What's your story?

I am writing a paper in college on why watch collecting is a great hobby and I have my reasons for getting into it but I was wondering what yours would be.

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Started many many years ago. At maybe 12 years old I got a watch,no doubt a Timex. I liked it and bought another,and another, and another......That was 57 years ago and wouldn't you know it, last week I bought another watch.

No reason whatsoever .

Just the boring truth.

I just like watches.

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Here goes. Watches have always intrigued me. The first watch I remember actually taking care of was a Dejuno Limited Edition Dinosaur Identifier watch. I thought it was the coolest thing ever. My dad found it and brought it home and gave it to me. Prior to that, I had always owned a watch of some sort, always digital, I remember. The Dejuno was the first analog watch I owned. I didn't know anything about watches, as I was a kid, but I knew there was something special to them. Years passed, and as a teen, I had the calculator watch, the TV remote watch, again, all digital. As a young adult, out of college, my girlfriend bought me a few fashion watches that were nice to wear at the office. Fast forward to adulthood, with knowledge and more money, I started to look at better watches. I bought decent pieces from Seiko, Casio, and the like, but then I started to dive into the history of horology. As a tinkerer, I was hooked. On came purchases of Hamilton, Oris, Gruen, Bulova, and on and on. My wife supports the habit by gifting me pieces as well, albeit what she gets me is new. 

So here's why I got into it. I love the engineering behind the pieces. I love the history of the craft. Horology is significant in its own right. I collect to take care of the pieces I buy so that they can be appreciated in the future, be it our two boys or another enthusiast. My oldest piece is from 1902. And wouldn't you know it, 120 years later, it still keeps excellent time. I love collecting for myself too, don't get me wrong. I enjoy wearing the pieces I find. The thrill of the hunt for a special, unique piece gets me excited. Finding something cool at a thrift store, yard sale, or antique shop and picking it up for a song, gets me giddy. I never stop looking, and that's probably a problem that at some point will need intervention, but until that day comes, I will not stop buying. 

I hope this helps. Good luck with your paper. If you want to quote anything I said, feel free to use it. And if you need to interview for class, reach out. I'll be glad to help.

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See this is hard, in trying to justify my hobby to others I've come to realize there might not be that much logic in it at all, but that's okay!  We honestly bridge the gap between sneaker collectors and toy collectors.  Unlike the sneaker guys we can actually enjoy our collection everyday, but some people inflate watches to be a sensible, rational purchase, when in reality they really are just toys.  They weren't always, but in today's world they're more cool looking machines that might have a neat feature.  Most of us get dive watches just to have fun spinning the bezel.  But maybe that's the ticket, it's a way that grown people can collect and play with toys without judgement, and as a bonus they can keep us on time for our responsibilities rather than distract us from them.  Sometimes they connect us with the past or those that have passed on, sometimes they commemorate a special occasion, sometimes they celebrate the work of a particular artist or brand.  But honestly in giving up the idea of watch collecting being rational and logical, there's freedom.

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@foghorn hits the nail on the head yet again. I could go on this long TGV-esque spiel about how watches remind us of our connection with our ancestors, or remind us about the unstoppable marching of time, or whatever. I could tell you about how I love the engineering that goes into them, or I could tell you about how watches have played a part in almost all historical events of the last 150 years,  or how they're one of the few things that men can wear without looking like a (forgive me for the crude language) "Ponce" but I'm not going to. I think watches are cool. And yeah, maybe the fact that I feel a little bit like Mr Bond when I put my invicta on in the morning helps :). And as I said to a friend of mine recently, men don't grow up our toys just get more expensive. Good luck with your paper and as @santiago says, feel free to quote or ask for extra info. Ok, ciao

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I got a job selling luxury watches on St. Thomas back when I was 22. I had to learn about watches to sell them and was also trying on luxury watches every day when I was at work (including AP). I had a lot of big sales, including a gold Royal Oak that cost around $20k at the time. 

I didn’t have much money back then, but the experience hooked me on the hobby. I only wish I could get that employee discount now that I actually have some money to spend. 

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It all started with a Seiko 5 back in 1972 when I was just a boy of 8 and hasn't stopped since. I love watches and everything that goes with collecting them, searching, researching, buying, trading and selling only to just start all over again. It's vicious cycle but I enjoy it and the people I meet whilst doing it, WatchCruch is a great example of that.

The watches I buy are ultimately for me and my enjoyment, never buy a watch to impress other people, you will surely be disappointed. I still have the Seiko 5 because it has so many great memories attached to it, the watch has no value but the memories are priceless. 

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Zombies. I was getting together an apocalypse go bag as a gag gift for myself and my brother. That got me hooked into collecting knives. Knives got me hooked on EDC. EDC led me to watches. I was warned not to get into watches, so I’m going slow, trying not to get too into them too quickly.

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I had my heart broken by an alarm clock and I’m using them to get back at her; make her jealous.

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When I was a kid of about 11 or 12  we used to always look forward to the county fair in the fall with all of the prizes for largest pumpkin, dairy sculptures and the like. We mostly liked the cheap games and rides. But some years, in the early summer another fair would roll through town. It wasn't concerned with agricultural products and livestock like the county fair. It was more of the rides and games and freak show kind of fair. There was a snake lady and one year they had Jayne Mansfield's car.

In these simpler times my sister and I were allowed to wander without constant parental supervision. I am sure that the carnies all had lengthy criminal records, but it was thought that the worst that would happen to us was that we would eat too much cotton candy (this was before everything that shouldn't be fried was fried). My sister and I explored the entire fair. Back behind the tent where the fat lady was amazing people by being fat (today she would just be another Walmart shopper), there was another more ornate tent containing Madame something or other. I don't put too much stock in the supernatural, clairvoyance etc., but my sister wanted to have her fortune read "by a real fortune teller". There wasn't a line or anything, this must have been a slow night. 

A woman in an elaborate costume took my sister's money and began to look at her palm and ask her questions. She spoke in heavily inflected speech. I thought that she was doing a Bela Lugosi imitation, but years later, after having represented some Irish Travelers, learned that she was mixing English and Romani. She started giving my sister some long-winded rigmarole about stars aligning and the fates. As she droned on and on I rolled my eyes and looked at my father's old Timex to give me sister the cue that there were rides waiting. The fortune teller noticed and turned to me. She muttered some cant under her breath and ended with "and you shall forever be looking at those little time keeping devices."

Long story short:  gypsy curse.