Are you a conscious collector of considered purchases or buy whatever takes your fancy?

Most of my watches require a considerable amount of saving for, so there’s generally plenty of time to consider what I’m buying.

As my collection has grown, the biggest question I ask myself is:

When would you wear this?

If I can’t come up with a reasonable answer it doesn’t matter how much I like the watch I won’t buy it.

That shows some great self control 👍

Early in my collecting I was an impulse buyer.

I'm slowing down markedly these days.

I used to buy watches but now I just source parts.

In the beginning I did a lot of impulse buys and those seem to be the watches I don’t wear often and been contemplating getting rid of. Now I’m more conscious about what I purchase.

Hell yea 😂😂😂. I’ve gotten better tho but damn.

Two years ago I was more impulsive: buy it, try it, sell it. Now I’m more conscious of which pieces I add or sell. Trying not to buy until the new year… 😅

I've never been impulsive and I'm frugal to boot so I always want to sleep on it for a week or two and hope the desire fades away. If it's a durable good, it will be mine for many years and it's worth choosing well. I seriously spent weeks, if not months, selecting a $17 plastic Casio a few years back.

A bit of both. I normally like to my research on a watch, especially anything that is over a few hundred dollars, before taking the plunge.

On occassion though, I will buy an inexpensive (less than $150 USD) vintage watch from eBay or a new watch from a store just because it catches my fancy (love at first sight?).

A recent example of this is my purchase of a Timex Q Reissue from Winners (TJ Maxx in Canada) for $120 CAD plus taxes. For that price, it was worth the impulse buy.

I have pretty much the same thought process

I only want to buy watches that I will keep forever. So generally they are on the more expensive “luxury” side, and/or aspirational pieces.

I have to vibe with it, but then I've learned to do some research and make a decision later. Which is why I didn't buy the Serica due to issues with the movement and weird replies, lack of service to customers. Turned me off the brand completely, Yema and Smiths are in the same boat.

I do have difficulty upholding that when it comes to kickstarter though...

I’m trying very hard to be less A and more B

I tend to be very careful with my purchases, especially since I rarely purchase anything expensive. Most of my collecting involves affordable Casios and those don’t require as much consideration when they cost $15-30 half the time.

My buying style is:-

Do I like it?

Then can I afford it done

I’m mostly impulsive. I know immediately when I see something. Then it’s about the price/want ratio.

Other than the watches that I have been blessed with as gifts, I have a general idea of the direction of my collection.

I feel you on that. My first purchase as a self proclaimed collector was my DW5600. It took me almost 2 months of debating.

The longer I considered a watch, the more frequently I wear it, but there are other factors too. I've seea lot now to know which I would end up loving and wearing. So when I see a watch that passes my demands, I only sleep on it for a month or so.

Facts 😂😂😂

Considered, closely, for my primary collection. For my budget collection (under $1k), it’s less restrictive and I’ll try things I might not if the price were higher.

Over the years I have shifted completely to considered purchases. Younger days it was impulse all the way.

Feedback results to this poll.

It looks like the majority go for C (mix of A and B) 52.7%. Anecdotally most take a considered approach to the more expensive watches and are more impulsive with cheaper watches. This is closely followed by A (considered) 42.6% but are more likely to be interested in more expensive luxury brands. This leaves B 4.8% who are impulsive although it is unclear if this includes the more expensive range of watches.

Thank you for taking part.

In the words of that famous hobbit person

"I likes it so I buys it"

or something!

Impulse for first 3 years or so, then realised that accumulation of lots of hard to sell watches wasn't what I wanted, so pretty much started again, but with much more focus. That was around 5 years ago, I've now got a much smaller collection of "posher" pieces, mostly Omega and Seiko.

Very much considered, due to budget restrictions like most of us .