Official Watch Collecter?

Collector is a negative word that speaks more about the unhealthy buying addiction part of the hobby than a genuine interest. I prefer the term watch enthusiast. You don't need to own 19 watches in a box to be passionate and knowledgeable about watches. That's a ludicrous statement.

There are collectors, who just accumulate 'objects' without really being interested or even enthusiastic about watches.

At the same time, there are enthusiasts who are extremely familiar with different brands, models, eras and styles and who may only have one or very few watches of their own.

And then there are the others, who love the mix. 🎯

I like to split people up a little bit like this.Thisbis just from what I have seen working in the watch world.

Muggle (no interest in watches )

Consumer (buys things they like or just has 1-3 watches they wear, has some knowledge of watches, may have inherited a watch from a higher end brand but they usually wear Tag, Tudor,Citizen or Oris)

Hobbiest ( Can have a collection of about 1-10 watches with some higher value pecies, watches a few YouTube watch channels and is proberbly familiar with the term "beater" and "grail". They usually have basic to intermediate knowledge of one brand and will gravitate towards brands like GS , omega Rolex and breitling.

Enthusiast ( has intermediate knowledge of either one or several brands , has a collection of watches that can be large and brand specific or small with varies brands, they tend to own at least one luxury watch)

Watch goblin

(Lurks and every forum, reads all the news and posts , endlessly thinks about curating there collection , what they will be purchasing next, what new innovations will be arriving. They normally have expert level knowledge of one or several brands , own multiple luxury watches and normally work in the industry)

I don't belong to any of those categories. I have more than 100 watches, but no luxury watches among them. I do own an Omega, but (i) it was a gift, (ii) it's vintage and worth less than £1000, so not truly luxury. There are others like me on WC, e.g. I doubt Casiodean owns a single luxury watch. Of course, luxury is relative, and if you set the border to luxury at £200 then...

I have watches but consider myself a fan, not a collector. I think collecting, and being a "collector" is more a mindset rather than the number of things you own.

Fairs , I mean you can't always catagorize everyone of course, the above is just generally what I have found so far.

My friend and occasional lawyer is an enthusiast, showed off his Rolex Pepsi which his father assisted in sourcing after he was called to the bar when we first met sometime in the 80s. When we meet either socially or on business we will spend a few pleasant moments chatting about watches. He told me that on one occasion he was out shopping for shoes with his wife when they were helped by a young man who didn’t even wear a watch but knew the history of Rolex watches and the different models that were important to collectors or enthusiasts in the watch community. Not odd, I have met many war historians who will never pick up a weopon.

You’re not a collector until you think about watches more than you wear them.