Does your collection have a theme?
I starting thinking about themes the other day after watching @Pete_NSOW 's April 16 video (link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6B8JVhgMeQ ). In this video Pete discussed whether you can have a "bad" collection, allowing for the existence of "good" collections. Bull fighting was discussed. Hemingway was discussed. (Nabokov once said of Hemingway: "I read him for the first time in the early 40s, something about bells, balls and bulls, and loathed it." I am with Vlad on this.) The most remarkable thing about this video is that no specific watch was discussed or displayed. I highly recommend the video.
Let me just say that I believe that there are "bad" collections and that I may have one. When I see collections posted here and elsewhere I am reminded that my taste is not universal. I will not call out a bad collection because I have reflexive manners that prevent this. But, what lurks beyond mere instinct to like or dislike a collection?
Well, a theme of course. When I teach trial tactics (as I do from time to time) I try to instill in new trial attorneys the importance of thinking of their cases not merely as a collection of facts. These facts, and inferences from facts or lack of facts, must be organized into a theme. Juries will latch on to a theme and carry the weight for you. Some themes are of the off the shelf variety ("shoddy police investigation") others have to be crafted from the facts at hand.
All of us have collections of watches or dreams of collections of watches. What is the guiding principle behind your acquisitions? Have you given it any thought? (See watch, buy watch.) Some people want to impress with wealth or status. Some want to collect things that have family connections or meaning. Some genuinely dive or have other active pursuits that shape their collection.
I spent many years in New Orleans and the Botanical Garden there is one of my favorite places on earth. Throughout the garden are the works of sculptor Enrique Alferez:
His works were made possible by the WPA, the Work Progress Administration, a Depression era jobs program. Many American cities were transformed by the WPA. That program built courthouses and public buildings, but also preserved oral histories and cultural traditions that were disappearing in the 1930's. The book in the picture above details the coastal communities that were losing their traditions and modernizing. It was published by the WPA.
Collecting vintage is about preserving what is being lost. I studied ancient history in college and so a backward facing collection is not any sort of revelation. But Pete's video made me look at my watches as a collection, rather than just piece by piece. What does it say that I have at least one vintage Raketa, Slava, Chaika, Start, Neva, Zim, Podeba, Ruhla, HMT, Dongfeng, and Prim. All of these watches were produced in countries that were unfree, socially and economically, and could not produce luxury watches. My Seikos were not top of the line. My Hamilton was meant to be a post-war high school graduation gift. I have a working man's collection. I am a proletariat watch collector. I have always had a soft spot for America's quasi-socialist experiment, the WPA, and it is reflected in my watches.
Take a long look: does your collection have a theme?
Restitutor Orbis. Aristocrat of beauty. Autocrat of time. (Trying to perfect trolling over at theescapementroom.com)
I'm going for a thrifty theme with weird watches and frankenwatches. I've raised a family with the main plan of not spending much on myself and the habit is hard to break.
I think I understand what you're getting at, and I'm pretty sure I don't have a theme beyond "cheap", I may get into a theme when I start earning more and have a little disposable income 😉
My collection does have a theme! The theme is: "This is what a middle-aged father of two, with a growing gut, bad back, and too much time on his hands, collects when he's in-between reading comic books and cleaning up dog urine and feces off the hardwood floors, because these god&^%$ puppies refuse to be house trained!"
My collection follows a strict farrago theme.
I don’t consider myself a collector. My dad was a true collector. He collected and restored old Accutrons, along with mechanical clocks. I’m just an enthusiast, and a very amateur one at that. A love for the practicality of Swiss Army Knives, combined with a fascination for mechanical movements, lead me one day to a Victorinox Chronograph with a 7750 movement.
Excluding the quartz pieces I still own, enjoy, and wear, since they are more time appliances than a passion for me, I have the aforementioned Victorinox, an Oris BCPD, an Omega SMP, and a Rolex Explorer. I have my grandfather’s old Bulova Galahad. (Nice watch, but he was not a nice guy. That’s what slows me down in restoring it.)
My dad was a great guy. Once day, I hope to have one of my dad’s Accutron Astronauts. He had a lot of Accutrons, but those are the ones most special to me. He loved the space program and worked on designing things for it as an engineer. He taught me to love space and exploration and the world around me.
My watches are each “me.” None of them carry a theme, though. My watches represent a set of disjointed personal interests, all of which make me smile. There’s some exploration there. Some practicality. A sense of work and preparedness. No theme, though. And I feel both less and more for that.
Catullus 85, dude. Catullus 85.
