I’ve been fortunate enough to own some beautiful watches, including some grail models all the way down to fifty quid G Shocks.
I have automatic, quartz and manual models. These have different types of maintenance required, from zero to winding it when you remember, Just like telling the missus you love her every now and then to keep her off your back.
I don’t use a winder for the automatics, as much as I’d love to have them on display and admire their beauty, this is also a burglars wet dream ( having been broken into once before ) so they stay in the attic hidden away.
When I want to wear a model for a special occasion or whatever shite family party I have to attend, the effort of unpacking them and setting times and dates is now getting a bit inconvenient.
The only watch ready for action - is my trusty quartz G Shock. The best part about this for me? It’s always on the correct time and date.
Conclusion. After becoming a watch freak and owing some “high horology” pieces, I think quartz is for me.
I now feel the hunt is always better than the kill.
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Last edited by Speedie; 11th May 2020 at 21:04.
Sort of know what you mean, but I have 2 or 3 on the go at any one time that I wear within a day or two so they always tell the right date and time. And then after a few weeks I might swap the 2 or 3 around. Sometimes I don’t wear a particular watch for 3 or 4 months, in fact I have a couple i’ve Never worn but when I get them out and see them I still very much enjoy them. If I don’t, I sell them (and then usually regret that too)
To me it sounds like you have reached watch Nirvana. Congratulations! For me - I’m still on the path.
For me, the BST challenge has meant I have to wear my 5146J every day (I really don’t want to hand wind it daily and I don’t own a watchfinder). Such an ordeal I know. But it means my others don’t really get a look in as they get swapped out daily. Maybe it’s enforced Nirvana?
I like to wear my watches so personally can never understand anyone having more than 10 high end watches, if it was me I would never know which to wear, even if I was fortunate enough to win the lottery I don’t think I would exceed this number. As far as grab and go is concerned I have a Breitling Evo Aerospace Night Mission for that.
Ah yes, sellers remorse comes into this too! Keep em or sell em !Originally Posted by tz-uk73
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Last edited by Speedie; 3rd May 2020 at 19:03.
That’s it. As a rule I buy watches I love, like isn’t usually enough. Add to that I have watches that would be very hard to replace (limited editions, hard to find etc) and then you weigh up what if I really miss that watch and have to replace it, you could end up paying more for a worse example and it might be miles away so there’s the hassle too. I find I hang on to them for those reasons.
If i’m not wearing it, it’s easily replaceable, and I expect i won’t miss it too much, it may as well go today.
Mine are in a safe. No unpacking required.
Andy
Wanted - Damasko DC57
Mine are in a watch box at the end of the bed (although technically in the attic). I'd certainly lose interest if I was having to get all Indiana Jones every time I wanted to put something different on.
Owning quartz watches come with it's own problem. I have about 60 - mostly quartz and it always seems like one or more of them needs a new battery. My study sometimes feels more like a branch of Timpsons!
Seems to me that you truly, deeply, were never that much into watches in the first place. OK, you've had you share of expensive pieces, but to me, they never touched your soul.
Owning a perpetual calendar with moon phase, that hadn't been worn for sometime would be a bit time consuming to reset, but the joy of ownership & appreciation would far, far, outweigh this chore.
A G-Shock just leaves me cold, TBH, might as well just use my phone.
P.S. I have no aspirations to own a highly complicated wristwatch, they aren' t for me even if I could afford, just illustrating my point.
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I too find it a pain to set up watches as I only wear mine at weekends, however I do enjoy looking at them in my watch box. OP, your perfect luxury watch would be a speed master moon watch, just wind up and go, no complications.
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Same for me and mine are all arranged in an order so I know where each is stored with in the watch folders I use to keep them in. (Yep I know I need to get out more - I might try it post Covid)
No point storing an item you enjoy in a place that is too much of a pain to access.
My collection mostly consists of automatics and in general I pick one for the week, set it on Monday and then no further fiddling with that watch during the week. Some days it might not be sensible to wear the chosen watch so I grab a quartz one (G-Shock or Aerospace usually) and use that!
The only issue I seem to have is manual wind watches. One of my manual wind models is a dress watch so that is fine, wind it and set it before the occasion and job done. My Speedmaster however I seem to regularly forget to wind and so it stops at various times during the week which catches me out!
