£5 or £15,000 it makes me wonder.

[TheTigerUK]

I have had Subs, Tudors, Omegas, Grand Seiko, Vintage divers etc and at one time my collection was out of hand at 300/400 ish but now down to about 80 ish.

I have had a desire for a SD/SD for some time £8k to £14k or there about but my interest/desire has really slowed down this last couple of years.

I have always found the hunt the best part about getting a grail/desired watch but the joy of finally getting that grail for me generally goes away pretty quick apart from one or two such has the MM300 (SBDX001).

For quite a while now I have been wearing watches that cost in the low £100s and thoroughly enjoying them and not one of my acquaintances has noticed or cared that I have been wearing a "cheap" watch while my collection just sits in the safe.

I had been getting an urge to try a smart watch such as one from the Apple range that can cost anything in the range £200 ish to £800 ish I mentioned this to one of my daughters and she bought me a MIXX Watch Core that had been reduced at Tesco down to £5.50. I,ve been wearing this watch now for a couple of days and it seems superb, comfy on the wrist and easy to see plus it lets me know if a message comes through along with other stuff..

I think at times ive got on the roller coaster of buying/collecting watches and then better watches costing more and more for bragging rights when I imagine 99.9% percent of the population couldent give a dam and I think i,m getting to the point that as long as whats on my wrist is half decent then i'm happy.

[demonloop]

The Apple Watch Ultra more or less killed my interest in wearing other watches

Don’t do it!!

[100thmonkey]

The Apple Watch Ultra more or less killed my interest in wearing other watches

Don’t do it!!

Yep thats happens. I wear one alot in rotation

[Rob s]

Firstly a 400 watch collection is very impressive, you would need a room just for the boxes! I completely agree that the chase of often a lot better than reality of actual ownership. I think the amount of churn on SC proves that.

[Sharky]

It does seem that smartwatches are taking the place of regular watches, at least that's what I am seeing.

A way around this for me as I like the aesthetic of an analogue watch is to wear one on each wrist.

Heresy, I know, but I have been doing this for the last year.

Yes, you get a lot of people asking why on earth would you wear 2 watches, but I just explain that one tracks my fitness i.e. steps, heart rate etc whilst the other is nice to look at and have on the wrist.

This usually helps to make them understand why I do it.

Here are pics of the offending two-some:

2023-08-21_09-35-48 by mcridland, on Flickr

2023-08-21_09-36-02 by mcridland, on Flickr


Mark

[earlofsodbury]

By all means own smartwatches, use smartwatches, enjoy smartwatches: and best of luck to you but they are not watches, they are wrist-worn computers, comms, and tracking devices, and have no place on a watch forum (IMVHO )

[P9CLY]

400 watches!.I would be constantly worrying about a collection that big.
Im down to 12 now which is still too many.
Id be happy to reduce your collection by a few if you want my full set 2002 SD.
One preferably a Speedy.

[Ghost Chilli]

I went through a Garmin phase during lock down and thought that was it for my collection.

I then realised that my phone could do all and more and I carry that everywhere so would prefer to wear a nice mechanical.

Also wasn’t keen on charging and couldn’t wear an Apple Watch for that reason alone.

[dkpw]

By all means own smartwatches, use smartwatches, enjoy smartwatches: and best of luck to you but they are not watches, they are wrist-worn computers, comms, and tracking devices, and have no place on a watch forum (IMVHO )

I'm not sure I entirely agree but your post did bring this thought to mind. Of all the kinds of watches we own on here, smartwatches are likely to have the least possible longevity. Not only do you have the inherent fragility of some electronic components, you have the OS ecosphere required for them to function. Certain well know producers do like to bake in obsolescence, and like Rolex, won't repair "vintage" models.

TheTigerUK makes an excellent point though. For me Covid changed a lot of things, including what watches I reach for. For the last couple of years, I have almost exclusively worn a G-Shock, my Ray Mears 2, the Seiko Arnie 2 or a £150 "Poor Man's GS." All the posh watches and mechanicals have been neglected. The same with my three Vostoks, which since the invasion I do not feel like wearing. I'm really happy with the quartz and digis.

