The Perfect 3-Watch Collection - A Beginner's Guide

It was a good read, and a useful primer for anyone getting into watches. Even if you're not looking at getting into watches at the luxury end of the market, the general idea works regardless of price point, and the examples given have lots of obvious affordable alternatives.... I'm pretty sure YouTube is filled with videos titled "10 Affordable Alternatives to ____". 🤣  

Great primer!  How did you get involved in the watch industry?  And how did you decide to become a freelance watch writer?

I've seen some define the 3-watch collection as a watch that can be worn on the bracelet, on leather, and on silicon.  A GADA would be a watch that can be worn on all three.  Another perspective.  

Good article, although I think a person might need four.  Gotta have a beater for working on the car, on the house, in the garden.  If I scraped a submariner on a rock whilst digging a post hole, I might be a bit upset.  G-shock?  No sweat.

Good read! Clear, concise, and the intended audience is apparent. Definitely makes me want to write now as well as I just deleted most of this reply as it is just tangential at best haha.

the watches you propose is great but a little bit expensive for my budget.

I started working in the watch industry in my mid-20s and eventually became marketing director for a large watch/jewelry retailer in the middle east. I also launched/managed a watch magazine. 

When I moved to the States I needed a more flexible job to balance work life/family life and freelance writing/consulting was perfect for that :)

However, my father is from a small Swiss watchmaking village (St. Imier, home to Longines and the birthplace of Breitling and Heuer) so many of our family friends were in the watch business. I kind of grew up with it. 

Thanks for reading! Yes, buying what you like is, of course, always the best approach. Great models in your collection - and I do tend to look at the Datejust 41 as a modern dress watch.

Thanks for reading! Yes, I completely agree with you that there are plenty of affordable alternatives, many of which I love. This article was simply focused on luxury picks. 

That is a great perspective; strap monsters are always a good choice since you can dress them up/down according to what you're in the mood for. 👌

Good point, a beater watch always comes in handy! Thank you for reading 🙏

Thank you, I appreciate it! You should absolutely write if you want to do it and forums like these are a fantastic place to do it. 

Never enough watches!

Agreed, these are expensive choices! However, it's because luxxee is a search engine for luxury watches. I do write about affordable watches on other platforms. Thanks for reading! 

Nice article, you bring up some great points.  Thanks for sharing.

I just saw this, thanks so much! 

Thanks for sharing your article.  After reading it I started wondering what a "perfect" 3-watch collection would look like if one had a smaller budget.  Something like $3,000 in total for example.

Thank you for reading :)

I would say the formula stays the same: one everyday, one sport, and one dress but in the mid-level brand range. For $3,000, you could get an awesome three-piece collection. For example: 

Longines Conquest for everyday. 

Seiko Prospex Padi for sport. 

Timex Marlin for dress. 

All are automatic, each has a different strap (bracelet, rubber, leather) for variety, and the total comes in just over $2,000.

What would you pick? 

I'd probably go something like...

Everyday: Hamilton Khaki Field Automatic 42mm 

Sport: DOXA SUB 200 Professional

Dress: Tissot Ballade Powermatic 80 COSC

Not sure about the Tissot but there you have it.  Now I need to decide whether or not 3 watches is enough for me 😀