The watch that got you into this hobby? And do you still have it

I've still got my first real watch.  It was a Swiss Army quartz field watch that my grandmother gave me when I was in high school back in the early 90s.  I'll post a pic when I get home.

I've been wearing watches my whole life. Like literally every day since I was a teenager, which is about 35 years now. 

But I didn't get into the "hobby", until very recently. It started with my first mechanical watch which I bought in 2016, the Seiko 5 Sea Urchin. I still have that watch today and I don't think I will part with it unless it just stops working for some reason. It's too cheap a watch to justify getting it serviced. 

In 2020, I really dove into the hobby by moving into the luxury segment by getting an Oris (2020) and then an Omega (2021). I've settled down on acquisitions since then, but that Seiko is what really started to fascinate me, which is why I think Seiko 5's have an open case back for such affordable watches. They suck you in.

That will be interesting to see.  I have my grandfathers tudor prince watch.  It reminds me of him when I put it on 

They defiently suck you in.  I am fortunate to have an amazing collection of luxury to haute horology time pieces, but I have also an appreciation and massive collection of Seikos.  I love them. 

Oris and Omega are fabulous brands when getting into the luxury watch segment.  Good choice that you can't go wrong with.

When I was in the 7th grade, I went on a school function to the local university where I found the case of a Seiko Sportsmatic 5 in the parking lot between two cars. I didn't know much about watches at all and did not have a watch, and I didn't know anything about this Seiko. 

I found a bracelet at a shop in the local mall and then ordered a replacement crystal for it. It looked pretty good. 

I took it into the water in the mid 1990's and it does not have a screw down crown - you guessed it - I got water inside the case and damaged the watch. It sat in my bathroom drawer for years until I met a jeweler down on the Texas coast who agreed to take a crack at repairing/refurbishing it. His store was damaged in Hurricane Harvey in 2017 and in the efforts to recover any salvageable contents of his store, he misplaced the watch. He had since moved twice more and that left me with a heavy feeling that the watch was indeed gone. 

This summer I met with him and he agreed to let me look through some of his stuff that had been packed away, he said he thought he had seen that watch so he was confident he still had it. We found it! I took it to my local watch shop and they got it rebuilt and refreshed! 

I am happy to have my first watch back on my wrist and among the 11 other watches that make up its little family of my collection. It is my oldest possession and brings me joy to wear it!

That's an amazing story about your first watch.  This is what watch collecting is about.  Thank you for sharing this. Amazing 

I just updated the post with a photo of it, forgot to include it earlier. Thanks, indeed this watch got me into the whole reason why many of us are on WatchCrunch! It is a great hobby! (addiction maybe?)

My early watch history is lost in the mist of time. I had a watch, because I needed a watch, cannot remember anything about it, except for being allergic to some metals in cases/buckles/bracelets.

The oldest (-bought) watch I still own is a Casio Wave Ceptor - I had completely forgotten about till I found it one day in a drawer, with a dead battery and its silicon strap falling apart. I had even forgotten that it was radio-controlled.

The first watch that left an impression on me, as in: I felt I bought a really good watch when buying it in the store, and never changing my mind about it later was the Lorus titanium fieldwatch. I still own it, in fact I own two copies of it. But that did not turn me to watch collecting, though it turned me to fieldwatches whenever I felt I needed a new one.

My watchhobby baptism happend middish 2021, when I saw some youtube video on some AliExpress watch. The watch in question did not even tickle my fancy at all (it probably was one of those Rolex homages), but I was intrigued what the site had to offer, so I had a look, a really good look.  What it had to offer were a lot of watches that interested me, at prices I could afford. In particular, I wanted a B-type flieger, and so I bought (after a lot of contemplation) a Corgeut flieger for £58, almost exactly a year ago. Two weeks later the thing arrived, and I was unhappy about the hands, and even more unhappy with myself not spotting the issue on the listing (where it was plain to see). On the same day, I think, I bought myself a proper upgrade, a Hruoadland flieger for £147, and added for good measure at the same time a super-cheap quartz. The quartz turned out to be crap, the Hruodland was great though, and I was off and running...

Thanks for sharing.  You can't beat a casio for reliability and longevity.  I have a couple that are 30 years old but what I find is that the plastic it is made seems to perish in time.  Especially around the strap area.  However, there are plently of online companies that sell parts and replacements. 

