How Many Watches Are Too Many? What's Your Limit?

Now anybody who has read some of my posts will already know where I land on the answer to this question - as the famous joke goes when your significant other asks you "How many more watches do you need?" - Just One More!!

But really - what is the right size of a watch collection?

Is it bad to have watches that will only see one day a year on the wrist? Is that bad for the movement to get so little wrist time?

I truly have never sold a watch - I only end up giving them away to friends and family.

What are your thoughts? How do you manage your watch budget and the size of your collections?

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I will give the same answer I gave in response to an earlier post by @Ladarda13 asking this question; at least one more than I currently have in my collection. 😂 That will always be my answer to this question.

Seriously, I do gift watches out of my collection to friends and family on a regular basis, and I just collect what I like while staying within my budget.

I am not sure if I agree that a collection can ever be too big, but I collect lots of things besides watches, and I never think of those collections in terms of the "perfect" size or "too many." I just keep collecting as a hobby. Comic book collectors would never ask how many is too many, nor would gaming enthusiasts.

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When my wife starts asking with a serious face how much money I have tied up in something, watches or otherwise, I know the limit is near.

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AdrianR

When my wife starts asking with a serious face how much money I have tied up in something, watches or otherwise, I know the limit is near.

Luckily, my wife is a collector as well, so I get a lot of leeway. As long as the bills are paid, I am safe. 😉

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I noticed that are A LOT of posts related to how many watches each collector has, or asking what is the most "appropriate" amount of watches for a collection.

I think that they are valid questions but, IMHO what matters is how much I am spending each day I use my watches. In this case, having 30 watches that cost me "just" USD 500 but I only use them once a month is as good as having 8 watches that cost me USD 2000 each but I can rotate them 4 times a month. In both cases, the cost is around USD 42.00 per use/year.

I use this app called "Stylebook Men" from "left brain / right brain, LLC":

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/stylebook-men/id515126225

Here I can catalog my watches and how much they cost, I also can set which watch I am wearing each day, and using this info, the app keeps tracking of the cost per wear of each piece.

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thiago

I noticed that are A LOT of posts related to how many watches each collector has, or asking what is the most "appropriate" amount of watches for a collection.

I think that they are valid questions but, IMHO what matters is how much I am spending each day I use my watches. In this case, having 30 watches that cost me "just" USD 500 but I only use them once a month is as good as having 8 watches that cost me USD 2000 each but I can rotate them 4 times a month. In both cases, the cost is around USD 42.00 per use/year.

I use this app called "Stylebook Men" from "left brain / right brain, LLC":

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/stylebook-men/id515126225

Here I can catalog my watches and how much they cost, I also can set which watch I am wearing each day, and using this info, the app keeps tracking of the cost per wear of each piece.

Thanks for sharing - looks like a solid app. 

Totally agree with the math - my advice to new collectors is always the same - buy what you really want - if you can't afford it, then save up and wait for what you really want - don't buy substitutions. It's better to wait and get the extra marshmallow, then to eat the one in front of you.

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So many watches; not enough Time or Money!

I never sold a watch. I have a Average Collection.  (Until I posted the Omega "Bond" 300M.

Probably give a couple away. Yeah my wife doesn't understand. 

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There is a fine line between collecting and hoarding. If the thought of thinning out your "collection" causes you distress, you are hoarding. Get help. 

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biglove

There is a fine line between collecting and hoarding. If the thought of thinning out your "collection" causes you distress, you are hoarding. Get help. 

Excellent point - definitely not there yet.

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My limit's around the dozen mark. I think if you're buying sensibly, you will have covered every situation at least twice, playing with a dozen slots. Of course if you're someone who must own a certain G-Shock in every colour it was released in, this sort of concept goes out the window. But it you're thinking two or three great dive watches, two or three great sport watches, two or three great dress watches, two or three pilot watches, etc, you can get a hell of a nice collection that you'll never be bored with.

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Even if I only wear one for the rest of my life, seeing the 59 others in my home office is good enough for me.  I am at the last 5 to 10 years in my working life and permanently working from home, so I decided to make this office my watch room and my watch box is the focal point when you walk in.  Will I wear the others sure, but if I don't, they are doing what they were bought for which is make me happy.

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Watch fanatics are funny. Maybe because it’s something one can collect that we can also wear literally 24x7. Why DO we feel some need to constrain the size of our collections based on how much we use them? I don’t imagine they have these conversations on collecting comic books, sports cards, coins, Pokémon, stamps, guitars, whatever. Make your collection as enormous as makes you happy.

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The only watches i'm getting now will come in pieces.

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TimexBadger
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Even if I only wear one for the rest of my life, seeing the 59 others in my home office is good enough for me.  I am at the last 5 to 10 years in my working life and permanently working from home, so I decided to make this office my watch room and my watch box is the focal point when you walk in.  Will I wear the others sure, but if I don't, they are doing what they were bought for which is make me happy.

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Amen Brother!!