I have to admit that my "collection" doesn't really have a theme, and as such I tend to think of it as more of an accumulation than a collection. But the term "watch accumulator" just doesn't have the same "je ne sais quoi" as watch collector" 😀. My accumallection basically includes watches that make me happy, so I suppose that might be considered the theme.
I watched Pete's video. He's one of my favorite You Tubers since his videos always make me think. I disagree with a lot of what he has to say, but I really appreciate the way he backs up his reasoning and opinions. He's caused me to rethink a lot of things.
Right now my collection says I like things I make or repair with my own two hands and 75% of my watches are just that. Knowing the object on my wrist is something I physically had a hand in creating brings me a lot of pleasure. Theme holds true with a lot of things in our house.
My father was a craftsman (wood worker) and I definitely got his genes in me. Not sure how I ended up being a IT Manager but I guess in a way we are making things there to, just less physically tangible.
Theme? Each box or roll has a theme. The overall vibe is chaos.
Some excellent points and comments. After watching my fellow Australian watch enthusiasts, Peter I will have to set aside some time to reflect on my own collection and see if there’s a theme, if any. I think as a working man, who’s spent the last 20 odd years keeping the train’s running by applying my knowledge of track maintenance, my collecting follows that theme. The watch must be practable and have a tool like appearance, I’ve no need for dress watches as I’m either at work or home taking care of my children. But never say never as my retirement is not far in the future so there will come a point were a more dressy piece would be more applicable to my life style, sipping a fine wine and smoking my favourite cigars with a beautiful Omega adorned on my old and wrinkly wrist.
Definitely some food for thought and a bit of sole searching into what I really want in my collection moving forward 🤔
Just watched the video and I found it fascinating. I started a thread recently asking how people used their collections expecting a large variety of different answers, which I got, but most centered on how people buy watches to wear and make their decisions based on their needs and whats missing from their collections (which is exactly what I do). Pete seems to consider watch collecting as artwork, which I find really interesting and wonder when I see some of the more established collections if more people aren’t doing the same with how they make purchase choices and display them.
Anyway I don’t feel like I have a theme yet as I don’t have many watches and try to have different pieces.
I don’t really have a theme. I just buy what I think looks nice or something that would complement the look I’m trying to go for. I do tend to like casual/everyday watches so I have a few field watches and some dive watches.
Nope, I only have 4 watches including 2 heirloom pieces. I do, however, collect some European comic books. This is much easier since you simply collect by series and issue number 😂
This is a cool post, I don’t feel my collection has a theme I wouldn’t like to just pigeon hole my collection when I buy a watch I do it cause the enjoyment it will bring and that could be anything from a Casio F91 to a Rolex Daytona, I think the most important thing when collecting is collect what you like and what makes you happy, dont try to conform to a group or buy to impress others
Great post! Since you put so much effort in it I will try to do the same with my answer.
I gave my input to Pete when he asked for it regarding good vs bad collection. Since SOTC videos is a favorit segment of mine on Youtube I did have had some thinking of what I liked, or not liked, about them. As always with Petes question it makes you think. In this case, as for you, I started to reflect on my own collection. Do I have one? Of course I have. So what is it? Well..?
I don’t see myself as a collector with the definition I use myself. I you have a defined topic like Dirty dozen or collect every pre-chemaric Submariner then you are a collector. I’m not in that camp. Reading the reply from @roberto I think I’m a curator. Over time I found watches I liked due to it’s pure beaty. Some of them I found so nice so I started to dig deeper. Comparing variations etc. Finally I bought some. Over the years The collection reached close to 30 watches.
Basically I have two collections. One is a ”modern” cluster of watches. I have not a clue what they represent. It’s just a bunch of watches which I like. Divers, chronos, field and dress. No pattern to be found.
Finally I have a vintage selection. It’s there my passion lies. I thought I collected Omegas from the 60s. I like Omega, my childhood were in the 60s and Mad Men revived that era. But when I look at my vintage watches I have found the scope a bit different. It’ not only Omegas and 60s is not the only time period. My collection consist of dressier (not dress) Swiss watches from 50s to early 70s based on nothing else but my prefered design. That makes me happy!
Quite an open spec. With a few exception I don’t have a story to tell about my watches. Instead I look at the collection from a holistic perspective and think they represent me growing up. Heritage from the culture, the socioeconomics, the family I was influenced by from childhood to growing up. So in short, I collect me👍
Wonderfully written post to which my response will be woefully inadequate. I posted my collection yesterday and I think it's fair to say the only theme is that there probably is no theme. Not sure too many Seikos counts as a theme
Thank you all for your thoughtful responses (and for @Omeganut 's too). I could do that thing where I respond to each comment, but that gets tedious. Let me take one theme from the responses (see what I did there?) and expound a bit. Many of you said something to the effect of "I just buy cheap watches." Well, of course.
