How to Take Better Photos of Your Watch (According to a Professional)

Tim Vaux didn’t set out to become a watch photographer. When he entered the watch business in 2016, he was working for WatchGecko, the online watch accessories platform, writing product descriptions for straps. From there he moved into its online magazine and watch journalism, before picking up a camera himself. He’d noticed that many of the people whose work he admired could supply both the words and the pictures.

Today Vaux is something of a triple threat: watch journalist, photographer, and consultant. He has shot for Cartier, Biver, and Fears, while his work has appeared everywhere from Hodinkee and Mr Porter to Wired and Phillips.

So, in the spirit of Esquire’s What I’ve Learned, we asked him what a life spent looking very closely at watches has taught him. The photographs illustrating his answers are, naturally, his own. Here’s what he told us.

Tim Vaux.

I was never the kid running around with a camera. My dad was interested in photography, so maybe I got a little bit from him, but weirdly my relationship with photography is only really a thing because of watches. When I started in the industry, I was around people who were writing articles and supplying their own pictures. I remember thinking, That’s quite a good two-in-one offer. So I bought a camera and started learning.

I could make a Seiko 5 look like a much more expensive watch. But I don’t think I should. If the brushing on the watch isn’t actually that good, leave it alone. You see pictures online with loads of contrast and texture added and suddenly the watch looks crazy. For me it’s about respecting the thing that’s actually in front of you.

I started in watches in 2016 at WatchGecko. Initially I was listing products and writing descriptions. Then I suggested we start an online magazine and that became my main focus. The straps side was already working well, so the content didn’t necessarily have to make money. It was more, Let’s build the brand through content.

Tyler, the Creator wearing a Cartier Crash actually matters. Suddenly someone is wearing a watch that a huge number of people didn’t even know existed. Watches are appearing outside their own four walls now, in fashion and music and on red carpets.

I like cameras for much the same reasons I like watches. I’ve basically stuck with Fujifilm because the settings are on the outside: dials on top, aperture ring on the lens. I can look down and understand why the picture isn’t right without disappearing into a menu. I think I’m a little bit hard-coded to want things to be as analogue as possible.

Take a little bit of a step back. That’s probably the easiest way to take a better picture of your watch on an iPhone. People get super close. For a normal wrist shot, move the phone further away and try the 2x zoom rather than macro mode.

Sometimes I feel more like a lighting photographer than a watch photographer. I’ll see beautiful light coming through a window and think, There’s not a watch there, but that light is stunning. I’ve walked past my lounge, seen the sunlight and thought, Right, where’s the watch?

Tim Vaux.

Naoya Hida & Co. NH Type 3B-3, featuring an 18-carat yellow-gold case and a hand-engraved lapis lazuli moonphase display.

The gear does matter. People always say it doesn’t. I disagree. If you know what you’re doing, a fancy camera makes a difference. But it’s less about having the most expensive thing than having something that works for you. Mine feels almost like a third arm now.

Taking photographs has changed how I appreciate watches. I’ve shot Breguets from the Daniel Roth era where the guilloché is so sharp it looks incredible straight out of the camera. Then you photograph something else and the dial looks softer because the engraving isn’t as deep. Photography has taught me to notice things I might otherwise have missed.

Domed crystals are a nightmare. So are curved dials and highly polished cases.

My dad got me into watches. He worked in a jeweler’s in his 20s, around the time the early Hamilton digital watches were coming through. I wasn’t brought up surrounded by Pateks and I’m not going to inherit some insane collection. But if we walked past a watch shop, we’d look in the window. If James Bond was on, we’d talk about the watch.

I don’t think everything needs to be perfect. I like a little imperfection and I don’t mind reflections. I want a photograph to feel relatable, almost like you could reach through the screen and imagine that wrist was yours.

Watch photography became very "Instagram" for a while. Tons of props, loads of contrast, loads of texture. Watch in the middle, stuff, stuff, stuff around it.

Tim Vaux.

Hazemann & Monnin Montre École Souscription by Alexandre Hazemann, featuring an openworked dial with blue accents and an instantaneous jumping-hour complication.

A Collected Man almost slowed photography down. Their pictures were a huge influence on me when I started. At a time when lots of watch photography was becoming quite unnatural, theirs felt calm, old-school, and rooted in reality. I think it’s completely fine to be influenced by other people. There’s a book called Steal Like an Artist: borrow from enough different places, bring your own thing to it, and eventually it becomes yours.

