Reply With QuoteI like the possibility of reciprocity with emotional attachments. (Sadly, even when possible, it hasn't always been actual.)
Best wishes,
Bob
I have a daily wearer, I sit here with it on now. I’ve had it for about seven years and in that time I have got up to a fair few things and the watch has been with me for all of them.
- I’ve travelled all over the world and taken the watch with me
- Got married wearing it
- Worn it at the birth of both my sons
- Worn it in our honeymoon
- Taken it down with me on literally hundreds of dives
You get the idea.
I’m now toying with the idea that I might like something different and the clear way to do that is to fund it using this watch. However, a part of me wonders if I’m not a bit attached to it and so I wanted to explore how rational that really is and whether anyone else has a similar attachment and why.
My own predicament is my own decision, so I’m the nicest way, I’m not looking for advice, I’m just looking to understand if anyone feels similarly about one or more of their own watches and perhaps why?
I like the possibility of reciprocity with emotional attachments. (Sadly, even when possible, it hasn't always been actual.)
Best wishes,
Bob
You haven't told us what watch it is... for us to decide if it is worth selling... etc.
I’m sentimentally attached to my Breitling. It was my first posh watch that I bought after a long hard slog at work. If it were ever lost I’d be distraught, I could of course get another but it wouldn’t be that particular watch.
No logic to it, but I’d never sell it because of what it meant to me at the time
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There are watches that are associated with certain life events that I couldn't get rid of, most notably a Seamaster 2254.
I did that deliberately. It’s a desirable sports watch from a well regarded manufacturer which would be no trouble at all to sell on.Originally Posted by abraxas
Most of my watches have been purchased to commemorate milestones / occasions therefore I wouldn't be abe to part with them.
Yes, but nothing with monetary value like your Rolex. In my case this Animal which I wore 24/7 for over 10 years during what I class as the best years of my life. Way too many happy memories to ever get rid, not that it would be worth selling anyway.
Emotional attachment to watches, of course not😂
That’s why I have too many and struggle to sell any.
No, absolutely not.
They are nice metal trinkets - nothing more
Yes. Some significant life events attached to two of mine / mean they will never get sold.
I would like to say no, but, I fear there may be a bit lurking in the background with some of my watches.
There are loads I slightly regret selling but I remind myself that there must have a reason to do so at that time.
Some, yes.
There's the one my parents bought for my 21st. I'd never part with that and it's worn for family events, sadly one in recent years was my father's funeral, but hopefully the next of note will be my daughter's wedding. It's one of the family, for me at least.
Then there's the Citizen I bought to be cheap enough to not worry about losing diving in dark UK waters - I thought I'd lost it once and I was surprised at how upsetting I found that - Luckily I'd just put it somewhere 'safe' and it turned up, but with all the dives it's joined me on (and still does), I would miss it.
Others much less so.
M
Yep 100%.......
The Breitling my Mum bought me when she terminally ill as there was little point giving me her jewellery.
The rest can come and go, that watch she chose would be the third thing I’d pick up if I had to escape with my most treasured possessions.
Yes, of course. My 2254 was my first proper watch & bought with money my Gran left me. It was a good buy, universally acclaimed & appreciating nicely, but I would never sell it. I wore it every day for 10 years until last year when I got a Speedmaster.
The Speedy was the watch I nearly bought when I got the 2254 - the Hesalite & the manual winding put my younger self off.
For ten years the Speedy never entirely left me & I got one last year. It was a good deal & a good story behind the purchase & I wore it every day for a year until this year.
This year I turned 50 & had a lucky chance to get the Rolex I'd wanted since I first saw "Live & let Die". Not a Sub, I tried one but it didn't look good on me. I got a SS DJ41. That watch has been worn every day since I got it, bar July 20th.
Every day I wind the Speedy & put it back in the box because I'm wearing the Rolex. I actually feel guilty!
Some days I feel like wearing the 2254 or the Speedy but I can guarantee that by 4pm I've got the Rolex back on.
I love them all dearly for various reasons concerning how I got them & how they enhance my life.
There's something indefinable & unquantifiable about them, just like a Spitfire or a Ferrari or a Lee Enfield or a Vincent Black Shadow - they're all "just machines" but somehow they wind their way into our lives & make them just a little bit richer...
My grandfather's Longines which cost me more to have fixed than it will ever be worth.
Customised Rolex Submariner 114060 that I bought myself for my 50th.
Both mean an awful lot to me and will never be sold in my lifetime.
The others, as much as I like them, are just 'shiny things'
I feel guilty parting with almost all the watches I've sold. It's a bit like telling your watch you want a divorce without being able to provide a satisfactory explanation. "It's not you, it's me!"
I've said that I have an attachment/commitment BUT in reality it's a figment of our imagination. Any watch is just a material item, memories are what matters. A watch might trigger memories but frankly the memory of the watch (after it's sold) can still trigger those memories, as can photos.
I've had two key 'keepers' (Hulk and a GMT 16700) both now gone. Also had a special Breitling from my late brother, although he was still with us at the point I sold it. TBH I have no material regrets that I don't have them any more.