[mrushton]

By all means own smartwatches, use smartwatches, enjoy smartwatches: and best of luck to you but they are not watches, they are wrist-worn computers, comms, and tracking devices, and have no place on a watch forum (IMVHO )

This!

[Slevin Kelevra]

This!

I agree also.

I run a lot and have done for about 10 years so, I wear a Garmin almost every day but, as soon as my run is finished, I take the Garmin off and put a "proper" watch on.

A Garmin or Apple watch is nothing more than a throw away item that will sooner or later become obsolete to be replaced with the newest version.

[walkerwek1958]

I agree, Smartwatches don’t meet my criteria to be considered as watches in the traditional sense and don’t belong on a watch forum, others may disagree or partially disagree. The technology is admirable and they certainly provide a level of functionality that was in the realms of sci-fi 30-40 years ago. However, they are very much a consumable item with a relatively short life in watch terms.

I won’t be buying one, I have an extensive collection of mostly vintage watches and the trusty Casio f91 for robust activities such as gym, running, diy etc.

[Neil.C]

"Smart" watches are of no interest to me.

I don't need to track my heartbeat by the minute or any of the million and one things that a wrist computer can do.

Good quality clockwork is what keeps me interested and if I migrated to a wrist terminal I wouldn't bother turning up here any more.

[banie01]

I've only really taken an interest in mechanical watches since 2019 or so.
Prior to that, I'd owned a couple of watches that were gifts.
I had a Sony Smartwatch 3 when I 1st got the bug for mechanicals.
I found the call/message alert and some alarm functions really handy.
I juggled for a while on swapping traditional watch Vs smart on a rotation basis, it grew tiresome.
I ditched the Smartwatch and started using a much smaller profile smartband on my right wrist.

So I rotate the "traditional" watches on my left and have a small smartband in my right wrist.

[TheTigerUK]

For a while now the three below have in the main been my rotation apart from the occasional photo shoot with another watch from my collection, the Citizen Red Arrows has been my daily and the all metal Casio my beater (I love this model) and the Seiko when I have wanted a bit of bling and at the moment I am still wearing the smart watch as its interesting to see how many steps I do in a day.

These three all keep great time, the date is always correct so VERY easy to pick up and go.

Apart from the smart watch I think they all came from the SC.

I doubt the smart watch will ever take the place of the conventional watch like the smart phone will never take the place of the Filofax :)

[RobDad]

I went through a Garmin phase during lock down and thought that was it for my collection.

I then realised that my phone could do all and more and I carry that everywhere so would prefer to wear a nice mechanical.

Also wasn’t keen on charging and couldn’t wear an Apple Watch for that reason alone.

I kind of agree - I owned an Apple Watch - I think the 4 so quite an antique now! - which was of the models with a built in Sim. The battery life wasn’t great and it was a bit ‘soulless’ but when I wore it I was able to leave my phone at home and rely on it for Apple Pay, receiving urgent texts/messages/calls. I ended up turning g a lot of the notifications off and got bored with it after about 6 months. But with the improvement in battery life now, the big screen on the Ultra and faster processors, more onboard memory for a playlist of songs etc, I’m tempted to try another.
Anyone who thinks they just count your steps and give you notifications is missing the point imho, they are astonishing bits of sci-fi kit and can replace a phone and a watch and lots besides. But I’m also a crotchety old git and - much like an EV - I’ve managed without one for long enough so why bother?!? ;)

[Barchettaman]

I'm not sure I entirely agree but your post did bring this thought to mind. Of all the kinds of watches we own on here, smartwatches are likely to have the least possible longevity. Not only do you have the inherent fragility of some electronic components, you have the OS ecosphere required for them to function. Certain well know producers do like to bake in obsolescence, and like Rolex, won't repair "vintage" models.

[COLOR=#3E3E3E]TheTigerUK makes an excellent point though. For me Covid changed a lot of things, including what watches I reach for. For the last couple of years, I have almost exclusively worn a G-Shock, my Ray Mears 2, the Seiko Arnie 2 or a £150 "Poor Man's GS." All the posh watches and mechanicals have been neglected. The same with my three Vostoks, which since the invasion I do not feel like wearing. I'm really happy with the quartz and digis.

I completely agree re. the Vostoks. I sold mine pretty much straight away, not to make a moral stand or something like that, it was just that they brought me no joy to wear.