I want to photograph watches I’d post anyway. If a brand wants to work with me, ideally it needs to be a brand I’ve posted before, or one where, if I had access to the watch, I’d have posted it anyway. It’s a good reality check: Do I actually like this? Does it suit me and my style?

The best photograph doesn’t necessarily get the most attention. If it’s day one of Watches and Wonders and you’ve got the new release everybody wants to see, it almost doesn’t matter whether it’s your greatest photograph. People want to see the watch right then.

I’ve photographed watches that even the brands didn’t know they’d made. Through auction previews, collectors, and just being around the industry, I’ve been incredibly lucky to handle Patek 1518s and 2499s, incredibly rare Cartiers, and all sorts of strange things.

Natural light is your friend. A window, a bit of white card, even a bright bit of your shirt to bounce some light back. It doesn’t need to become a huge production.

I don’t really know whether I’m a writer or a photographer any more. I went freelance in 2021 and it was mainly writing. Now it’s probably 50/50, although more people probably know me for photography because Instagram is pictures first. If I absolutely had to choose one, I’d probably say photography.

My taste has got a bit silly. It used to be enough to have the rare black dial instead of the normal silver or blue one. Now it’s more like, No, I want the crazy thing that even the brand hasn’t seen before.

Tim Vaux.

Piaget Andy Warhol Automatic ref. G0A50240, in white gold with a tiger’s-eye stone dial.

Sometimes the dial can look amazing and the photograph still doesn’t work. You step back and realize the setting isn’t great, or the case looks boring. With a watch you’re trying to get three things working at once: the setting, the case, and the dial.

Your taste should keep changing. I think that’s part of having your own style. It isn’t deciding, I like this, and staying there forever.

I don’t double-wrist. If I’m going to an event, I’ll sometimes bring another watch because I know people will want to see it. I just put it in my pocket. I’ve got a little plastic case.

You can scratch the itch without owning the watch. I don’t necessarily need to handle another $4 million Patek. I know it.

Who knows what any of us are doing? In 2026, you either seem to be a diehard traditional journalist or you wear multiple hats. I quite like moving between magazines, brands, retailers, writing, and photography.

People can sniff out fake enthusiasm. It’s like walking into a car showroom. You know instantly when somebody is trying to sell you a car. Then you meet someone who genuinely loves it and almost doesn’t care whether you buy it. It’s the same with articles, pictures, and social media.

Watches have become a way of expressing your own taste. Three or four years ago everybody wanted the same integrated-bracelet sports watches. Now I think it’s more interesting to be wearing something weird and wonderful than simply to have had enough money to buy the watch with the waiting list.

Once you’ve handled one or two really rare watches, you’ve kind of done it. I was at a Phillips auction in Geneva with a friend and there was a Patek 1518 in the display. He was like, Wow, that’s amazing. And obviously it is insane. But I’d handled one or two and found myself thinking, I’ve done that. I know what that watch is like. I know that’s a crazy thing to say.

Social media takes the watches to people. If you write an article, you’re asking people to come to you. With social, it goes to them.

Tim Vaux.

"I want to photograph watches I’d post anyway": Tim Vaux at work.

I always noticed people’s watches. Even before I was a watch nerd, I’d notice what somebody was wearing. I remember seeing a Bulgari, I think in a film or TV series, and just looking at the bracelet. It seemed so futuristic. I remember thinking, What is that? It looks like it was made 10 years from today.

An MB&F can be crazy to photograph. You’ve got polishing, reflections, depth, components sitting at different levels. There’s just so much going on at once.

Watches are convenient things to become obsessed with. If you’re not into football and you haven’t got a big enough garage for cars, you can collect watches. They fit under your bed and nobody needs to know they’re there.

A five-year plan seems crazy to me. Things change too quickly. Think about what you were worrying about a year ago. Are you still worrying about it? Probably not. You have to stay open to what comes along.

You never know who’s watching. You post a picture or write something and don’t realize how far it reaches. Then some opportunity appears that you could never have planned.

I know more about watches than my dad now. That’s quite a weird feeling. But we still talk about them. It’s still something we share.

Being good at your job is the baseline. At a certain point everybody is good at what they do. What makes the difference is being interesting to be around, actually caring about people, and providing something beyond the work. Basically: Be interesting and don’t be a dick.