May 12, 2008

Response by poster: Thanks, everyone, for your contributions. QuantumMeruit, Fountain Pen Hospital looks great. My reservation is that my brother's wife made me promise not to get him anything like a catalog because it makes it too easy for him to buy more stuff. Heh. But the calendar is a possibility.

Alison, Stationery Magazine looks great but with my time limits I don't think I'll be able to get my hands on it. Also, as awesome as that looks, I think I want to get him something in English.

turgid dahlia, I appreciate the effort but from looking at your links, it seems that neither one of those has anything to do with watches or pens or anything even tangentially related to watches or pens and hence doesn't really answer my question at all. Unless I am missing something, of course, which is entirely possible.

I think that I'll be going with Watch Time: The Magazine of Fine Watches. It only comes six times per year, but it looks like a hefty, glossy, fancy tome of watch stuff which will probably make him melt.

Thanks, again folks! I followed all the links and considered almost all that was suggested!
posted by sneakin at 5:44 AM on May 13, 2008