Meet the GQ 2025 Watch Collector of the Year

But Borrero’s personal collecting journey started long before this year. Working in the music business, he immediately gravitated towards G-Shock and Jacob & Co. watches before navigating toward his own taste: he picked up the Cartier Crash long before it was a sensation, and the vastly underrated Audemars Piguet Clover is one of his go-to wrist buddies. Below, I spoke with Borrero about starting Miami Watch Club and his favorite pieces.

GQ: Tell me just about your personal watch-collecting journey.

Borrero: I’ve been collecting since I was 18. And so my first watch was a Rolex GMT that I bought on credit at Mayor’s here in Miami back in the day. I was paying $300 a month. I was just starting my career in music and then I lost my job and I held onto the watch because I wanted to prove to myself that I can actually make it even though it ruined my credit. One day, I was able to pay it off and then it evolved from there.

But even before Rolex, I was super heavy into G-Shock. I consumed hip-hop and pop culture from an early age because my father was a rally car driver and my mom was in commercial fashion in Colombia. So, I was around artistic things all the time. I always had this understanding of culture and popular taste.

How did that affect your taste in watches?

Everyone knows about Rolex, and Rolex meant that you “made it.” And then as I got into [collecting], I was in hip- hop, and Jacob & Co. had a run. And so I wanted my first Five Times Zone—in my graduation picture of high school, I was wearing that watch because I had just made it. Like Kanye, I went straight to Jacob after I got my first advance.

Then Jay-Z got into AP early and Hublot, and so I collected AP. Then as I started to mature in wealth and accomplishments, I started to look around at other brands. What else is there? What’s the history? I started reading the books and I just started to figure out how I could set myself apart from the collecting journey that most people in the entertainment industry have, which is really based on hype.

And so I started to go deep into finding things that I thought were really special and different. And that was everything from a Snoopy Timex for $100 to the Audemars Piguet Clover. And I got into the Cartier Crash super early before anybody had it.