My first foray into higher-end watchmaking

I've been collecting for about 10 years, generally sticking to the $1k-$5k range with occasional forays into the $8k range. With some recent good timing on a housing transaction, I found myself in a position to consider something a bit more "interesting" than my usual wheelhouse.  I also sold off an Zenith Shadow so I wasn't starting from $0, but I still had to outlay more cash than I normally would.  

When I realized I could make this happen, there were a couple of watches that immediately came to mind. A Lange Saxonia Thin (37mm Rose Gold) and this, an Armin Strom Tribute 1 first edition.  When this was first announced last summer, I remember being very fond of it and thinking how it would be really cool to own something like that one day.  The Lange felt like a good potential buy as I had a hankering for something precious metal and I thought the size was perfect, not to mention my fondness for German watchmaking.  

While I was mainly considering these two, I did reach out to a couple people I'm friendly with on IG who have a large breadth of experience with watches in this price range to ask for some alternative suggestions I might not be thinking of.  They gave me some good suggestions, but nothing that struck me better than these two.  While I was trying to make up my mind about this I happened to be in Barcelona for work and the Lange AD had the exact Lange I was interested in.  It was exquisite and had my house sale already closed, I probably would have bought it then and there, but something else held me back as well.

Ultimately, my conclusion was that if this is going to be my most expensive watch, I wanted it to be something that I would be able to wear at least 50% of the time if I so want.  A rose gold Lange, which would be awesome to own, just didn't seem like something that I would wear enough, whereas this stainless steel Armin Strom, with a bit better water resistance, is something that could be worn for almost any non-swimming occasion.  Even purchasing the Lange without VAT and before the recent price hikes, it was still a good deal more expensive as well, and ultimately, the AS is more "interesting" of a watch IMO, even if the design might be a bit more polarizing. If I had bought the Lange, I probably would have sold off my Grand Seiko as well, but instead, I got to keep it (though I traded it out for a different version) with the AS.  In buying the AS, I also got to deal with a US based dealer and start up a good relationship that has already bared fruit in the GS swap I mentioned above.

So far, so good in terms of the amount of wear I'm getting out of it. I have four other watches that I love and I am quite satisfied with how I've been able to balance this with the rest of my 5 piece collection.  My biggest fear with buying something like this is that I get it, enjoy it for a few weeks and then wouldn't wear it enough. It certainly helps that I have a small stockpile of 18mm straps to switch around.

I'm not sure I'll be in the market for anything at this level again anytime soon, but that's okay. My watch lust is at an all-time low and the ones that do speak to me on occasion are much closer to the normal price range I stick too.  I realize I haven't really talked much about what I like about this watch and how it is in the flesh, but I'll save that for another post.