I don’t think that’s fair. It is possible for interest in any hobby to wax and wane.
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Well done for you.
I have 4 watches, 3 of which I try to wear as often as possible. 2 autos and 1 hand wound. I don't think I'd sell any of those and I only have 2 more on the list - Tudor BB 36 and a Grand Seiko with the 9F Quartz (haven't decided which model yet). And that will be all for me. I do appreciate a nice high horology piece, but purchasing one wouldn't be first think I'd do if I had the money.
I like your one watch a week idea. I think I’ll try this going forward, but yes I’ll keep the G shock for my gym / Garden / car work.
Thanks for the tip !
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I don't want to own too many, the servicing costs alone put me off. I don't mind extra G-Shocks though so long as cheap enough and solar.
I don’t find it a pain - for me the ritual of choosing my watch for the day, winding it and setting the date and time is one of the small joys of this pastime/hobby/obsession.
I wear a different watch each day so I accept that I have to do this every morning. I like it.
The point about struggling to know what to choose is an interesting one, I admit. I had an objective this year of going down from 18 to 13, so of course I currently have 20. There is such a thing as too much choice, I suspect
!
Simon
Ive owned a Rolex and a Speedmaster. Not that high end but expensive by my standards.
At the end of the day they didn't do that much for me and I have never felt compelled to buy another once Id moved them on - not in the same way I have with more modest pieces.
I have a few good quality quartz and a couple of cheap but interesting mechanicals. Servicing costs are a consideration for me.
Works for my at the moment.
Any collection should service you and your needs - not the other way round.
I have 8 watches and that is way more than enough. My own view is that 3 is about right and after that you are buying them just because you can.
To quote the old birth control saying - you gotta know when to push the plug in.
I agree about 3
It feels about right to me
True, although my wife has made the biscuit tin all Indiana Jones during lockdown. When you finally find the right cupboard you have to move sacks of bloody muesli and porridge out of the way and just when you think you've made it a tin of golden syrup shoots out of nowhere and hits your knuckles.
That's why it's great there are so many options - quartz, even quartz perpetual calendar, radio wave, etc - just grab and go.
I share some of your perceptions of the hassle, so I tend to wear no-date watches a lot. Even winding a manual and setting the time bother me less than "did it stop on AM or PM", to check before setting the date, then the time. Hence most of my date watches tend to show the wrong date (I never look at it anyway).
For sure many people enjoy the hunt more than the kill - but is that wrong? Some enjoy wearing watches, others enjoy tracking them down even more - a hobby is a hobby :-) As long as we enjoy it - and ideally know why we do what we do - it's all good fun.
Owning a collection of watches sometimes a pain?
Undoubtedly...
I've currenty got a couple of total non-runners, one that is gaining 5 minutes an hour, one that loses 5 minutes a day and one that the push fit back won't push back onto (despite using a case back press that has worked on every other watch I've used it on - Why would Certina fit a HAQ movement to a watch and then cheap out on a push fit back?).
At the moment, finding someone to repair any of them (or even fit that bloody back) is impossible, so yes, owning a collection is sometimes a pain, but I still like having a variety (too many if I'm honest) of watches to put on each day.
I do have some quartz watches (some very cheap, most expensive a Breitling B-1), but I tend to pick out a mechanical watch most times, somehow knowing there are all those cogs whirring away on my wrist is more enjoyable to me than knowing my watch is exactly right to the second.
Like an earlier poster, I can't envisage any scenario where I'd ever own a G-Shock, I find them hateful things, I'd rather risk a few dings and scratches in a 'proper' watch, personally.
M
Last edited by snowman; 4th May 2020 at 09:57.
Breitling Cosmonaute 809 - What's not to like?
I think having a selection gives variety but do agree that if you have more the resetting can become frustrating.
For me it’s 1 quartz and 2 automatics.
3 seems to work well for me, 1 for the day and 1 for the evening and then the gshock for rough and tumble adventures which means no resetting.
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Currently have a Sub and a GMT and agree with the above replies like having a choice in the morning!
Interested to hear if you would rather own a few luxury watches and a few day to day (Apple Watch for sport etc) or just one or the other?
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One of the things lockdown has confirmed for me is the prior intuition that the best cure for having gone off a given watch - assuming that one can afford to keep them, which in the current circ/s is not a given - is to put in a drawer for several months and then have a look at it again when you're bored with whatever succeeded it in your affections. At that point you often start loving it all over again.