That was my realization as well. I have very few watches that would elicit envy. What could I say about them (and myself) that would seem interesting and not obscure the fact that I own many cheap and common pieces? I developed a theme, a story. I have convinced myself. I hope that I convinced you.
@Stephme , you have been worried about posting shots of homages, thinking that it would bring out the scolds (it might). Tell yourself a better story. You are just learning all of the various permutations of quality and function that watches can give you. Not all of us can fly to Paris on a whim. But many more of us can drive to Montreal for the weekend. Montreal isn't Paris, but it isn't shabby. The next time that you are on AliExpress looking for a San Martin and your significant other asks what you are doing, you can reply: "I am thinking of going to Montreal." That sounds a lot more interesting than watch shopping. (Sorry to the Australians, you may not drive to Montreal.)
"I buy what I like." And you have a nose on your face. Kind of obvious, right? Why do you like it? Did your grandfather like it? Did an actor wear it in a movie that you liked? What we buy and wear does say a little about who we think we are and what we want to project. As does wearing a cravat.
My love of Omega comes from my grandfather's watch, a Seamaster DeVille. I realized that in that dial Omega had created the perfect mid-century design piece. @WatchYourIntruder , you and I are roughly the same age. We are taking similar journeys. Yours is one of the collections that I enjoy because it is a display of taste, not wealth. Maybe we don't collect ourselves, but rather, each watch is a momentary avatar of our tastes and aspirations.
(Odds and bits: I read Forster's piece because you provided the link. It is difficult to bring the world at large into the world of watches. He (and you) try. Gibbon is how I learned about a certain Third Century Emperor. Seiko is the origin story of many a collection. Farrago is a great word. I will now be using it. I once inscribed a book to a girl using Catullus 5. She was not impressed but married me anyway.)
I see what you did there, buddy.
I see what you did there, buddy.
Are you going to report me?
Are you going to report me?
Not if you stick to fart jokes!
I think if you have a theme it is there to justify your watch collection in the eyes of others, and sometimes a means to curve your impulses and add random stuff.
I don't have a theme, and outside watchcrunch nobody knows that I have a watch collection. It's nobody's business. Like others here, I buy what I like and what I can easily afford. I mostly like watches with great legibilty, with some elegance of design, but I see no point of owning multiple copies of essentially the same design. [I own two identical Lorus's, but that predates the collection.] Instead I try to cover the whole design space of styles and complications that intrigue me. I would upgrade though, i.e. to a better version of a type of watch.
Put it another way: if you were to go on a job interview which would you choose to wear as your avatar? You might be tempted to wear the @Omeganut Timex, but it is an outlier. You would wear a Seiko. You would be telling a potential employer that you are punctual, frugal, and value thought and deliberation when making a decision. Boom! Instant theme. Tool watch is a description, like fluorescent bulb. It is what we acquire, not why we acquire.
Whoa there Mr Holmes. Next you'll be telling me how big my yard is based on the coal dust on my shirt collar. As I said, I'm not smart enough to give you an intelligent answer, but apparently you are
Whoa there Mr Holmes. Next you'll be telling me how big my yard is based on the coal dust on my shirt collar. As I said, I'm not smart enough to give you an intelligent answer, but apparently you are
You are right.
I'll try again.
The Hamilton Intramatic and the Nezumi Baleine diver are both contemporary watches with a vintage or retro design. That's certainly a theme because I do like classic elegance with a modern twist. It's also reflected in my wardrobe.
I collect European comic books because my mom used to read them to me in a blanket fort. Later, a flood destroyed the box with all the comics, so I started replacing them when I could and kept going from there.
I'm a completionist. Collecting is great, but it must be possible to complete the collection, at least in theory. Perhaps that's why I don't see the point in buying more watches.
I'll try again.
The Hamilton Intramatic and the Nezumi Baleine diver are both contemporary watches with a vintage or retro design. That's certainly a theme because I do like classic elegance with a modern twist. It's also reflected in my wardrobe.
I collect European comic books because my mom used to read them to me in a blanket fort. Later, a flood destroyed the box with all the comics, so I started replacing them when I could and kept going from there.
I'm a completionist. Collecting is great, but it must be possible to complete the collection, at least in theory. Perhaps that's why I don't see the point in buying more watches.
Yes, with watches the concept of completion does not exist in a meaningful way. If you collect comics, or stamps, or coins then there is often a distinctive "if I get this piece then this part of the collection is complete", which does not apply to watches, never mind that it also makes less sense. But the concept of a possible completion can be daunting, when the number of missing items is vast.
