I've loved timepieces since the first time I saw one as a toddler in the 1970s. I had a number of mostly digital, inexpensive watches as a child. Most fondly, I recall my Conso Space Shuttle game watch, one I wish I still had. Phase 1 of my serious collecting began in 2000 when I was gifted an Omega Seamaster (Bond) by a family member. That phase was pure chaos and no watch - except the Seamaster, which I gave to my son several years back - remains from that time. During this phase, I spent seven years as one of the moderators for TimeZone.com (under a different pseudonym), then the world's largest watch website and forum. The Seamaster has become the family watch. Phase 2 began in 2019 and I've now rebuilt my entire collection after many, many lessons learned - mostly about myself, which in turn set the tone for this new troupe. For me, two of the greatest lessons were 1) "don't buy features", i.e., don't go down the path of "one of each" or "I like a GMT function so I need this watch" and 2) don't buy a watch if you like it, buy it only if you love it. If you love a timepiece and it happens to have a feature you enjoy, well, that's the one to go for. Fiery heart, level head. This is, of course, not the only way to collect watches; it just happens to be the right way for me. Every piece in my collection represents a slightly different facet of my background and personality. I'm definitely not building a museum. Rather, some sort of physical manifestation of my own attributes in a watch box - a watch box my son will receive after my own biological balance wheel takes its last beat.