Current case in point: my white-dialled (i.e. pre-Evo) Aerospace. Loved it when I bought it years ago. But it was sat in a drawer, well down the pecking order as more recent acquisitions got all the attention. I half-heartedly responded to a WTB a while ago, but wanted more than it was probably worth and we (amicably) left it. Since I don't wear watches at home all my autos have stopped when I've gone to pick them up for the daily constitutional, so I went for the Aero. And absolutely love it all over again. I love the multi-functionality, the hue of the titanium in natural light, the lighness and the flatness against the wrist; and having spent ages wondering why I didn't buy a black or blue one, so that the digi panels were discreetly integrated with the dial, I like the contrast of the digi panels against the white face, which underlines its ani-digi identity.
So a good rule, if you fall out of love with or get bored with a given watch, is to give it an extended sabbatical, after which you may remember why you bought it in the first place.
I supposed I do like the choice. One for work, one for nights out and a beater for the rough stuff.
I think I’ll choose 3/4 watches in total to keep, each having its own purpose, just like running shoes for the gym and oxfords for the office :-)
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I normally have the cheaper ones on show and hide the others like you, but have two decent ones out of the bank safe and usually one is on my wrist.
I am sat here with a £200 Spinnaker Hull on my wrist with the Submariners etc upstairs. It’s nice to mix it up but I could not go back to have a few quartz and being done with that.
Exactly! Loving the style reference here as well
You mentioned you had owned some of the higher end ones too? Any nice pieces?
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When your autocorrect changes to Watchfinder when you meant watch winder, you know you are not there yet 😂
EDIT - Looking at what I just wrote above, I am clearly in the same place as my autocorrect added a capital W...
I find myself continually sorting my collection into different boxes and categories, based usually on theme or frequency worn. My more dressy stuff is very little worn, same for my plexi stuff save for the 372, so tend to get stored in the safe box, ditto the more shiny stuff like BLRO and ff. My more frequently worn pieces are in a more accessible box, although it does make me think that is a chicken and egg situation.
And my g shock got recently worn for the first time for ages when doing building type work.
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Good advice, which would've saved me many selling regrets over the years!
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The point of a collection for me is to spend time in the evening setting up and winding all of them up instead of watching tv.
It's why I am uncomfortable with quartz, with batteries running out all the time.
...
BUBI 0_0
I just posted in another thread that a large collection would stress me out.
I feel like there's a difference between collecting and liking watches. I really like watches but I want each that I own to serve a particular purpose. I often see SotCs and wonder why someone would want ten divers/sports watches or what have you. And then there are collectors who only want vintage Seikos, etc. (I'm not suggesting that one approach is better than the other. And, of course, this is hugely simplified and probably bollocks.)
Fair enough and the collections with 10 near identical watches baffle me just as much, but it's no different to collecting stamps or coins or knives or swords, some will have a varied collection and some will gain immense pleasure from looking at the tiny differences between a 1912 penny and a 1911 one...
I've always LIKED watches, but for the first 40 something years of my life, they were simply something I wore to make sure I got places when I needed to. I usually had just one (or two) and wore it until someone bought me a new one or it stopped working!
I never set out to have a 'collection' (I just became smitten with the Breitling Cosmonaute) and many wouldn't call my assorted watches a collection.
There is certainly no theme, I just buy watches I like the look of.
M
Breitling Cosmonaute 809 - What's not to like?
I think that would be about right for me too,so thats 17 to go 😪
To paraphrase: The path to hell is paved with great watches. I have a gut feeling that salvation goes like this: cheap* quartz -> cheap mechanical -> better quality mechanical -> Rolex/Omega -> better quality quartz -> cheap quartz -> happiness
...but I could be wrong...
*cheap <= £100
Due to the huge rise in value of ‘the old crap’ I used to buy pre owned, i now have to drive to the bank to change watches.
It means that I rarely bother.
I’ve actually started looking for some cheapies (i.e. under two grand)to keep in the house to satisfy that swapping watch urge!
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I sold a mint Panerai Base 000 for €€2000 Euro in 2012. Makes me a little sick thinking about it nowso cheap at that price, if only I knew what it would be worth.
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WTF!!! Well spotted!
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