The stress of collecting (and enthusiasm)

It is common to hear about watch collecting that your tastes change and evolve over time and that is part of your journey. In the past couple of monts this statement felt very true to me and it caused many headaches almost leading to giving up and leaving this wonderful hobby behind.

The direction or purpose of me building a collection took 360 turns every couple of weeks. It started by just liking watches, then it became a value hunt, then I wanted to tick boxes, then I wanted to get colors and so on. There was only one consistent idea or dream: to become a one watch guy.

I like the idea of having a vast collection. There are many cool brands out there, lots of styles and designs, awesome history and funky colors. And there, at the endless choices and desires lie the big ugly questions: Will I ever be statisfied? Will it ever be enough? Can I finish the construction of my perfect collection?

The answer, as I finally start to realize it, is no. This never ends. Over time we spend exponentially more and more money, always looking ahead to what we cant affor just yet, never truly statisfied with what we acomplished, and never allowing ourselfs to form bonds, strong connections with our timepieces.

This is due to the greed and never ending lust deeply rooted in our subcontious, the influence of social media and mass marketing and the heavily consumption based society we live in.

So I will try to get out. I still love watches and still desire many, but I think I finally accepted that loving a watch doesent neceserily have to cause ownership of said watch. For me (and its okay if you feel different) a wristwatch should be a special item, an extention of your personality and a capsule of your memories, experiences, past views and thoughts.

What makes a watch for me is quality, design, scarcity and most importantly, as James May sas the "fizz" I get when I put it on the wrist. I cant get that when I treat watches like collectable trinkets thus inflating their percieved value.

Some of you buy a watch every other week, some have a different Rolex for every day of the week, some have incredible timepieces just sitting in a box and not get any wrist time cause change of taste. And that is completely fine if it makes you happy but for me a watch has to mean more then that.

I bought and sold many watches and now, for where Im at in life, I feel like I found a temporary balance.

I still have my blue turtle, a watch that suits me incredibly and makes me smile whenever I look at it.

My daily is a watch I didnt think would be a permanent resident. A watch I fell in love with then regretted but still love incredibly. And now I realise that the regret came from it not being a big brand, vastly known "status" piece. I wanted to sell it just to get something different that I didnt love enough. It is an incredibly well made watch and one that very much gives me the "fizz"

My zelos blacktip.

And finally, a no fuss, no thrills beater, a gift from my parents that I was ashamed to wear in the begining for its lack of value, now Im ashamed I ever thought about it like that. Good old Casio.

Im 20 years old, still a student and not finacially independent. For where Im at this is a perfect selection of watches, and I have many years infront of me to create memories with them. Hell, just in the past couple of weeks these watches been with me from historical protests to stressfull tests and many daily situations which were made more enyoable because of the watch I was wearing.

Later in my life, when I become more accomplished and finacially free, I would like to get something special. A birth year seamaster, gmt master pepsi, grand seiko 9f or spring drive or whatewer that gives me the "fizz" in the future. But for know, I should be set, and that thought calms me down and makes me more appreciative.

If you took the time to read this post through, thank you. This is more of a diary for my thoughts and realizations but if the subject made you think or you have your own view, experience about it, Im very interested.😉