What’s the best watch collecting advice you’ve heard?

Have a budget, By what you like.

Buy what you can afford, don’t get into debt for a hobby. Also, wear what you’re not afraid to damage or lose. Wearing a watch shouldn’t be stressful.

Buy a watch. 🤔🤪😎

But seriously start somewhere. This comes up numerous times amongst my peers, they say "Man I'd like a nice ______-style watch. You have any ideas?"

I give them some......four months later they still only have their apple watch.

Best advice I heard is from @IceCreamMan , and I'm paraphrasing here, but basically, "...instead of constantly buying watches, concentrate on enjoying the ones you already have."

That's great advice that I think about when considering a new purchase. It helps to mitigate my "problem." 😂

Thanks Adam! 🍻

Don't buy expensive from the outset, your tastes will change and you might have an expensive mistake.

Don't buy too many shiny things too quickly, take time to enjoy each one as they arrive and use the time to learn more about what's out there.

I was chatting with @Porthole about buying a watch and he said: "Why the f*****g f*** would you buy that v****, it looks like some little c*** s***out some sort of m****-covered f***** *****. I might try another strap."

My grandmother used to say something similar about girls I was dating.

Buy what you love and what is within your means. Don't follow the herd, never buy to impress, and never let anyone judge your choices (and don't judge the choices of others).

One person also reminded me once - "if Mark Whalberg can wear and Rolex or Patek, then switch into his Timex Ironman, then everyone can. Noone is too good for an affordable."

I truly hate to keep tipping my hat to Gory Joodman, but he is right here.

Why do people need help spending their own money? If you like it, buy it.

Some very good advice there, but.....

I honestly believe if you have the disposable money there for an expensive purchase always buy a cheap homage first, for £100/£200 this will give you a better idea if you definitely want to drop £10,000+ on a watch.

If time is really meant to be precious, why don’t you count your time with a great time piece ?

just as a reminder to treat each second as a gift from God…

Here goes - opinionated and subjective:

Work out what you actually like and don't feel obliged to buy one "representative" of each watch style (a diver, a dress watch, a GADA, a chrono, a flieger, a field etc). It took me a while to realise I don't really like divers, fliegers, field or stainless steel sports watches even though they are all currently very much in vogue.

Specifications matter a lot less than how a watch looks and feels. I don't care about whether a watch has hacking seconds or mineral crystal or not. I just want it to look great on my wrist to put a smile on my face.

Avoid hype watches - there's subconscious pressure to buy the same watches which everyone is constantly posting online, but in my experience I get less enjoyment from them and wearing them starts to feel hollow in a way that something more unusual doesn't.

Don't be afraid to sell stuff if you decide you don't like it. Especially modern stuff as supply is abundant and it's alway possible to buy again if you really regret it.

Personally I buy everything used because it's almost always cheaper but you do need to know your stuff to avoid being scammed.

Avoid in-house movements. They are less well-proven designs than ETA/Sellita/Seiko/Miyota, more expensive to service and future parts availability is very uncertain. Very few of them are in any way "superior" or "more innovative" to workhorse products from the big manufacturers. They're mostly an exercise in brands of reinventing the wheel, claiming the movements are "special" and "exclusive" in their marketing and charging more.

In the grand scheme of things, with watches priced over $100-200 diminishing returns set in really rapidly. You can get great examples of pretty much every watch style for that money. Over that you're paying for branding (a LOT - those marketing budgets and brand ambassadors aren't going to pay for themselves!), customer service/warranty, slightly nicer finishing and slightly less inaccurate mechanical movements.

Also worth remembering that the price of a watch has surprisingly little to do with the cost of producing it - it's very old technology, made on highly automated production lines and essentially commoditised. E.g. The dominant Swiss automatic movement family is based on ETA designs from the 50s. The dominant chrono family, the 7750, is from the 70s.

Collect what you like. Simple

Find your style. I went from sports watches to vintage dress watches. I went from 42mm sizes to 31,5. Do I regret dropping money on my Casio Edifice or Casio Outgear Fishing Gear watch? No. I still love them.

These silly timekeeping things are like progeny in a way. I know all of them are flawed and a third of them don't even work properly, but it's fine, because I still get that warm, fizzy feeling thinking about and wearing them.

1. Buy what you like, not what other people say is cool.

2. Best doesn’t mean expensive.

Never heard any but learned, not soon enough, don’t be in a hurry to buy or sell or you’ll end up with regrets.

You're buying a watch, not a spec sheet.

I’m the one who said that

Nobody told me this but after collecting watches for the last 5 years and buying and selling so many watches because I bought them randomly just because they were good deals but fell out of love after a while. then, I thought really hard about what is my "collecting philosophy".

I realised that even though I really loved some watches they didn't get real wrist time because they didn't go with my lifestyle or outfits.

I think having a "collecting philosophy" is really important as a collector. Now I only buy watches if I don't have another one like that considering my lifestyle and fashion needs.

I don't want to go down the fashion watch path because I no they are garbage but I am more fashion conscious with the watches that worth spending money on.

Also, I have a "wish list". If a particular watch is not on my wish list after 3 months I consider it as a "Crush" but not real "Love". That way I take my time considering a watch and I only buy the watch if I am in love and also goes with my lifestyle and fashion needs.

Finally I have allocated a monthly budget for watches. This budget goes towards a savings account for the next purchase. (of course,The number one!... on my wish list)

it helps me not to waste money and keep the fire alive for this hobby without getting burned.

Currently, I only have one rule - Do not buy above retail price.

“….don’t, just f***ing don’t” 😝😂🤙

Buy what you wear,

Wear what you buy

Take your time, research and take your time again when buying a watch - never act on an impulse. Especially if the watch is expensive.

Forums just make you FOMO

Buy ONLY what you like - and ignore watch "advice." 😀😉

If a piece speaks to you, then it's right for you. Others may hate it. Others may deride it. Others may tell you such-n-such is a better choice. But, at the end of the day, you'll be looking at it on your wrist - and if it makes YOU smile, you made the absolute right choice.

For instance....many regale the Royal Oak. I think it's fugly! 😮😀 I wouldn't buy it and wear it if it was a $100 watch! Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I buy and wear watches I like - not to impress anyone else.

So my best advice is to IGNORE the advice of others.

Dont go broke buying a watch

You got us in your last line 🫡

That’s all very well but what if the wish list has reached 10 watches and growing…If I had the money to buy one now (they are all similar prices) I wouldn’t know where to start

I play a game before buying a watch where I ask myself what watch I want next immediately upon making the purchase. If I can think of another quickly, I know not to purchase this watch right away, but to instead consider which one I want more. If I can’t think of a next watch, the finances are straight, and I have the wife’s blessing, I pull the trigger on purchasing that first one.

Dont settle for anything less than what you want. There.