This Crazy “Hobby”

TL;DR - Much as we may object to calling watch collecting an obsession, an honest reckoning may force some of us to admit obsessive episodes.

Most of the time I enjoy wearing and learning about watches. I like searching them out and acquiring new ones, too. But every now and again I end up questioning many things; my motivation, my judgement, nay, even my sanity…

Likely because I’ve been stuck home in bed for a bit, and the Internet has been a too constant companion, I went down quite the rabbit hole the last few days. With little else to do, I entered a spiral of endless options to fill a perceived “gap” in my “collection.”

My collection is affordable and fun and perhaps a bit light on the dress and field watch side. (As if there’s some optimal distribution of types…?) Well, I work from home and live in a rather casual region. I’m not too concerned about dress watches. However, I seemed to believe that my lack of a field watch example was a sign of some deep personal failure. I searched and examined and filtered through so many iterations of what makes a watch worthy to represent that category in my collection…as if anyone else on Earth gives a damn about what I do and don’t own(!) It truly became an obsession for a few days. I’d almost settled on a prime unworn vintage example that had heritage, the right aesthetic, my preferred size…and a price ranking it among my most expensive. Of course, I could put it aside and save for it, but it’s a one-example vintage piece. It could be gone any moment! I was literally losing sleep, waking up worrying about this. In the middle of the night, I’d reach the reasonable conclusion I don’t need it. Then I’d wake up the following morning convinced it was completely reasonable to get, despite other recent acquisitions.

And then, someone posted an utterly unrelated watch today, and the curse was lifted! The new example instantly struck my sensibilities as just something I really like. Immediately, the whole field watch thing came into sharp contrast as a pointless self-imposed obligation.

I’m not certain there’s a point here, other than that I continue to be amazed at the depth of the psychological side of this hobby, if one takes the effort to closely examine our actions. I still seem to have much to learn about myself.