I always had a Timex Ironman on through middle and high school. When I graduated from high school, I got some money from my grandparents and they told me I had to spend it on a gift. I obsessed for over a month on what to get and then I got this Wenger Commando 70845. Too big for my taste now but it was the perfect watch for me at the time. I still think the design is pretty neat with the 12 hour bicompax chronograph, big date, and internal bezel for the second time zone. I did sell it maybe 6 years later. I’m happy I had that one and that I came across it on my own. I channel my grandparents through other watches for other reasons now, so I don’t regret letting it go.

I've worn a watch for as long as I can remember, but didn't become interested in watches until relatively recently. 

My interest was sparked after purchasing a "Slow" watch in 2016, a single handed quartz watch with a 24 hour display. I was really intrigued with the way that this representation of time made me look upon time differently. It also got me interested in learning more about what other type of watches might be out there, so I started doing more and more research, and started becoming more and more interested in watches.

In the beginning, I had no interest in building a collection, but I did want to get one nice traditional mechanical watch, and ended up buying an OP36 with a silver dial in October 2018. Back then, I was able to just walk into the AD, pick out the watch, negotiate a small 5% discount, and walk out with the watch on my wrist.  I thought I was crazy for spending so much money on a watch, but I absolutely loved it. I found myself constantly looking down at my wrist and smiling.  By this time, I had developed a strong enough interest in watches that I decided to join a local watch enthusiasts group. That helped fuel my passion, and now, 4 years later, my collection has grown considerably.

Like this?

Inheriting my dad's watch is what got me hooked. I've worn other watches on and off over the years but the moment I put this on was the first time a watch really grabbed my attention. 

It was a connection to my dad and a link to his past.  

It's good that you can associate that brand to your grand parents even if ypu don't possess the watch anymore.  Thanks for sharing.  Very interesting 

For me it was a conscious decision to swap my fitness bracelet by Xiaomi as I noticed that I only use it for checking the time and completely abandon all the other functions. So I started looking into the watch world. And I am a nerd. Whatever I am buying (headphones, backpack, sofa, PC, cellphone or a pair of trainers) I always make a comprehensive research with tables, ratings, categories and marks for every option. So that happened here too. I had a very strict limit of 200$. My first list of options for a watch now looks absolutely ridiculous. A 46 mm MVMT black and blue chronograph, 44 mm titanium Momentum watch, Vostok Amfibia (with an F)  Scuba (not a Scuba-Dude), Sturhling Original (ironically), Traser P-59 and Orient Ray Raven II PVD version. Then I started digging deeper and I'm so glad I did. I learned about sizes, glass materials and scratched the surface of knowledge base about movements. So from all the watches I originally aspired I've been left with Orient Ray Raven II. I went to a local store where they sold those for ridiculous price of 350$ and I tried that on to understand if it would fit my relatively skinny wrist. At that moment I understood that I'm a watch guy. Those store lightings, smiling assistant, the watch with unsized bracelet that plays in the light. I didn't buy it. I went home and made a new list of options. Seiko 5 Sports SNZG15, Escapement Time Dial B, Casio Edifice with sapphire crystal (noticed and tried on at the store), Vostok Amphibia 420007 (the smallest case), Orient bambino. In the battle where the main principle was value for money I ended up with an Escapement Time Dial B Flieger. Yes, I still have that and I still wear that. That watch taught me a lot. For example that 42 mm diver with a bezel and 42mm flieger without a distinguished bezel look drastically different on my wrist. But the finishing, cold sapphire, smooth crown and fantastic lume together with 300 meters of water resistance (yeap, for a pilot watch) sold it to me. I can fit it, but it is slightly big. Vostok was very cheap so I bought that as well 5 days after getting a Flieger. And this never stopped after.

My granddad had a CYMA so I have a few vintage pieces. My dad is born in 1949, so for his birthday this year I brought him a birth year CYMA.  

I've always liked watches. My first was a stupidly cheap digital Batman watch when I was 5 or 6 with glow in the dark batsigns on the straps that I chewed on.... Anyway... Of course I don't have that.

So what got me INTO collecting was probably a Pulsar chronograph that I bought in 2011. Still got that one. Then I got a Timex Expedition Scout as an everyday. Anyhoo...I could do a video with a story behind all my watches. That's all for now...

