Is Watch Collecting Just an Outgrowth of my General Discontent?

It's a great journey, enjoy it.

It's all part of the hobby. Watches fall in and out of favour, and tastes change. You'll get back on track, or not, and either is OK.

I am in a similar place.. I am just enjoying the journey.. when I am done I might sell good portion of my collection a leave some for kids..

The best way to approach hobbies is to not overthink them. The more "rules" you place on yourself and the hobby the less fun it becomes.

I started out thinking I needed a "perfect" collection with one of each type of watch. After a while I caught myself looking at watches I didn't actually like because a collection "must have" them. It was at that point I realized it's just for fun, and I should stick to buying only watches I love, and enjoying what I already have.

I'm with you bro 💯 I know exactly what you're going through & the confusion that reigns inside your head right now.

For me growing up I had a desire to be able to buy a luxury watch. There were a few reasons for this;

I don't wear any other jewellery & saw a watch as being the only way of wearing something that reflected my taste & personality.

A beautiful watch was a reflection of your status, success or achievements (very likely put into my head through the power of advertising, marketing, sports sponsorship by Rolex, Omega etc)

I've always envied & had huge respect for anybody that has the talent to design & create beautiful items.

With that in mind I set my sights modestly on owning a Cartier Santos. When I bought one, I felt I had completed the journey. Little did I know it opened a Pandora's box.

I now have any number of watches that I'd be more than happy owning for the remainder of my life but I keep buying more. There's no necessity in these purchases, they are essentially short term hits to make me feel good. Like drug addiction, the more you use, the more you need to use. That's what I've been going through, never contented. The only thing that'll stop me is if my financial situation changes for the worse or I seek therapy.

I'm more than comfortable with this addiction/hobby/passion but I do get huge pangs of guilt that there could be far better things I could be doing with my disposable income. The interest in watches is inherently selfish & when others out there in the world are experiencing real financial hardship, war, poverty etc it's impossible not to question your own habits if you have any sense of caring or community spirit about you.

We have too much time, we have too much disposable income, we read too few books, we never learned to paint, we are embarrassed by every poem that we ever wrote, our active hobbies do not occupy enough of our thoughts, our families need us less and have their own pursuits, we are not so modest as to not display signs of our wealth.

As long as our bills are paid and no child's college fund is raided, we aren't hurting anyone. @KristianG has the best sense of it: think it, but don't overthink it. Manic phases pass. When they do you can have some cool stuff in a watch box.

I don’t have any answers as I often ask myself where I am taking this whole thing.

When is enough “enough”? I don’t know yet. My tastes have changed as I age, thus my collection reflects that. And continues to grow accordingly.

I just live for the chase! There is a tremendous thrill in chasing down a little known piece still with its box and papers! Or finding a lesser example and upgrading to a better example.

Endless possibilities! Or conversely; endless possibilities…..

I think the lines between passion and obsession are thin when it comes to watches.

I'm sure Slavoj Zizek would have something clever to say. We do indeed live in a materialist world heading for ecological collapse, and watches lends us a nice fantasy that we're actually doing something good by buying a repairable good. In reality most of us have more than the two or three watches that could reasonably sustain that fantasy.

When I first started with my harmless watch affectation, most of my non enthusiast buddies were super satisfied with a 2 tone Rolex Datejust and/or a steel Sub, that was my goal until it wasn’t, I wanted deeper connections to the great timepieces that I read about in European design magazines. I was also working for a large development company that was gutting, rebuilding large communities in my adopted city until I realized that both my profession and hobby were overly complicated. I quit my job to start my own small practice and desired only watches that could bring me joy, did not need status or appreciation from the mob. I also never thought about organizing a so called collection, just wanted a watch on my wrist to remind that time is not infinite, to waste none of it. Excuse me for being preachy. One of my old unpopular with the in crowd professors used to lecture the K I S S method for design and for life: keep it simple stupid!

I think most of my feelings and actions in everyday life are a reflection of my general state. I sometimes think about my material purchases and hobbies as a reflection of how I'm doing and who I am.

Perhaps the madness you're experiencing is a reflection of how you're feeling in general?

I also struggled with the same thing, but in a different direction. I have a pretty good collection that lives under a 1000 bucks p/w currently and constantly think of " Was this the right watch to wear?", "Do I need another pilot watch"? "Dive?". I also wanted to keep the collection to reliable well known brands because I didn't want lemons but sometimes I find little gems like the Sugess "Top Time" in what looks like ice blue (Breitling), and the Duxot "Planet Ocean" in a white dial (Omega). Being so happy with the homages, I find that I might wear my mechanical Sugess a little more than my Hamilton Cooper and then I think "Was the Hamilton price tag worth it because I get the same satisfaction from a really budget watch?". Now I feel like I have to rethink my collection philosophy because I'm really excited to be getting a Steeldive Cpt Willard in the mail soon. I can definitely say that that most of us sometimes battle thoughts of justifying the hobby but there's worse things to be addicted to.

If you like a watch and will give it time on the wrist, buy it. Now obviously there’s a limit of what every individual can push to or justify spending, but more importantly for me at the lower end if you like, if I like it I’ll buy it. Maybe reaffirm what you like by taking a step back from a purchase for 6 months

Like many hobbies, collecting watches is very capitalist and driven by FOMO. Let‘s be real: Owning more than one watch ist just a luxury and paying more than a couple of hundreds for a mechanical watch too. Does it even have to be mechanical? It is always more pleasurable to be on the hunt than actually having the thing you are longing for. I am sure guilty of buying things to compensate for the lack of some emotional needs. Be reasonable with your purchases and take time to cherish them. Otherwise it is not about watches, but about the compensation of something else.