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  1. I dont care if I wear my watches or not for extended periods.
  2. I dont buy on impulse - I have a pretty detailed plan for the collection I want and a watch can sit on the 'to buy' list for years before I get to it so 'fails' where I up up selling are very rare.

    3. Right now the current plan will see the collection topping out at around 80 watches but I do add a few each year so by the time I cark it my girls are likely to have over a hundred to fight over.
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my answer is totally different now than other times I’ve answered this question…

previously answered- can never have enough

today - I only have two wrists and having too many that never onto one of them or  into rotation 

I quickly realized I really have a three watch rotation and the rest looked nicer in my watch box than in public…

so I passed those down to my three nephews hoping to get them into the hobby…

everyone happy and those watches now getting the love and wrist time they deserve 

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Jeremy

You can disagree all you like, but I am 100% irrefutably correct. :) The first line of my post reads "It depends on the kind of watch, to me.". Anything I say after that, only matters based on my feelings, and unless you are my shrink, you are at a serious disadvantage in this debate :)

And I will leave it there. You have exceeded my expectations.

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Porthole

Of course. To you… we know you said that, and we now know that you look down on us ”collectors” who dabble in the lower echelons. That’s fine, we will stay in our lane. We can still point out your view is elitist and kind of against the whole spirit of what WC was set up for, but you own it. I’m off the play in the mud like the trash that I am. I‘m wearing a watch that cost me £12 today, I hope I don’t catch anything.

What? I have a watch on that cost me $25 right now (used old G-Shock). My statement has nothing to do with elitism. If you must know why I think that, I will tell you why I think that (again, my point of view).

A less expensive watch is machine-made. Very little human effort went into the creation of that piece, and for that reason, I would feel no guilt of its only reason for existing is my pleasure of taking it out of a box and looking at it a few times a year. If humans spent a lot of time making it, I feel out of respect for the makers, to either use it for its intended purpose or sell it to someone who will.

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Jeremy

What? I have a watch on that cost me $25 right now (used old G-Shock). My statement has nothing to do with elitism. If you must know why I think that, I will tell you why I think that (again, my point of view).

A less expensive watch is machine-made. Very little human effort went into the creation of that piece, and for that reason, I would feel no guilt of its only reason for existing is my pleasure of taking it out of a box and looking at it a few times a year. If humans spent a lot of time making it, I feel out of respect for the makers, to either use it for its intended purpose or sell it to someone who will.

A lot of vintage generic Swiss are slightly more handmade than a G-Shock, and cheaper, so the method of manufacture point is kind of moot. If something is worth little it does not necessarily mean that it is worthless.

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Porthole

A lot of vintage generic Swiss are slightly more handmade than a G-Shock, and cheaper, so the method of manufacture point is kind of moot. If something is worth little it does not necessarily mean that it is worthless.

Again, not sure where you think I said anything is worthless. I said out of respect for the handmade work within a watch, the item should be used for its intended purpose, and not turned into a collectible. I feel this is true for cars, watches, toys, or anything else.

I may be wrong in using the cost of an item to define that classification, fine. And caring how much time someone put into something might not be a factor for someone else.. fine.

You do you. However, calling me an elitist who somehow thinks an inexpensive watch is of no value, and that I look down on anyone, is as far off the mark as one can get. 

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Porthole

A lot of vintage generic Swiss are slightly more handmade than a G-Shock, and cheaper, so the method of manufacture point is kind of moot. If something is worth little it does not necessarily mean that it is worthless.

In fact, saying it's a crap thing for Jay Leno to take a multi-million-dollar car, that craftsman put thousands of hours into, who probably missed evenings and weekends with their families to meet a deadline, and shove it in the back of a garage, for the purpose of looking at it when he happens to walk down that aisle or to be able to tell his buddies he has one, is the opposite of elitism.

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Jeremy

In fact, saying it's a crap thing for Jay Leno to take a multi-million-dollar car, that craftsman put thousands of hours into, who probably missed evenings and weekends with their families to meet a deadline, and shove it in the back of a garage, for the purpose of looking at it when he happens to walk down that aisle or to be able to tell his buddies he has one, is the opposite of elitism.

An £8 vintage Swiss watch could be very well made, and may have had a higher level of care and attention applied than a G-Shock. A less expensive watch is not always machine-made. Plus the G-Shock has been designed by a team to satisfy the brief; just because it may be made by a machine does that detract from any human input in the creation process? Are you saying anything that has an automated process during its manufacture is therefore low in value? 

Your point about conflating human input to price is not a clear cut argument. Again, a vintage Swiss watch can be had for pennies, and may have had a skilled watchmaker put it together. Price and level of love and craft don’t also correlate when you apply other factors such as age, style, size, function… 

You are the one who put a price point on it, and implied that is what makes this all worthwhile. If you don’t agree with your own argument then retract it. If you genuinely believe price is everything, then stick with it, but accept that you are going to get a lot of criticism because your cut-off price is actually quite exclusive when it comes to watches.

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Porthole

An £8 vintage Swiss watch could be very well made, and may have had a higher level of care and attention applied than a G-Shock. A less expensive watch is not always machine-made. Plus the G-Shock has been designed by a team to satisfy the brief; just because it may be made by a machine does that detract from any human input in the creation process? Are you saying anything that has an automated process during its manufacture is therefore low in value? 

