ABU DHABI — Faisal Al Khoori thinks about watches a lot. All the time, one could say.

“Whenever I have time, whenever I am free or bored,” said Mr. Khoori, a 37-year-old Emirati, who lives and works as an equity trader in Abu Dhabi. “Let’s say, whatever I want to do with my free time usually is something to do with watches.”

Mr. Khoori owns about 50 watches and generally changes the one he is wearing twice a day. And his collection has been a long time in the making, starting when he was a child — though the relationship between watch and owner was not always carefree.

“I started with the watches when I was seven,” he said. But, “because I was just a kid, I was breaking the watches all the time. Every time I was convincing my father to buy me another watch and I’d break it.” Three decades later, he is more careful.

In addition to popular brands, including Rolex and Patek Philippe, Mr. Khoori also collects customized watches, a passion that began about seven years ago when he came across one by Jochen Benzinger, the German watchmaker who creates his own elaborately decorated timepieces and will engrave other brands.

“I contacted him and bought a piece from him and then it started from there,” Mr. Khoori said. “Even today I am waiting for some pieces from him.”

Recently, Mr. Khoori has been coming up with his own customization ideas. From the strap to the case, the movement to the dial, when he has something in mind he obtains parts wherever he can find the right ones and then has a watch repair service put them together.

When he’s designing a watch for himself, Mr. Khoori favors skeleton styles. “The movement is a big part of my watches,” he said. “It’s all about the movement, showing the movement.”

Owning a custom timepiece is not about the cost, he said, but about knowing you own something that no one else has, something unique. “This is what it’s all about, I think,” he said.

He also likes to collect straps, noting that he “probably has more straps than watches, like one hundred of them.”

And when he is not envisioning his next customization, Mr. Khoori keeps his eye on the world of watches. The latest on his wish list, from the Swiss watchmaker Franck Muller, is now his phone’s screensaver. The watch, a Giga Tourbillon, suits his taste. “I don’t like the low-profile watch,” Mr. Khoori said. “I like something that is shiny, that you can see from far.”

That much is evident in the majlis, the sitting area at the front of Mr. Khoori’s home, where a Rolex Submariner wall clock, in black, is a dominant feature. On the other side of the room, a number of watch storage boxes, normally kept elsewhere in the house, are stacked on a coffee table to show a visitor.

Whether a Franck Muller, a Maurice Lacroix, an Audemars Piguet or a Rolex, each watch, Mr. Khoori said, has its own story.

Take, for example, the vintage Rolex Daytona Ref. 16520 with Patrizzi dial, one of about a dozen timepieces that Mr. Khoori said were “not for wearing, just for having.” It was stroke of luck that allowed him to add it to his collection; he encountered the seller while he was taking several pieces to a watchmaker for repairs.

“I saw someone there with this watch” and I said, ‘How much is he paying for it? I will buy it from you for a better price.”’ The watch changed hands on the spot.

Another Rolex, an Oysterdate Precision that Mr. Khoori says he believes was made in the 1970s, is special both for being in nearly perfect condition and for having its original box and papers. The seller “gave me a price that is considered a ridiculous price,” Mr. Khoori said, adding that he bought it for 5,000 dirhams, or about $1,360.

Later, when the seller realized the value of the timepiece, Mr. Khoori continued, “he came to me and said, ‘How about you sell me back the watch?’ I said no way, not for four times the money.”

One of his most unusual pieces is a Gérald Genta Octo Mosaic, with markings in Arabic. “The presentation and the display, I think it’s more like art,” he said.

And one of his personal favorites is a highly decorated custom timepiece that has Mr. Khoori’s name engraved on the movement and on the left side of its steel case. “The idea behind it is to make something that looks very different and very unique in many different aspects,” he said. “So, I thought, everything must be different. Case, shape, movement, strap.”

The various pieces made long journeys. The diamonds were bought in Dubai, the case was engraved in New Zealand and the python leather strap came from Hong Kong. It all was assembled by a watchmaker in the United Arab Emirates.

One day, Mr. Khoori hopes to pass his collection — and passion for watches — to his son, Falah, who is now 6.

As that is almost the same age Mr. Khoori was when he became interested in watches, does his son have a watch of his own?

Yes, Mr. Khoori said, of course.

And has he been as relaxed about caring for it as his father was, all those years ago?

“No,” Mr. Khoori said with a smile. “Maybe lost, but not broken.”