For the past eight years, I’ve helped collectors buy, sell, and build thoughtful watch collections, always with a focus on trust, transparency, and long-term value. Fog City was my home for that work: a place where I built relationships, refined my taste, and navigated thousands of transactions with integrity.

As I went deeper, the opportunity became undeniable. The industry was ready for transformation, hungry for clarity, and in need of better tools.

That is why I founded Collected, a foundation built to replace instinct with infrastructure. Verified identities, structured workflows, and truth-based provenance create the clarity this market has always lacked. In practice, Collected gives dealers the tools they have needed for years and gives collectors the protections they have long deserved.

T.J. Bender represents the personal side of that mission, a new approach to watch advising defined by alignment and responsibility. Built around strategic guidance, transparent curation, and genuine advocacy, my goal is to redefine how watches are bought, sold, and evaluated while always placing my clients' interests first.

As my day-to-day increasingly shifts toward building Collected, I’m narrowing my focus to what I care about most:

• Working with a small group of collectors in a more strategic, advisory role

• Taking on only the watches I truly believe in

• Building deeper, long-term relationships instead of chasing volume

I’m not trying to be everywhere. I’m trying to be exactly where it matters.