Bites: 3 secrets of the perfect watch collection and a new WatchCrunch feature!

Happy Tuesday again Crunchers!

Lots of cool stuff going on in WC land this week for us to chat about over coffee today!

@Bevelwerks has released his latest 'icon remastered' design with the Casio Crash. If you haven't seen his other remastered designs, you need to go look at them!

@Celinesimon has posted more of her fabulous articles in her 'What is a...' series on watch complications. She has seemingly bottomless levels of watch knowledge and is kindly sharing this with the rest of us with these wonderful articles.

@Edge168n continues his 'Confessions of a professional watch-spotter' series (Watches in the wild) and regales us with his celebrity level watch spots.

@porthole shows us the joys of vintage in his 'Through the porthole' collection of posts on lesser known vintage watch gems.

Our weekly watch photography enthusiasts thread continues with this weeks theme 'Definitely not junk!' being set by our guest judge @Street.Credor. The winner from last week was @nytime with his stunning photo which can be seen at the top of this newsletter.

We have seen lots of new year new members this week too. To a few I have seen around on the forum... @IMZ8141, @Invictaluva79, @itfighter, @escape.wheel, @greenmeggs, @Kfen10, @BrianE, @emeric, @toblerino, @ddg1993, @Axericwatch, @DShek37, @JPeters243, @tttooommm, @P.Morris, @Dilshad

...welcome to WC everyone!

Meetups news

It was great to meet up with some fellow Crunchers in Birmingham this week! Covid has definitely taught us not to take these chances to meet people face-to-face for granted, so if you are up for seeing some fellow enthusiasts in person make sure to keep an eye on the 'Meetups' section on WC.

Upcoming meets:

Northwest Arkansas (and Beyond) Watch Meetup - Bentonville Brewing Company Bentonville, AR, USA, 28th January

Omaha Groundhog Day Meetup - Krug Park 6205 Maple Street, Omaha, NE, USA, 2nd February

1st SoCal WatchCrunch Meetup - Ventura, California (multiple venues), 25th February

Extra bite of info!

By popular demand a new feature has been added to your WatchCrunch profile!

If you go to your profile and 'settings' you can now see a list of everyone you have muted and have the option of giving them a second chance by 'unmuting' if you are in a forgiving mood!

The 3-6-9

This week I've noticed people coming together to share their favourite and most useful posts from WC. @Bobofet started by sharing his gratitude for @scaramanga's post on the correct way to wear a nato, and @edge168n started a thread to celebrate our favourite writers on WC. From the other side of the coin @Fracas and others shared their 'lessons learned', encouraging us to think about and learn from our less positive experiences.

So, in the same spirit of helping and sharing, the '3' of my 3-6-9 this week are 3 pieces of advice that I have found most useful in my watch collecting journey so far. I've suggested my 6+ posts from the WC universe for you to check out above and you can enjoy the 9 awesome photos I've chosen for your viewing pleasure this week sprinkled throughout the letter!

1. Beware of boundaries

'The three watch collection', 'Diver, Field, Dress', progression from affordable to luxury, no watch bigger than X, no watch smaller than Y.

If these boundaries to your watch collecting are there because someone else told you it was the best thing to do, you need to get rid of them. Restrictions on your collecting should only be there out of necessity: "My wife has threatened to start selling my organs on the dark web if I buy a watch over a thousand dollars", "When I wear a watch bigger than 60mm I take chunks out of door frames I walk through", or self imposed to bread ingenuity "Let's see what amazing 3 watch collection I can create with a budget of 500USD". Unnecessary blinkering of your watch collecting vision could result in you missing that special timepiece that could steal your heart.

2. Be educated, not influenced.

@Erikswrist has blogged eloquently about this in the past, and actually you will find that many watch YouTubers agree... do not take their word as law. Do not treat the opinions of other enthusiasts as gospel. Make up your own mind. Watches can be as subjective as art and it doesn't matter how many watch reviews praise a piece, it still may not be for you, and that's ok. A watch only has to please you to be worthy of a spot in your collection. No-one else. But this is where you have to be brave and honest with yourself in choosing watches that make you happy, even if they are unpopular in the community. Reviews may berate a watches poor lume, it's jangly bracelet, it's 16mm thickness, or the hype surrounding it, but if none of that matters to you then it may still be perfect for your collection. So by all means watch the videos and read the reviews to educate yourself, but remember to draw your own conclusions.

3. Be curious and willing to explore

Many times I see posts on WC asking for suggestions of the next piece to add to their collection, and I get it (I've done it too!). We all need a little inspiration at times. But the watch world is utterly vast and by taking the time to explore it yourself you will take so many wonderful detours down all manor of rabbit holes. You may start by thinking you need an orange faced diver....but looking into divers takes you Doxa.... which takes you to homages on Ali Express.... where you find a homage of a watch you've never heard of... which takes you into military watches....which leads you into vintage... and then to Vario, where you fall in love with their Reverso homage. The journey is worth it and you will get to experience so much more of the watch world by taking the time to explore.

So those are the 3 pieces of advice I would give to any watch collector and that I also need to remind myself of occasionally.

Let's get together to share our collective knowledge and create a really helpful thread below for anyone looking for guidance in their watch collecting journey.

Share your top watch related tips below or tell me what you think about mine!

Looking forward to chatting and good luck with this weeks quizzes.

Take care my friends. 🍻