If I had a Rolex all of a sudden, there'd be too much to explain to my wife anyway. 😅

For trips up to 2 days I'll just wear one on the wrist. For longer journeys I have this pouch by Hiram that'll fit up to 2 more watches (or 1 watch + straps + tools):

A watch collector's tool set:

Timegrapher ✅

Demagnetiser ✅

GM counter

I agree with those saying that influencers are supposed to influence potential consumers, not the watch industry. I don't care if the manufacturers finally have started listening to watch nerds who have been asking for smaller watch sizes for ages, or if they're proactively pushing this trend to make owners of large watches reconsider and thus spend money on new watches. The watches in my first collection were all vintage-inspired smaller models and I took a decade-long hiatus skipping the worst excesses. In the meantime, YouTube developed into my main source of information on watches and I follow quite a lot of watch-related channels, but I don't consider myself influenced in terms of size. I'm just happy to see variety in my favourite sizes making a return. Considering that production cycles in the watch industry are considerably longer than for clothes, I sincerely hope they're here to stay.

I'm completely happy with Colareb for leather straps, Eulit for perlon and Miltat/Strapcode for metal bracelets. Will try a Fluco peccary strap next. Love the look of Artem sailcloth straps, but my Seestern diver would feel absolutely overdressed in one, so I'm glad to read about more affordable options.

Inflation is a fact of life and people will complain, although economists say that the opposite, deflation, would be even worse. I guess they're right: Who'd buy a luxury item such as an automatic watch if they knew that it'll be significantly cheaper within a year?

Within conglomerates such as Richemont or Swatch Group, there'll always be price tiers and people will complain ("I'm not buying Longines at what used to be Omega prices").

Meanwhile, independent brands and strongly vertically integrated companies (e.g. Furlan Marri, Christopher Ward, Oris or Casio and Seiko) will try to stretch further and some people won't be willing to pay for Furlan Marri calendars, CW Belcantos, Oris Calibre 400s, limited G-Shocks or Grand Seikos because they think of where these brands came from, rather than taking inflation and innovation into account. That's the negative side of "heritage", I guess.

Must be the local rate. At those prices I'd have three Wise men by now.