Live life and make memories, don't rely on material triggers, just lighten your mind and trigger the memories yourself.
My watch tastes evolve and I see no point holding an expensive piece that you don't wear. As an aside I won't let my wife buy me a watch, as it would be relatively expensive, and I know that I might flip it sometime.
Last edited by ASW1; 2nd September 2019 at 00:14.
Putting a watch away for a few months, then revisiting it, is the real acid test to decide whether you would be prepared to sell it. That’s what I did recently with the 1965 Omega Seamaster 600 I restored, couldn't decide whether to keep it or sell, after a few months I decided to sell and it found a new owner last week.
I’m a strong advocate of building a collection of watches over several years, selling one to fund another is generally a bad idea. A longer term goal to own a few diverse pieces that you like for different reasons is a wiser approach, but unless you’ve got money to burn requires patience. Buy second hand at keen prices wherever possible.
Bond cherished his memories of their time together. In many ways she was his ideal match: Slim, sophisticated, able to dress up and dress down. She never looked out of place whether it was at the casino, on the beach or in his bed. She'd always been helpful too: without her assistance, would he have bested Kananga? Bond wasn't sure, but he knew he owed her, and owed her a lot.
He checked himself. Such sentiments had no place in his line of work. Bond had survived long enough to know better than that. But still, he found his mind wandering to that time in his flat just after M had left; a surprise visit to give Bond his mission. She was there then, too. Bond smiled, remembering Caruso emerging from hiding in his wardrobe, and how he unzipped her dress, before...
Well, enough was enough. She'd been faithful to him, it was just a shame he couldn't be faithful to her. It wasn't in his nature. And besides, it was orders. He sighed as he slipped out of her cool embrace.
"We've been through some times together, but now it's over," Bond stated. He kept the emotion he felt welling up out of his voice.
"Oh for goodness sake, Bond," Q said. "It's only a bloody watch. Now hand over the Rolex and take this Seiko."
Bond shrugged as he passed the timepiece to the quartermaster. "Product placement, huh?" he mumbled as he walked out of Q branch. "What is the secret service coming to?"
Some objects have a ‘sentimental’ value. I wouldn’t call it emotional attachment.
LOL, very good!
The only watches that have an emotional attachment for me are a Tissot I was given for my 18th birthday by my Mum and an old Rolex that belonged to my late father-in-law - so about the watch having a meaning to others rather than the watch.
This sums it up for me too.
Cheers..
Jase
I married a Brietling Airwolf once but it’s all over now...😢
No, none of them.
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Not ever, they're just watches.
Yep there's one in particular because of it's history, any others would just be trinkets.
Again, sentimental value not emotional...
The only watch I really regret selling was the one I wore when I got a supersonic trip in an F-18. I was an idiot to sell that as the history to me is irreplaceable and it now would have sentimental value.
I’ve since learnt my lesson and wont sell my wedding watch!
No...
I’m quite surprised by the split of views. I’d have thought that on a watch forum, where members spend an awful lot of time discussing watches, that there would be a significant lean toward some sort of attachment, emotional, sentimental or the like. I’m surprised that is seems reasonably even in support and not of that position.
I’m quite surprised at those who say their watches are simply trinkets to them. This is a lot of energy to expend on knick-knacks, particularly that in some cases some of the bric-à-brac is quite expensive.
I think I have some sentimentality about watches. I have watches that have been handed down to me that I could not see myself selling - it wouldn’t seem right. However, the watch I’m asking about, I bought myself so initially had no sentimental value or family attachment. It came to me in completely innocuous circumstances and the purchase itself, I’m embarrassed to say, marked no special occasion. However, I think the memories that I connect with it, as someone above said, for me, make it harder to sell. Though my rational mind find that notion almost ridiculous.
How strange.
Just spent over a minute looking for the "like" button that I know isn't there ... :)
Yes, sort of - one my wife bought me when we got engaged so won't sell that and another that I bought the year my son was born so telling myself that I'll give it to him when he's older (but keep putting the date back).
There's another that I bought years ago and was my first decent watch so quite attached to that.
I've got this with the watches I wore when my children were born.
They are keepers and will be given to my kids when the time is right.
My son will get an El Primero powered Ebel 1911, my daughter my Minerva Pythagore Grande Appliqué.
Did you have ‘special’ watches on standby or they’re just what you happened to be wearing?
Yes, & I wish I didn't. I have too many watches now that get rarely worn, so I think to myself I'll have a cull, I pick one up start the 'wind' and 'whoosh' on the wrist. It makes me happy, but have no idea why!
Both were born with a Ceasarean, the first an emergency C-section, the second planned. So I knowingly went to the hospital for their births.
My watch wasn't really a priority, I just took something to wear (glad I didn't wear a 42 mm plus watch at my daughters C-section).
Actually, I had the watches in my pocket at both C-sections as I assisted in both, so had to scrub in.
My first Rolex , a non date sub bought nearly 20 years ago , still gives me a great sense of satisfaction for various reasons , I genuinely think I’ll never sell it for any reason.
