When Adam Golden, founder of Miami-based pre-owned watch dealer Menta Watches, first connected with Lex Borrero on Instagram, he assumed the music executive would fit the mold of a typical luxury watch collector.
“I looked at his profile and thought, ‘Latin American producer—he’s probably into flashy Pateks and APs,’” Golden recalls, referencing high-end brands like Patek Philippe and Audemars Piguet. But Borrero, the former Roc Nation executive and co-founder of Neon16, immediately shattered those expectations.
A Collector With Uncommon Taste
Borrero’s first inquiry was about a rare connoisseur’s watch—far from the ostentatious designs Golden anticipated. “I realized I had him all wrong,” Golden admits.
Born in Colombia to a rally car driver father and a businesswoman-turned-pastor mother, Borrero’s fascination with watches began at age six when he encountered his first chronograph. “I loved racing culture,” he says. “Zero to 60 made sense—this was how we timed speed.”
His early collection included G-Shocks and superhero-themed watches before he upgraded to a TAG Heuer Monaco, borrowed from his brother-in-law and never returned. As his career in music took off, he gravitated toward Rolex and Jacob & Co., financing his first two-tone Rolex GMT despite financial strain.
The Philosophy Behind the Collection
For Borrero, design trumps status or price. One of his favorite pieces is a $100 Timex with a floating ball seconds indicator. “I’ve always been driven by aesthetics,” he says.
He also has an eye for undervalued classics. Years before the Cartier Crash became a celebrity favorite, Borrero spotted one during Paris Fashion Week and acquired a vintage Paris edition for 200,000+ valuation.
Building a Legacy, One Watch at a Time
Borrero rarely sells his watches, viewing them as markers of different life chapters. A Jacob & Co. Five Time Zone watch, for instance, holds sentimental value—he once bought matching versions for his high school friends and had the brand’s founder personally deliver them.
Recently, he added Tiffany & Co.’s diamond-cut Eternity watch to his collection, drawn by its craftsmanship and history. “It’s 33mm but wears beautifully,” he says. “It’s Tiffany—why not?”
Through collaborations with dealers like Golden and Material Good’s Yoni Ben-Yehuda, Borrero continues to explore vintage and avant-garde pieces, proving that his collection is as much about storytelling as it is about horology. As he puts it: “These watches speak to the eras of my life.”
Related topics:
- The Coolest (and Craziest) Watches at the NFL Draft
- A One-of-a-Kind Custom Rolex Daytona Could Fetch More Than $1.6 Million at Auction
- The Trends That Dominated at Watches and Wonders, From Perpetual Calendars to Stone Dials