Relax and try to enjoy the journey. Watches come and go and certain ones will stay no matter what also sometimes your taste of what you like will change. Embrace it, try enjoying what you now and don’t overthink it.

For me as young man with very limited income , my most expensive watch is 30$ , and believe me it's not my favourite one , no matter the cost of a watch it just make me happy I appreciate the watch ( the lock , the feel , the craft ) , as long as I am not behaving financially stupid iam happy with my watches .

Probably

If you’re into collecting watches you’re probably into collecting other stuff as well. Basically we are all ‘collectors-of-stuff’ here. Chances are if you stop collecting watches, you’ll probably start collecting books, pocket knives, boardgames or other random stuff.

If collecting is our biggest sinn in life, I say we are a pretty harmless, positive and peaceful bunch in this community. There are worse things in life. Enjoy the journey and our connection 😁👍

Sometimes living with super tight budget & a family to feed really sets your priorities straight. You won't face those kind of dilemmas coz you just can't afford too many options.

Yes, someone can really be into watches but ironically unable to collect more than 1. I think that's what they called monogamy? 😂

That is unless you actually suffer from Bi-Polar disorder and every time you make a watch purchase you get interrogated by your family members to make sure they don’t need to call my psychiatrist and report a Manic episode and then make an unscheduled appointment for an in person consultation. 🤣🤣😏🙃💸💸💸 This happened just the other day when I came home with a new 126505LN full gold Daytona. The matter wasn’t helped by the fact that my old psychiatrist (and I couldn’t make this up if I tried) called my mother the night I bought the Daytona (Thursday) and left a message saying she wanted to talk to her but didn’t elaborate any further. (Luckily, for me she called the wrong person and I was not in fact at a hospital under observation for a manic episode). Well, Friday morning rolls round and I haven’t sleep much because of all the excitement of the prior evening and I get interrogated about what transpired the night before. 😅🤣🤣🤣 Luckily I passed the “exam” lol. I’m laughing just typing this out. Oh my. I’m just glad I can laugh about it. Cheers fellow watch addicts!

I just tell myself that I’m only trying to tell the time

Touché. Love that pun on Sinn. 😁

Touché, my friend. Good thing we don't need a Gold Rolex just to do that. 😉

Quality!

There are many ways to look at the situation but bottom line try to chill out and enjoy what you have, be grateful to be in that position, try not to let it go out of hands physically and financially. Personally I have always loved watches for aesthetics and the sheer technical wonder they represent. I don't discriminate analogue, digital, mechanical, hand wound I would say yes! Then, I do have constraints, I can't blow too much money, I have a family, I pay my watches in full at the point of delivery, I have a watch box with 8 slots (I'm upgrading to 10 for Christmas, executive decision!) and I try to stay within that number, then some watches have been there for a while, and the spread goes from the very utilitarian like my trusty garmin to the honestly pretty useless but gorgeous vintage hand wound piece. I have always wore a watch and I guess I will carry on doing so for the reminder of time I have here. And don't forget some pieces can be resold some at loss some with profits, I'm don't see them as investments but sure they are not worthless pieces of junk either. And how about the chase isn't that the main thing?

Over thinking it. Enjoy wearing what you have and savor the long hunt for your next watch. Save for it and sacrifice. That will make it sweeter.

It’s only through owning like 12 to 15 pieces that I now realise I only need 4

“Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied.”

Sorry to go full pastor mode on you (I am a pastor) but consider your motives. Maybe watch collecting reveals an underlying heart of discontent or envy.

Nothing wrong with stuff. Some things wrong with the love of stuff. Everything wrong with my worth placed in stuff.

I'm in the unenviable position of having real OCD (somewhat controlled by medication), no wife or kids to support, and a high paying job in the software industry. (I'm not bragging, just being honest!) I will be the first to admit I bought way too many watches post C-word. I have well over 50, and that's after selling dozens in the past year. At least I fully realize I have way too many watches, and I'm trying to do something about it. By "too many" I mean more than I can realistically manage, as there are some that were impulse buys (big surprise) and I can't really have a meaningful relationship or wrist time with all of them. The problem is trying to whittle the collection down -- I appreciate some aspect(s) of almost every watch. I just tend to get obsessed with things. I have loved watches ever since I was a kid, but didn't REALLY get into watches until about 12 years ago. If anyone has advice for me, I'd love to hear it. 😜

I feel you, buddy. For me, it's both a bane and a passion.

Every day I seem to discover a new watch that I absolutely must have. I obsess over them, I consume an unreal amount of content on them, I search for listings online...and then, suddenly, I stumble across a new watch that I seem to want more. As you say, it's madness. The funny thing is, half the time, I do not even possess the money, or the willingness, to truly buy them. It's the perfect avenue for escapism. It gives the illusion of productivity but what you're truly doing is chasing your tail.

But then, sometimes, I would just look down at my wrist and catch a glimpse of the timepiece I do own. And I feel awe and joy for that beautifully crafted little artifact. And I sigh deeply.