Besides, even at the very bottom end of the watch market that style of collecting is rather expensive. A complete collection of every watch Lorus ever made? Oh, boy!
So, when you collect watches, 19th century snuff boxes, teddy bears - these sort of collections have no sense of completeness, and it is up to you to stop the cancerous growth taking over your house.
Excellent thread! My collection comprises two sub-collections.
One (of approximately 20 pieces) attempts to adumbrate the recent history of watchmaking with an emphasis on movement innovations, beginning with an Elgin (where I was born) pocket-watch from 1910 and ending with a Grand Seiko SPGA431 and Accutron 2020 Spaceview:
The other (of approximately 6 pieces) attempts to express novel spatializations of time, as in the Louis Errard/atelier oi Excellence Le Régulateur:
The collection includes many inexpensive watches as well, including Casios and Swatches. I'm extremely grateful be able to explore this kind of beauty at this time of life, at this time of the world.
It does—thank for asking!
The watch is from 1963, whereas the bracelet is from a late-60's/early-70's Accutron.
Yes, it is based on my limited travels (Switzerland, Japan, France), my child (the blued seconds hand on GS, blue dial FXD), my significant other‘s fav season (sbga415: deep winter, FXD snowflake) and my lucky number: 22 (FXD MN22, Tank purchase date 22022022)
I’m still on the hunt for a Balkan/Macedonian made watch but l doubt its existence. Its the only country where I’ve travelled with no watch souvenir to remind me. I’ve also been to the UK, but its difficult to say yes to either Bremont, Mr Jones and Smiths
Weird I was thinking of this last night…weird premonition that you happen to repost this thread…weird…but yeah got me thinking where is my collection going and as well how is my collection speak for who I am…but as time goes on we change and we mature or not… and very weird for me to even comprehend to go back to maybe have 3-4 watches and that’s it…the more I have the more I want less…weird…
The theme for my collection was set when my grandmother gave me a Seiko in 5th grade. I've stayed away from anything Swiss, aside from vacations, employers and women.
I didn't watch the video yet and just looking at the other replies. I guess I'm a Timex/Peanuts collector. As a jaded 58 year old New Yorker, there is something about the innocence of Timex and Peanuts that still gives me hope!!
I have to admit that my "collection" doesn't really have a theme, and as such I tend to think of it as more of an accumulation than a collection. But the term "watch accumulator" just doesn't have the same "je ne sais quoi" as watch collector" 😀. My accumallection basically includes watches that make me happy, so I suppose that might be considered the theme.
I watched Pete's video. He's one of my favorite You Tubers since his videos always make me think. I disagree with a lot of what he has to say, but I really appreciate the way he backs up his reasoning and opinions. He's caused me to rethink a lot of things.
A very late reply to @tempus here but love your coined term here, “accumallection.” More of us fall into this boat than we care to admit. The question is why do we collect? Why do we accumulate? Maybe it‘s an attempt to reclaim our youth to remind us of loved ones or to fulfill some unspoken desire to own something precious, unique or mechanically mesmerizing.
I suppose the fascination can start anywhere. Mine began at 12years old working Saturdays at my family run clock/watch shop oiling antique mantel clocks, removing and letting out the mainsprings of old brass movements then running them through the cleaning solvents. Lots of sensory memories of the old clock shop on Main Street in Kansas City. I recall the humming, whirring and chimes of every quarter hour and on the hour combined with the smell of wood oil, dust and Windex. I won’t go on and on but I certainly have imprints on my adult self from those experiences.
Great post on collections @Aurelian — I agree that a watch collection or “accumallection” is a very personal thing. It’s a pleasure to hear different opinions on the subject. I respect the very deliberate and poised aficionado that delights in all the knowledge and only owns 1 piece just as I revere the painstaking hobbyist with the fortitude to chronicle watches of different eras attempting to collect each unique complication marking the progression of innovation over time.
I would say my acquisitions represent a non-deliberate collection turned accumulation made up of a handful of influential heirlooms handed down to me from my Grandfather and Father’s blue collar family run clock/watch business. The rest of my collection is a product of something I called “watch prospecting.” For a period of 4-5 years, I sought out every estate sale, garage sale and antique mall i could find. I gathered resources from Tiffany auctions and watchmakers’ literature to inform my pursuit for undervalued gems and vintage finds. Of course, I also explored my own growing fascination for affordable but mechanically sound modern timepieces. Plenty of impulse buys happened along the way too (happens to the best of us).
Great post and loving Watch Crunch! Cheers! ✨⏱✨