My second was a white faced Daytona which I waited four years for , when there was a proper waiting list , I like wearing it from time to time , can’t see me selling that one either.
I’ve got a few more that mean nothing to me , bar the fact that my son will benefit from them when I pop me clogs , unless circumstances change and I need to sell , they’re more viewed as money in the bank.
I bought my son a Sea Dweller for his 21st. birthday, 14 years ago next month, he’s mentioned a few times what it means to him which his views are almost identical to my ND sub.
No different really to some of my wife’s trinkets , take away the date important pieces and she’s of the same view , nice to wear when she does wear them , but she’s not really emotionally attached .
Another point to make , is as you get older, certain material assists mean a lot less , valid point ?
I have a few that I would regard as being sentimentally attached, rather than emotionally. Watches that I was given for 18th and 40th birthdays, also watches worn when each of my daughters married. These are watches that I don’t think I would ever likely sell, even though only one of the four is regularly worn.
When my wife was just my girlfriend she bought me a Seiko kinetic. At the time it was a lot of money for her and a very thoughtful gift. I've never really loved the watch and rarely wear it but it definitely has sentimental value and I'd never sell it.
No. watches I got from my parents and relatives while I was a kid were destroyed sooner or later. When I got older I had several cheap russian and chinese quartz watches, but they had no value and were binned after couple of battery changes. The only watch that survived is my first Swiss - Longines Conquest Quartz I bought 20 years ago. All others, including watch I wore at a birth of my daughter are gone.
Nope. Being emotionally attached to an inanimate object is a little sad, and something is missing from yiour life when things give you joy.
All part of the current materialistic consumer culture
Not totally correct. I also have my fathers and grandfathers watches and although the monetary value isn't high, they are heirlooms that makes me rememeber them wearing them when they were still alive.
That isn't about consumerism nor about attachment to an inanimate object. It is about memories.
Same thing is true about the watches I had on me when my children were born. They are heirlooms that will be passed on to them.The value isn't important, the memory is.
Sorry, I am not on that agenda at all.
Things should bring you joy, or you shouldn't bother with them.
The creamy glow of a tritium dial, wiping the fingerprints off the crystal of your daily wearer, the casual stroke of a well-finished piece of wooden furniture, a 10-second reverie in front of a favourite piece of art.
All of these things are little bits of joy that are the differential between a well-loved object, and one that is simply there.
Such joy can be separated from emotional attachment, but if they are regarded as the same, but that too is perfectly fine.
I can't think that one could have such an attachment to something bought with ease on the high street last week, but a long-worn piece that you spent months or years researching and hunting down will have some degree of emotional attachment, as well as family pieces and things worn or given on special occasions, or even a watch that you spent a long time restoring to former glory.
None of that attachement is a sympton of any materialistic decline in civilisation. It is a simple appreciation that things can, and should bring joy, and as such, we can form attachments to them, or bond with them.
Dave
^^^ Very well put. Things should bring you joy, otherwise what's the point in having anything that isn't purely and exclusively functional?
The whole ethos of this forum is based on a collection of things that, were it not for the joy they bring to their owners, would and indeed should be replaced by something entirely utilitarian (the Casio FW91 perhaps?)
This is from a woman’s perspective.
For people who have ‘emotional attachment’ to a watch, am not sure what gender they assign to a watch ( is it your baby or a big boy) but the following might be of interest
https://womennow.in/10-signs-emotionally-attached/
I have watches that I'm fond of, that remind me of good times or were bought by someone close for or a special occasion.
I wouldn't like to have to get rid of them, but I'd have no problem doing so if I had to. They are just things.
I used to put far too much attachment onto objects and stuff, I don't get so tied up in it anymore. I enjoy things, use them but don't let them become anymore than they are. These things I enjoy are just a bit of dressing on the side of thr really important things.
Loved ones, memories and experiences are infinitely more valuable.
No, I completely disagree with that. That philosophy suggests an austere, monk-like existence where the only fulfilment is spiritual. Written on a computer, posted on a watch forum by someone who has made thousands of contributions, I can’t believe it.
Things brighten our lives for what they are, what they do for us, what they signify and what they remind us of. If the philosophy above were true, nobody would buy wedding rings, there would be no need for certificates to commemorate education. All cars would look and operate exactly the same. Houses would have only one variety.
No, joy is in experience, variety and appreciation, for form, for craft, for enlightenment, for knowledge and skill seen and earnt.
I cannot subscribe to any philosophy that attributes no value to inanimate objects of any sort on the grounds that they ought not bring joy.
I may be having doubts that sentimentality over a watch is entirely rational, but the essence of the world itself strongly suggests that almost nobody feels this way about things they own.
Emotionally attached to an item of wrist jewellery ? Err, no.
I can quite understand someone having more inclination to retain a watch that has an element of sentimental value, anything stronger than that would be bizarre.
I thought they would.. I got a speedy for my 50th.
Expected it to be a keeper but right now I haven’t worn it in 6 months.
I feel it should be worn and maybe someone else can give it what it deserves.
Or maybe...
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