Watch fatigue! - Do you get it? What causes it and what is your cure?

Im kinda in that right now.  My buddy and I started a watch instagram, mainly so I can practice photography but I am kinda burned out on it.  I want watches I cant get, and I am kinda cold on the ones I have now.  I have a 2 week work trip coming up, so I wont be able to consume as much content, that might help reset me. 

I found that a hidden away watch might help to increase interest again but my main cure is to turn away for a while. What’s wrong with some lawn moving?

Try going broke

All the Instagram FOMO is getting to me I think...... "I need a doxa, but the new seiko gmt is cool and cheaper.... Oh that old Heuer diver is neat.... but I am saving for a Sub... That Peter Blake Omega is sick!!!!'  That was my Saturday night scrolling instagram.. 

Its a rabbit hole that usually ticks and you can either dip a toe in or drown there. Sip from the cup but gluttony will make you sick.

I've been known to put all of my watches away for a couple of weeks and let the watch tan line fade away.  It's a nice feeling, kind of like "turning off your notifications" ramped up a notch.

I think I posted on yesterdays thread that I'm just coming back from 3 weeks-ish of no forums or youtube and only a few podcasts.  I feel much more positive about the hobby.

Watches are a weird thing to think about all the time; It's ok to take a break.

Thanks! Sorry didn’t see your post. I agree, quite often I turn off external input. It’s just to much. The fatigue I try to describe is something different. It comes from inside myself and the turn off effect from Youtube and another media is the consequence of that feeling.

Easy

I think i had this when i was on instagram. Deleted it a few months ago and dont look back. Now i only read online magazines, watch yt reviews and chat here on watchcrunch. I think the scrolling feed on instagram is really bad for your brain. You consume way too many watch pics in one day when you are on instagram. It is a dopamine kick everytime you see a new watch or a good picture of a watch you already know... so your brain gets oversaturated... it is probably the same with eating and drinking addictive stuff... if you consume too much sugar or coffeine your brain always gets a dopamine kick and you always want more and feel bad and grumpy if you try to resist... with these watchcontent you also feed your brain with little dopamine kicks everytime you scroll and scroll... a break from it is a good detox, similar to a diet... just try to stay away 2 weeks of sugar, wheat and coffeine and you will know what i mean. 

That seems to be the feeling before the fatigue feeling take over and I go into hiding position.

Yes I guess a break is the cure. The cause I’m not 100% sure about. The equation with too many unknown variables in my planning is my best guess.

I have not yet experienced that. Is there a vaccine I can get?

You seems to bee the one not needing the vaccin then.

Thinking about it it might be overconsumption in my case. Hard to realize when you go overboard with your plans and interest. 

Think about something else for a couple of weeks.  Sports cars, affairs, vacations, just something else.

I can point 3 reasons that are making me feel a bit of watch fatigue:

1. I am living in the odd situation of "Exit SOTC", meaning when the entire SOTC brings a feeling of fulfillment. Has been a while since I am not seeing any new watch that I want.
2. Life is "almost normal" again, meaning I can enjoy other things that were not possible for the past 2.5 years. Watch collecting was a valid coping mechanism.
3. There is "too much squeeze to too little juice" on the channels (Yeah I got it, BB Pro is a thick GMT watch, I don't need to watch 75 videos and read 46 reviews about it)

The more I've thought about this, the more I've realized; I really don't consume a lot of watch content and that I think is the answer. 

Yes, I'm on here a fair amount, but outside of WC and 3-4 YT channels, I'm not really devouring watch media. I read a Hodinkee article here & there or look up watches/brands/accessories as they get mentioned in threads or articles, but a majority part of my personal life is not devoted to just watch stuff. I'm working on house projects or visiting family or reading sports news (US College football is being particularly insane right now and it's the offseason). 

It's all about balance. Balance can mean keeping everything in balance all the time or being a bit excessive for a bit on one hobby and then reining it in when the fatigue (or the SO 😉) hits.

Reason #2 is interesting. The restrictions has been removed slowly step by step and we have been able to return to a life close to normal. Then the time spent in the  watchworld has gradually decreased and been prioritized down without thinking about it.

