After years making gaming videos, a move to Sweden and an experiment with a timepiece-focused Instagram account have made Lydia Winters an important figure in the Scandinavian watch industry
"I had never even visited Europe before I stepped off the plane the day I moved to Stockholm," says Lydia Winters. "I never even had a passport before that. It was a big culture shock coming from Florida." It may have been a shock, but Winters has certainly made the most of the move. A decade on from touching down in Sweden, she is Chief Storyteller at Mojang Studios (the company who created Minecraft), has made Forbes' famed '30 under 30' list, and - in less than a year - has attracted an audience of nearly 7,000 on her watch-dedicated Instagram account.
Not that Winters is a stranger to building a big online following. Her surprise move to Scandinavia initially came about in part thanks to her series of hugely popular gaming videos - videos that have earned her more than 84,000 subscribers and contributed to her being picked as a name to watch in the gaming industry by Forbes in 2016. “I had a Minecraft YouTube channel before I moved to Sweden, then met the Minecraft team," she explains. "Within two weeks of meeting them at an event [it] turned into a job at the company. I was the seventh employee, first expat, and the first woman on the team. I've had many different roles in my 10 years at the company but the main thing is that I love working on Minecraft and love living in Sweden.”
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One consequence of her YouTube videos blowing up was that she felt compelled to give up her pursuit of professional photography, but her passion for the medium never entirely left her. “I've enjoyed photography for as long as I can remember," she says. "After being an elementary school teacher and deciding it wasn't for me, I started my own photography business in 2008 shooting weddings and portraits. I abandoned professional photography when I started making Minecraft videos on YouTube in 2010. Over the years I’ve kept photography as a hobby, but it wasn’t until Covid that I fell back in love with taking photos – first with flowers and now with watches.”
Cartier Tank Solo.
Under the handle @winters.watches, she shares eye-catching shots of luxury watches alongside behind-the-scenes moments and photography tips. But while her passion for photography is long-held, she's a fairly recent convert to horology.
“The watch that got me into watches was my rose gold Cartier Tank Solo," says Winters. "In 2014, my partner let me pick out the watch as a Christmas gift. He had tried to get me into watches in the past, buying me both a Tag Heuer Link and tiny vintage Omega, and I wore them occasionally, but the Tank opened my eyes to the magic of wearing a watch every day. Right after he gave it to me, he asked what my new watch would be. Indignantly, I said I didn’t need another watch because the Cartier was perfect. A month later I bought my first Rolex, a Datejust, because a Cartier Tank just didn’t seem practical for Arctic adventures.”
She now owns watches for a range of occasions and she's evidently been well and truly bitten by the horology bug. “I have watches that make me feel more powerful, more fun, more adventurous, and I’m able to amplify or shift my perspective of the day through my watch," she says. "If I’m nervous, I wear my Cartier Tank Solo because I feel comforted wearing it because it was given to me by the most important person in my life. For presenting in front of millions of people in my role at Mojang Studios, I pick a watch that makes me feel powerful and confident – most recently my Rolex GMT Master II. You can choose a watch based on who you are or who you want to be – that’s a powerful concept.”
Rolex GMT Master II .
Winters' confidence, combined with her passion for timepieces and her rapidly growing Instagram following, have made her a name to know in the Scandinavian watch industry. One of the most gratifying results of starting the account she says has been the connections it's enabled her to forge with other female watch fans in what is often a male-dominated sector. “I actively seek out women in the community to follow and more than 11% of my Instagram followers are female, which is around 730 women," she says. "Now I know amazing women across the world and I’m in multiple group chats with hundreds of female collectors – I say all that to emphasise there are many of us out there. The interesting part of all this is that I only know all of these people online. When I travel again I can’t wait to meet all these incredible women in person, and of course, try on their watches.”
It's these connections that make the extra work of getting an Instagram account up and running worthwhile for Winters. And even though she has experience in attracting major online audiences, she says her interest doesn't stem from playing the numbers game. “I’ve experimented with many other quite niche accounts over the years – Hasselblad film shots, coffee shop photos, macro flowers, and now watch photography," she says, advising that any aspiring Insta influencer should "let your passion, enjoyment, and creativity guide you, not numbers." "If your only aim is to be popular, it’s a losing game where it’s likely you won’t want to continue long-term," she continues. "Instead, my goals are to be creative, be completely myself. I want people to recognise my distinct photography style, and share my photography knowledge through my behind-the-scenes shots and commentary."
To this end, watches have become one of her favourite subjects for her camera. "I found photographing watches to be incredibly inspiring – I approach them as portraits, and I’m trying to capture a particular mood and feeling with each watch," she says. "I’m excited to shoot and hopefully that shines through on my account."
Rolex Datejust Oyster Perpetual.
Winters' account not only showcases this passion but also the fine array of watches she owns. Yet like any collector, she's already mulling over “the next one” for her collection. "On any given day, my next watch purchase plan changes," she says. "Since the pandemic, I’ve acquired quite a few pieces, some of which I already don’t see myself keeping in my collection. Because of that, I’m taking my time to try and more succinctly define my watch style and not make rash purchases. The watch I'm currently dreaming about is a 2000s polar Rolex Explorer II. The GMT complication is the most useful for me, and this watch has the added history of adventure. The watch would speak to who I want to be – someone more adventurous.”
Whatever her next timepiece purchase ends up being, we're certainly looking forward to following her beautifully photographed adventures in watch collecting for some time to come.