The psychology of watch collecting

That is not an either/or, it is a scale or spectrum (assuming that you meant "hobby").

When I have the £££ it's a hobby, when I don't it's a sickness! 😛

I think the hobby is a strange and unique one compared to collecting cards or fandom (i.e. tv shows or films) paraphernalia etc. since watches are something you wear and can be a very personal/identifying sort of thing. It can be an extension of our likes/dislikes/personal aesthetics + might say something extra about our other interests (history, space, cars etc etc). I think for me it's a hobby in that it's not just about buying something that fits my style, but I'm also interested in history, the mechanics, the art, and I want to support a tradition greater than myself. It's also a way of really just diving deep into an obsession but in a very intentional and curated way . . . and it's one of the very few hobbies (esp. one reliant on a fair amount of $ no matter how you collect) that pull together people from a very very diverse demographic from the everyday working 9-5 person to the uber wealthy . . . look, we're not going to bring about world peace here, but I do think it's cool that we can, for the most part, leave our differences behind for a little while and find common ground and even joy with an object.

If you Google why people (particularly men) collect watches you'll find a bunch of new age mumbo jumbo crap about middle aged and older men trying to buy time and trying to buy immortality by passing down something. Maybe there is some truth to that for some, but I kind of want to throw up when I read that reasoning haha . . . then again, I sounded like a hippie toward the end of that first paragraph, so . . .

I like the term, “Passionate”… sounds sexier than sickeness 😉

Yes.

I suppose you would say hobby in my case. A rather expensive hobby but a hobby none the less. To be obsessive/sickness, it would have to be all I droll about and that certainly isn't the case.

But why? I really can't identify a singular cause. I do know I have loved watches all my life and it has just gotten worse as I have aged. 😂

A sickening hobby. 😜

It’s a fun hobby with a nice community.

I think what I like about what I loosely call my 'collection' is that it's diverse, I like it and that, to me is all that matters.

In addition, it's really cool that we all have our own tastes and budgets but share the same love of watches even though no two collections are the same. Some people have tens of Casio and reasonably priced items and others have tens of thousands of pounds worth in their collection but I've noticed in here that there is no snobbery or major flexing and I like that about this place.

Completely madness! 🤤🥳🤑😭

I went to a technical high school for precision machining/ metal manufacturing up in CT. I’ve always had a thing for small pieces, building, tinkering & overall unnecessary tolerances for working components. Once I came across automatic watches, how they’re made & how they function, it was a wrap. My wallet never stood a chance. Hobby & borderline sickness.

it's a sick hobby to turn away from stupid stuff that happends all day long... i guess. and it goes pretty well with the interest on mechanical things.

Not sure… some ppl chase after air Jordan’s, ladies go for hand bags, cars, red wines etc…

For me, I genuinely appreciate the craftsmanships on timepieces. Every time I look down onto my wrist I stare at the watch I’m wearing for a period of time… I look at the dial, I look at the seconds hand movement, I look at the overall proportions of the watch in relation to my wrist… I don’t know… I’m also a drummer… each time I sit behind the drum set I look at the drums and the finishes of the shells etc… similar thing I do with watches. Same with when I’m holding a cigar. I guess I just appreciate the workmanship of things in general? 🤷🏻 but I’m leaning more towards being a sickness 😂

It depends hugely on how one collects. You see people who just buy anything and everything, seemingly so they can make SOTC pictures or videos and say, "Look! I have stuff!" and you wonder how often some of their watches get worn, if at all. There literally aren't enough days in the month to rotate some collections. Conversely, you see people with loads of watches, but they've collected in a more purposeful fashion, for example, they only collect G-Shocks, and the fact they don't wear all of them all that often doesn't bother them at all, because they're collecting 'the object' as a pop culture sort of icon, more so than watches to wear. So there's two examples of people buying tons of stuff, and completely different reasons for it. Then, of course, you have people who might only have half-a-dozen watches, and some sniffily query whether that's even 'a collection', yet they have a purpose for each watch, and all the watches get worn regularly. That seems more of a hobby, to my mind. Whereas the people buying anything and everything, and not even really knowing why they bought certain watches sometimes, is more of a sickness for sure.

Hobby

Sickness

Love for art

Can’t wear jewelry so watches

Mid life crisis

Flex

Crazy part of the brain activated

All of the above ☝️

Absolutely

A little bit of both for me. It started as a hobby... but my collection has grown to sickness level. Thanks Covid! At least I'm aware of the problem and trying to remedy it.

The answer is Yes. The only cure is to buy more watches.

My time was never really valuable to me until I had children in my mid 30's. I stopped wearing a watch when I was 17. I was never a professional anything. But now that I'm a father time just flies by, trying to slow it down and keep track of it is definitely one of the reasons I started this obsession.

I also think we were all a bit depressed from the way this decade kicked off. The watches were a welcome distraction and confidence booster for the past year or so.

They say Passionate is one step short of crazy..

I'm building a stable of ten. Then that's it.

No collecting, no hobby, and no sickness.

"Seiko" is Japanese for "Psycho".

Feeling pretty sick!

its a disease you can't cure it just ease the pain by buying watches regularly😂

Happy that I got into this watch hobby almost two years and been maturing. Replacing bad habits with good.

It’s totally a sickness. I know, I’ve been in it some 30 years now. There are years that go by and I don’t buy anything but then when I do, look out!

" . . . older men trying to buy time and trying to buy immortality" If men were trying to buy immortality, why would they collect objects that they can see literally tick their lives away? And you can buy time. The rotor on my little Seiko 5 says "Seiko Time Corp." So there. Also, my Seiko 5 has a 7s26 movement. Wear this watch on your wrist for a week and your life will gain about an hour.

But take all this with a grain of salt. Like my little Seiko 5 with its horrendous power reserve that's always running down, I am only right two times a day.

Good stuff. That's great.

Some people have addictions. I might be one of them 😬

Seikopath