I have also reduced watch media, for me that mostly means Youtube. Not by a consious decision. It has been a natural process due to the fact that after a while it is hard to find interesting content. I guess a bit like @thiago describes in his 3rd reason.

Over the years of collecting, I find myself being drawn less and less by watch media, and I start valuing experiences where I get to handle a watch in person and trusting my own experience with a watch rather than someone else’s opinion. some pieces in my collection that i don’t think I would have purchased if it weren‘t for an opportunity to experience them in person are my omega smp 300m, Zelos horizon gmt and the MKII AGL. 
 

my advise is try going out to acquire experiences, rather than reading/watching about someone else’.

I go on watch safari to the capital city when I get the chance. Great fun.

I'm there right now, myself. Watch's suddenly feel unimportant and I'm wondering why I've sunk so much time and money into them over the winter. I've even went as far as to rebel and wear my Apply Watch Daily (actually its because I'm trying to loose some weight and its a good tool for that).

My OCD as always drifted between different obsessions which is likely why I can do many things but am a master of none. Right now wood working projects have been my thing more than anything else but I'm sure once the weather gets bad in the fall and spending time in my unheated garage shop becomes uncomfortable I'll run back to the warm embrace of horology.

I think for me sometimes it's seeing so many watches that I can never afford makes you think why am I bothering to show my stuff when no one is interested unless it's expensive and then you start to get fed up with the whole thing for a while and then think actually I don't care

My finding is that that is the reason why it is important to buy what you like within your budget and prioritasion. There will always be others with more fundings, with not necesserely better taste. I find WC to be a place where watches are appreciated within any price brackets.

I haven't yet still kind of new to this hobby. I just keep myself busy with other things.

I am new to the hobby, and extremely under-funded, so there's no danger of me going broke, lol 🤣 My official collection stands at 3 watches currently.

But I will share what I do with other hobbies of mine when I get burned out; I rotate hobbies. Let me explain.

I tend to focus on one hobby at a time, pouring all of my energy into it for a given amount of time. The hobbies (of mine) that are the most time consuming are 1) shooting and modding magnum air guns, 2) the study of heraldry, 3) writing (still working on my first novel,) and 4) researching my family's genealogy.

Of course, now I can see that watch collecting (which I recently took up) is going to be number 5 on the time-heavy list. I have other hobbies (see profile) that don't eat up that much time, but with watch collecting, I can see that there are many variables that need to be nailed down, studied, and evaluated. That's time-heavy.

When I get bored or burned out, I switch to another hobby. That has the effect of "resetting my brain," especially if the hobby is terminology-heavy, like Heraldry. You may have noticed that my profile pic looks like a shield. That's actually my heraldic badge. I won't post any heraldry stuff here, but if you want to have a look, go to my heraldry & genealogy page: https://altenaugenealogyheraldry.wordpress.com/

Right now, I am heavily focused on watch collecting. But since I am a man on a budget, my "collection activity" has been limited to reading, evaluating, planning, etc. But since I joined this forum, I have been on it every day, reading lots of stuff, posting anything watch-related that flies into my mind (for instance, my quest to find that silly TI digital watch like the one I had when I was a kid) and generally trying to socialize and learn who's who. No chance of burning out just yet, I am very stimulated by the influx of so much new information. 😀

Thank you for sharing. My method is also to have some different interest/hobbies in parallell. Seems to be a theme for many. My spare time is split between watches, a summer house, reading and trying to keep my health good as possible.

I'm kind of there right now. I think once I got my grail watch it all went downhill after that. I wanted to buy other watches but just couldn't find anything I really liked anymore or that was worth me spending the money on. I also realized that a lot of the watches I had I just didn't wear anymore, even if I tried to rotate them they just didn't have the same feel when I wore them. I haven't bought a watch in a while and I just save the money. I have a couple of hobbies I do and look forward to using the money I'm saving to travel. 

Maybe you just found your ”Exit watch”. At least for now. What was/is your grail?

I think you're right. My grail watch was a Rolex Submariner. I've always loved divers and wanted one for years. I finally I took to plunge and bought one and I love it, I have no regrets at all.