Thank you for subscribing to Unpolished.

You're receiving free posts from Unpolished, the independent newsletter for watch collectors, including recs on what to buy (and not to). Free subscribers will receive occasional posts and free previews of all posts. Become a member to get additional perks:

Paid subscribers get ($8/mo or $80/year):

• 2 newsletters/week, access to comments and Q&As

• 10% discount on all orders from the Unpolished Store.

• $50 discount on any watch service with Watchcheck.

• Member Care Package (Unpolished polishing cloth and sticker)

2026 Founding Member perks are even better. For $199, you get:

• A free strap from the Store

• 2025 Unpolished Rewind Magazine, featuring the best of the newsletter from last year—more about the Magazine here. Upgrade now:

2026 FOUNDING MEMBERSHIP IS SOLD OUT, 2027 MEMBERSHIP WILL OPEN IN FALL 2026

Unpolished is a top-20 fashion publication on Substack, supported by 1,200+ paying subscribers and collectors.

It’s honest, transparent, and fun—no brand ads or outside influence. Only what matters to collectors. Full of scoops, takes, and analysis.

What paid subscribers get every week

Unpolished is usually sent 2x/week—on Sunday and a weekday. Most issues are built around a main piece, along with a handful of shorter hits—market notes, recs, whatever’s worth flagging. It’s pretty casual, but calls out bullsh*t when we see it.

I love vintage watches: Cartier, Rolex, Patek Philippe, but also niches like Movado, Longines, and Gallet. Neo-vintage: 1990s Chopard, Lange & Söhne, and Blancpain. Plenty of modern coverage too—much of it focused on independent watchmakers—but always with an eye on what came before.

Start Here: If you’re new, I created this Introduction to Unpolished. It includes links to some of the greatest hits, most popular newsletters, and common themes we cover on Unpolished—the back-andforth between past and present, what it means to be ‘collectible,’ skepticism towards hype, the difference between rare and important.

This guide is also pinned on the homepage if you ever need to find it.

An Introduction to Unpolished

Tony Traina

Jul 17

Read full story

Follow the Podcast + YouTube, too!

• 🎧 Unpolished Podcast: A regular chat with collectors, watchmakers, or insiders, as well as audio editions of select newsletters. Subscribe to the feed: Spotify / Apple / RSS

  • Listener favorites: Bradley Taylor; Wei Koh; Jack Forster; Ben Dunn (Watch Brothers London); Nicholas Bowman-Scargill (Fears); Steven Holtzman (CD Peacock); William Massena

• 🎥 Also on YouTube.

Okay, but who are you?

• Unpolished is written by me, Tony. I’m a former editor at Hodinkee, and started this very newsletter as a passion project focused on vintage watches in 2020. It was called “one of the best single-operator newsletters on the internet.” I also contribute to GQ, Sotheby’s, and Collectibility.

  Questions? Email me: [email protected] or respond to this email.