Mike199
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Q: How did you get into watch collecting?
I worked at a classic car dealership when I was 20 - I have always loved cars - and my boss was really into watches. He was a big collector of Invicta watches. As a Christmas gift, my boss gave me a Jacques LeMans quartz chronograph. I started talking about watches when I was at home, and for my 20th birthday my dad bought me my first nice watch: a Stauer. From there I spent a decade building a small collection of five cheap, but very meaningful watches. Starting in 2023 I acquired my first luxury watch - an Omega Seamaster 300 GMT 50th Anniversary - to celebrate 10 years together with my wife. Moving forward, I plan to only buy watches as a reward for a business, career, or life milestone.
Q: What was the first watch you ever owned?
I had various toy watches as a child that I don't remember much of. So, technically, those would have been my first watches. I do remember wearing a chunky Armitron for a while until the velcro strap started falling apart. When I was 16 I was walking through Macy's with my grandmother and I saw a Fossil sport watch which really caught my eye. What intrigued me is that the dial color switched between blue and green. It was the first watch I remember really desiring. My grandmother bought me the watch as a Christmas present. I remember that it was $75, which was quite a lot given the fact that nobody in my family is into watches. I played ice hockey growing up, and sadly I lost that watch one day in a locker room most likely. I didn't wear the watch while playing, I would usually leave it in my pants pocket. It probably fell out while hastily getting dressed to leave after a game.
Q: Do you have a watch with a particularly interesting story behind it?
I certainly do! As I mentioned in a prior answer, I am a big petrol head. The first brand that I fell in love with when I was 15 is Pontiac, and I own a 1972 Firebird Formula 400 with my dad. He taught me to drive a standard shift on that car. So shortly after my dad gave me my Stauer watch I became interested in buying more, but I was also a broke college kid. While perusing EBay one day I came across a Pontiac watch for $25. Of course I had to buy it. I began talking to the seller who told me a bit about the watch. There were three of these made - likely by a Chinese company who just used a cheap, quartz movement - to commemorate the 25th year of the Pontiac Oakland Club International. The POCI is a major club for us Pontiac fans. The seller shared that one of the three watches was given to him, Don Bauer, as the founder of the club. The other two were given to other early members of the club. It's a cheap watch with plenty of wear. But it still tells time and it has a very cool story. This is proof that a watch doesn't need to be expensive to be cool.
Q: What is one piece of advice you have for someone just getting into watches?
Slow down. Watch collecting is a marathon, not a sprint. I got into watches 13 years ago while I was in college. Like many new watch enthusiasts, I dove in deep and tried to amass a large collection fairly quickly. Within a month I had a neat collection of 8 watches, each costing me around $2-300. I loved wearing these pieces and being able to wear a different watch every day. But within a year I was bored with them. The straps were cheap and wore out quickly. The watches didn’t keep great time. Some of the watches stopped working, so I kept calling customer service numbers to get watches repaired or exchanged. Ultimately I think the novelty of having a variety of watches just wore off. When I went to sell a few pieces, I was annoyed to realize that these watches that I spent $2-300 on were only worth $50-75 after a year, or even less. So I sold 4 of the 8 watches at a loss, and stuck the other 4 in a drawer. Fast forward to summer of 2022… I had an Apple Watch for a couple years and I was just getting tired of it. I hated all the notifications, I hated having to charge the thing nightly, and I hated being tied to yet another device. Because I love mechanical things, it wasn’t hard for my curiosity about watches to resurface. So I joined a bunch of groups, and started binge watching Teddy Baldassare videos. After months of reading, watching videos, and lurking in the groups, I was ready to start building my collection. I planned on purchasing 3 watches in January: two excellent Seikos and a Hamilton (thanks Teddy!) So there I was on Christmas Eve driving to my local watch shop to buy the first Seiko, a GMT. It was not in stock, but the owner showed me a 1998 Omega Seamaster 300 GMT 50th Anniversary that he had just gotten in and serviced. I had gone there to buy a $500 watch, not a $2900 watch, so it wasn’t in the cards. I went home that night and couldn’t sleep, I kept thinking about that Omega. So I saved up for 2 weeks and sold a bunch of things that I wasn’t using, and I went back to buy the Seamaster. I’ve had it now for nearly a month, and I absolutely love it. I am so grateful that the local shop didn’t have the Seiko I was looking at, because I was about to repeat the same mistake I made 13 years ago: buying a bunch of watches which are neat, but don't REALLY speak to me. While I know it’s very enticing as a new collector to dive in head-first and try to buy as many watches as possible, I’ve learned that slowing down is so much more satisfying.
Q: What brands have been getting your attention lately?
I always heard about Rolexes as a kid, so they've always had my attention. It’s only a matter of time before I add one of them to the collection. I’ve always been into Seikos, and in 2023 I added an Orient to the collection that I’ve been pretty impressed with. Tissot has been coming out with some pretty impressive pieces lately. For Christmas 2023 I bought my wife a Tissot, and I plan to acquire my first Tissot in 2024. In 2023 I also acquired my first Omega, and this is quickly becoming my favorite brand. I think if I had to wear only one brand for the rest of my life, I would choose Omega.
Q: What is your grail watch and why?
I don’t really believe in a grail watch. I don’t think that a single watch exists in which, once acquired, I would feel that my collection is complete. I have attached certain watches to specific goals that I wish to achieve in my life. So, for me, the pursuit of a watch is much more than simply buying another timepiece. It’s more about pursuing an accomplished and full life, with a few watches sprinkled in to celebrate goals.
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