Your point about conflating human input to price is not a clear cut argument. Again, a vintage Swiss watch can be had for pennies, and may have had a skilled watchmaker put it together. Price and level of love and craft don’t also correlate when you apply other factors such as age, style, size, function… 

You are the one who put a price point on it, and implied that is what makes this all worthwhile. If you don’t agree with your own argument then retract it. If you genuinely believe price is everything, then stick with it, but accept that you are going to get a lot of criticism because your cut-off price is actually quite exclusive when it comes to watches.

I just said above "I may be wrong in using the cost of an item to define that classification, fine."

Also, vintage is less of an issue anyway, as I would hope the first 30 years of its existence got some good use out of it.

My comment was not about value. It was about effort. Sure, a lot of people put a lot of effort into designing a machine-produced watch, but once the process is started, the fact that they made one more for me to own, and use as nothing more than something to collect and not use, doesn't matter.

Also, keep in mind, that I am not a collector. I collect nothing. Not even watches. I have a small selection of them, that I wear all the time, and if I stop wearing them, I sell them. My collection that I wear all the time, includes an old G-Shock that cost me $25, and an Orient that can be had for $152 on Jomashop right now. The cost of a watch does not play a role in if I like it, or wear it.

I am happy to debate the merits of my thought processes, or if the effort should even be considered with respect to collecting. I take issue with characterizing me as some sort of elitist prick. That was uncalled for.

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Jeremy

I just said above "I may be wrong in using the cost of an item to define that classification, fine."

Also, vintage is less of an issue anyway, as I would hope the first 30 years of its existence got some good use out of it.

My comment was not about value. It was about effort. Sure, a lot of people put a lot of effort into designing a machine-produced watch, but once the process is started, the fact that they made one more for me to own, and use as nothing more than something to collect and not use, doesn't matter.

Also, keep in mind, that I am not a collector. I collect nothing. Not even watches. I have a small selection of them, that I wear all the time, and if I stop wearing them, I sell them. My collection that I wear all the time, includes an old G-Shock that cost me $25, and an Orient that can be had for $152 on Jomashop right now. The cost of a watch does not play a role in if I like it, or wear it.

I am happy to debate the merits of my thought processes, or if the effort should even be considered with respect to collecting. I take issue with characterizing me as some sort of elitist prick. That was uncalled for.

I implied you were elitist, yes, but I never implied you were a prick. You do, however, tend to post a lot about high-end watches so when you imply that there might a be a worthwhile price-point for entry when collecting, it’s not going to come off well, especially on this platform where us misfits all congregate. I am glad you see that price is not the be all and end all, especially when it comes to watches.

You still haven’t answered the important question - have you considered a vintage Smiths?

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Porthole

I implied you were elitist, yes, but I never implied you were a prick. You do, however, tend to post a lot about high-end watches so when you imply that there might a be a worthwhile price-point for entry when collecting, it’s not going to come off well, especially on this platform where us misfits all congregate. I am glad you see that price is not the be all and end all, especially when it comes to watches.

You still haven’t answered the important question - have you considered a vintage Smiths?

I am not a huge fan of vintage. most are dress watches, and/or 34mm, and I have a 7.5 inch wrist, and live in Thailand. All my watches need to be on a band, or a rubber strap. Some vintage Crono’s would be nice, but they tend to be expensive.

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The right size is whatever size you want before your wife either joins the hobby or threatens divorce 😁........No but seriously my friend, I feel that it's too big when there's watches which never get wrist time anymore. Of course sentimental watches are the exception.

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Porthole

I implied you were elitist, yes, but I never implied you were a prick. You do, however, tend to post a lot about high-end watches so when you imply that there might a be a worthwhile price-point for entry when collecting, it’s not going to come off well, especially on this platform where us misfits all congregate. I am glad you see that price is not the be all and end all, especially when it comes to watches.

You still haven’t answered the important question - have you considered a vintage Smiths?

"when you imply that there might a be a worthwhile price-point for entry when collecting"

Just to be clear, I said the opposite. I said if I was interested in buying watches as collector's items, that I would not wear, but wanted to own just because they are cool, I would put a cap on how much I would spend. I think there are thousands of amazing watches that cost next to nothing, that if I see on other people, look great, but they just don't fit me. They are too small, or too dressy. 

If you took my point as I could collect them, but would never wear them because they are beneath me or something, you misread my post.

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I think what's appropriate as to how.many watches make for a good collection is up to the collector. Obviously, budget plays into it. One should never go into debt over a watch. My collection is 5 watches in rotation. Might wear one for a week and then switch it out or a one a day switch out. It's all up to the enthusiast. 

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You have an amazing collection - keep going!!

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sgoody1

You have an amazing collection - keep going!!

Thanks - appreciate the kind words!

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I tried to keep a tight 12 but I still have few spare watches I take on vacation, workout, and a beater watch. Im still new to this hobby Imma get it together.