That is awesome 👏!!

I've been into watches since I received my first one (also a mechanical Timex) as a gift back in the dream time (over 50 years ago). Since then, I've had many watches but it wasn't until I bought my first Omega (Speedmaster Professional) that I was bit by the collecting bug - hard. Now I've got a very nice collection that I enjoy very much.

My first watch was from the now defunct airline Aeromexico. It was made by Swatch very likely as it says "Swiss Made" and has all the makings of the brand. Not to mention a neat feature where the dial goes from light to dark every 30sec as the airplane second marker turns. I did not get into collecting watches until decades later, but when my mom gave me this watch back, which she had saved for literally 20 years, I was reminded of how cool I thought watches were back then. So now I am a 5 year old all over, but this time I have money to spend...

That's is indeed a very cool watch 

First wife's present to me in 1973.  Seiko 6106. In the safe. Still runs. 

I always wore watches, because this is what members of my generation did. However I'm a serious TechHead and grew very interested by wearable technology to the point that I was one of the earliest KS backers of the pebble, which was the first  real smartwatch . This led me to dismiss watches for years until I decided that nobody is paying me enough to allow a gadget to intrude in my life 24/7/365 and so I ditched my last smartwatch.

I had to have a watch, because that's what I'm used to, so I went and got myself a DW-5600E. I was familiar with G-Shocks from my military service and knew that it was exactly what I needed: Basic, sturdy, un-noticeable. From there I rediscovered the watches that languished in my drawer and revived my interest in wristwatches. 

While it was replaced by a more modern U module GW-M5610 I still keep the DW-5600E in the car's glove box as an emergency watch.

I wore a Casio Rangeman for 7 years 24/7. And have had many others over the years. I was always content having just one watch at a time. But I would wear them to Death! Then my my mother gave me a box of my great grandfathers Navajo silver jewelry. Included was an amazing Handmade Navajo silver watch bracelet with an incredibly well done clasp. So I took it to a local watch shop (now my watchmaker) to find a watch for it. 

I just wanted something simple with a black dial and this is what I ended up with.

Not long after that, I started rationalizing I needed a good looking watch that I could wear everyday other than my Casio G-shock Rangeman "Hank the Tank"

That's when I discovered Seiko Turtles and down the rabbit hole I went. I'm currently at 39 watches

I was once a One watch guy. I had Covid 19 my watch battery died out felt bad and bum out. I started looking at watch batteries on youtube few watches got my attention got my next one and found out I just could not be happy having just one watch. I had three total fast forward now ended up with 18 grand total and thats where I stand for now.

Before this sleeve crunching bad boy I used to have 1 watch, usually a sub 20 buck casio (which spoiled me from the start). Theoretically I could've stopped at this one, why do I need another watch? But then I got some other 60 buck watch, but I didn't dig it that much, so I got another G Shock because i wanted a more fun watch than that serious GD-120MB, and so on. 

I am wearing watches since my childhood, however the turning point for me was a Swatch Cadmos. After a music festival which I was in organisation team, our field crew have found this heavily damaged Cadmos and handed to me. After searching for the owner for a long time and being unsuccessful, it rested on my drawer one more year. After that, I decided to restore it and handed it to Swatch store for movement and glass replacement. Also changed the ruined bracelet with a plastic strap. In total, it costed me nearly a new Swatch Irony watch, however I somehow liked the idea of giving a second life to a lost watch. 

I was not into watchmaking, neither had the watch repair tools nor any knowledge at that time. But after reviving that watch, my collecting and watchmaking hobby slowly started to evolve. 

I still use it time to time, even with the original case scratches from that hundreds-of-people-partying-on-me day. 😂 

I was obsessed with He-Man - Masters of the Universe as a kid so my first real watch was this guy:

Unfortunately, I no longer own this watch, but I have looked to pick it up on eBay from time to time.

I loved that cartoon too along with dungeons & dragons.  

I grew up checking the ADs with my family.  It was #2 behind car shopping as our 80s yuppie activity.  😎

I smashed/lost my way through a pile of Ironmans and Freestyle Sharks in my late teens and twenties.

In 2002 or so I got access to the internet, quickly discovered DOXA and Sinn, and here we are...