Who is Hans van Buuren?

I (born in 1964) am an IT Architect from The Netherlands, where I live with my wife, three kids and cat. Among my many hobbies are IT, writing about the origins of mankind, solving extremely hard puzzles, 3D design and printing, model construction, science, reading (SF), art and to date, everything Swatch. After my first Swatch, bought in 1987, and the start of a hobby in 1991, things escalated quickly. As I am an investigative person, I did not just collect Swatches, I also wanted to know everything about them and the company that made them. I wanted to meet the artists that design them and understand the technology they hide, and often show. Obviously I met a lot of collectors and became friends with many of these nice people. I was lucky to live close to Squiggly, in those day the number one store for Swatch, new and vintage. In 2010 I became a Swatch Club Gold Member, which led to even better chances in finding great Swatches. For thirty years I spent an incredible amount of dedication, time, love and money on this great hobby.

Collecting

Collecting is an art. Building on a large network of knowledgable people, being constantly on the look for new info and new pieces, I spent lots of hours on the Internet, interactive or using my self-written eBay crawler to find the things no search engine can. I always concentrated on quality instead of quantity. And it shows.

Fixing

Working with Swatches I found it natural to examine them, open them up and take them apart. This led to me operating swatchrepair.com and helping Swatch lovers worldwide to be able to wear their precious watch again. During the years I fixed endless numbers of Swatches, among which over one hundred X-Rateds. I stopped repairing when it took me too much time and also because new European tax regulations made it impossible to repair a watch and return it without having to pay high and unnecessary import duties.

Cataloguing

I worked with Squiggly to author the 2006 and 2008 Swatch-Clopedia catalogues. Also I wrote the book "Swatch Specials from The Netherlands", showing off all my Dutch pieces. I almost got them all! Unique in its completeness. For many years I operated the informational website swatch-scio.com. Finally I wrote a book about my own collection, check it out below.

The collection

So what have we got here? A unique collection starting with the 1982 USA test market and sales to Swatch personel, all in their original ultra rare blisters. After that it goes on and on with rarities, unique pieces, work by the best artists and what not. Best get yourself a free download of the amazing collection catalogue, there is no better way to learn about this collection:

Free file download using FileTransfer.io

I issued a fantastic printed hardcover of this catalogue with over 700 pages of explaining and full size pictures. It weighs 3 kilo! Fixed price is 85 Euro plus shipping. The first edition of the book has sold out but a few of the second edition are still available. If you want one just send me an email throught the form below!

My collection will be sold!

I have decided the time has come to sell my entire collection.

I set out thinking it would be best to sell the entire collection as a single lot. After talking to the auction house I changed my mind and decided to sell per piece and smaller lots. The good news is this means everyone will have a chance to obtain the specific pieces that suit their collection and/or liking. High visibility of the auction and the absence of reserve prices, mean every single piece will make the value you decide it has.

Be advised in this auction are many Swatch pieces that you cannot find anywhere else. They have taken me thirty years of collecting to get.

The auction house

The collection will be sold through Heritage Auctions Europe. They will take care of all business.

There will be a worldwide audience for the auction. Bidding can be done by prebid, online bid or by live bidding on the auction day. It's even possible to bid at the auction house, and take your items with you right after buying them. Worldwide shipping is offered on all items. There will be an auction catalogue with descriptions per lot. Finally, if you want to, there will be viewing days to see the collection from up close. To make your final decision or just to enjoy.

Make sure to to subscribe to Heritage Auctions mailing list to be informed when more info on the auction is available.

Time lines

Everything has been transported to the auction house, in no less than 90 boxes. The process of deciding on lots, photographing by the auction house and making the best possible description per lot started mid July 2022. The auction itself will be held on May 9 2023, as a separate auction day. Prebidding will start some time earlier. If you can, visit the viewing days before the aucion! Private viewings can be organized.

Meanwhile, please don't ask to buy items directly from me. Every single piece of the collection will be in the auction.

Send me an email