‘If there is no passion in what you do, nothing makes much sense.’ This is Sandro Fratini’s motto, a Florentine entrepreneur who has managed to put together in 40 years of research around the world, a collection of ‘time machines’ which now has more than 2,000 samples.
Sandro Fratini, was born in Florence in 1953 and on the day of his Communion, at the age of eight years old, he received his first watch, a modest metal-mixed Longines, and from that precise moment he was able to bind his heart to the art of watchmaking. His search for timepieces is ravenous, almost a hunt, a search for something that he craves with all of himself and the research ground is all over the word.
He began making his first major purchases in the early 1980s, purchasing Patek Philippe ref. 130 and shaped watches, as well as Patek also numerous Rolex Prince, and 1984 he bought his first Patek Philippe ref. 1518 in yellow gold with long signature. He bought it from a Venetian antique dealer for 8,000,000 lire, which was a high figure for those years but not even comparable to the estimated figures to date.
Despite the incredible revaluations in the watch market, especially vintage, Sandro Fratini has never considered the idea of buying to speculate, in fact he has never thought of selling any of his watches; among its evaluation criteria there is only the emotional aspect, you do not look at the certifications or conditions of the watch, but only the relationship of feeling that the timepiece transmits.
It is impossible to find watches that are almost a hundred years old, which have never been worn, we rely on what they inspire; you buy following the heart, to preserve, not worrying about what the market says but to own what really excites us. This is why Sandro Fratini doesn’t like to call himself a collector but a lover, a love story that has never stopped, a search and hunt that is still on going.