Downsizing: enlightened thinking or trendy rehtoric?

You had me at oysters 🤣😂

right now, i am kin with your philosophy.

I personally just downsized from 17 to 6 and I feel really good. I would always pick the same few watches anyway. I also spent s good amount of money on these watches so why own so many when I can wear these few for the rest of my life, pay to service them, and really appreciate them. I prefer quality over quantity or you really do miss out on so much great watchmaking, details, and history. People owe it to their selfs to move into one teir higher than they feel comfortable 😂. If I win the lottery and have unlimited funds maybe that would change.

“…documentary about…personal identity and taste…”

Yes, over half my collection is more history of individual watches I owned along the way. (Perhaps I should refer to those as the museum pieces?) But that history is part of my story and shows a progression, in interest, appreciation, income limits… We are all products of our experiences.

As long as they fit in a few boxes on the dresser and on one shelf, I don’t see the need to edit those out of the collection.

Oh, and your three watch selection is 🔥

Distillation of a large collection can have benefits, especially reducing duplication. But to try and do an extreme downsize is just not going to work.

I have a retired watch box which are only worn one or two times a year and an active rotation.

I think the answer is subject to the individual and where they are on their journey.

Quick analogy: A kid in a candy shop who has never tried anything will likely and probably should try a little of everything, because the there is a great cost to not knowing other possibilities. Whereas an older individual who has visited the candy shop too many times to mention may know that (for them) a small square of dark chocolate is all they require on their visit (e.g. to them, liquorice tastes metallicy, milk chocolate unsettles their stomache, and colored sugary candies give them a headache - all phenomenas of which didn't occur to them upon first bite but rather over decades of consuming candy). Over time, they've concluded that they like candy, but have culled their selection down to what they enjoy the most and in smaller quantities so they can experience the joy it brings without any fringe downsides.

As we age, we get the time benefit of knowing what we truly like while starting to minimize the weight that other people's opinion have on our prefences. For some, we realize we like variety and collections of things, watches, clothes, cars, etc providing great variety give us great joy. For others, we enjoy narrowing. Breadth of selection becomes secondary to depth of enjoyment.

I happen to be someone who (right now) enjoys minimizing breadth and expanding depth. Part of this wouldn't be possible with having to learn the skill of decoupling enjoying a watch and owning a watch... very valuable skill. There are many watches I gladly enjoy without owning. However, I appreciate those who are on the other side of the spectrum. How else would I get to experience and see so many cool watches. Some of you scratch any potential itch for me just my sharing photos. My frontal cortex region and my bank account both thank you!

I think there's a happy medium somewhere in between the extremes. 3 is too little, 5 might be doable but there would probably be some unacceptable casualties in that cull, 8 I could get behind but at that point it might as well be 12. Anything over 12 (not counting casios, of course) then something has to go for me.

If a watch isn't getting the wrist time, it just feels right to re-home it, and give it a chance to shine on someone else's wrist.

Also, God bless those unicorns out there with their one watch collection who think we're all crazy debating this topic.

I'm a minimalist in general.

When I have too many watches I feel overwhelmed with the idea of maintaining them, and I don't feel like any of them are really getting a chance to be worn or bonded with.

I got my collection down to 5, and honestly if I could do 2 I would, but this is comfortable for me to enjoy some variety without feeling anxious about it.

Rather well said! And now I’m craving sweets…🍫😉

Of the three, could you please share the make/model of the watch on the left?

Cheers

That’s the Kurono Tokyo ‘Azuki’ annual calendar.

It’s a very unique and awesome brand. If you wanna learn more, I made a whole post about the watches they make and the buying process.

https://www.watchcrunch.com/playswiththelight/posts/kurono-tokyo-appreciation-post-278052

thank you

I think that downsizing is great if you’re the type of person who buys watches on impulse, or simply because you want to… sometimes I wish I had fewer watches to choose from. Picking a watch for the day sometimes feels as overwhelming as trying to find something on Netflix to watch.

The reality is between an example of my first watch, the first watch my dad bought me when I got into the hobby, my uncles watch, my grandfather’s watch, my dad’s first watch, my other grandfather’s watch, the watch my wife bought me for our wedding, the watch my wife bought me for our 5 year anniversary, etc etc… I just don’t see any downsizing in my future.

I went from 30+ to just 8. Now 10. I could possibly go down to 4 but I would definitely miss some.

If it brings you joy its dumb to let people make feel a certain way for the amount of possessions you have. If having a few of something is what you want, then cool, but if you want a robust collection the more power to you.

Which ones do you miss?

The one I miss the most is a San Martin 6200 homage. A lovely little watch that I used quite a lot. My dad's DayDate has also gone and although I never wore it I miss not having it. They all went to family and friends so it's not too bad. The ones I have left all have value greater than their cost so they would be difficult to lose.

I have been thinking a lot about consolidating my collection too. There are pieces that I just don’t wear anymore and I think having a smaller collection will help me enjoy the pieces I have more. But I see what you’re saying that your collection is a documentary of your own taste. Do you think that if you sell off pieces that they wouldn’t be part of your documentary?

Pretty much 😅

I think vintage downsizing sounds about right here

I think downsizing works in certain scenarios, like if you had such a large collection and there were watches that you haven't touched in years (minus heirloom pieces, etc). So, there are a few reasons for it.

However, I feel like most downsizing stuff we see today is just trendy rhetoric. Like many things that can have deeper or intellectual roots, people will espouse it without backing to without a logical argument for it.

Collecting is part of the human condition and every man should have at least one thing he collects. Time pieces I believe are a more noble collection. We collect tools that measure the most precious commodity: time. It's so precious that watches are practically the only tool we wear consistently and include everywhere in our lives.

And we will pass these on to others with our own time and memories embedded into the pieces we collect.

I also heard once that a watch is one of the most intimate gifts you can give to a person, because of what a watch represents.

We may not be able to time travel, but watches are the closest we've come. We measure the present and past, boldly going to the future with the sentimental legacy we build, for our future selves and generations to look back upon fondly.

I don't want my kids having to sell off hundreds of affordables when I eat dirt.

Have a 10 watch collection+1 beater. Cost: $7150

At this point I will spend the next five years squaring away a 3 watch collection. Cost approx $27K

Then my last five years before retirement to buy my exit VC FiftySix. Single watch cost~$27K

In total, expect it to be 24-30 watches when I check out. Three kids+their S.O.s, 3+ grands. Somewhere around 3 watches per heir.

Yes, I have issues. 😂

*And I don't count gifts received in numbers/$$ figures

I am not so much downsizing as I am moving on from watches that have limited use cases for me. Helps that I am not that emotionally invested in most of my collection.

I have a tendency to be overly sentimental. Thats also probably a large reason I’ve never sold a watch.

I think once you're at a certain stage in your collecting journey/your collection and experience with a range of different watches matures, you can begin to get a feel for what you actually like & wear. Then you can naturally start to cut down on some of the experience buys you might've made in the early impulsive stages. So I theorize. I'm not there yet 😂

I’ve heard people say that your first 12 watches are a mistake. I think that statement is a little obtuse but there’s definitely some truth to it.

I downsized from thirty-five to 12 watches. Was a painful process but glad I did.

Love this theoretical downsized collection.

But, I would have chosen a different King Seiko. I'm a huge Seiko fan and love that one, but if I had to downsize, and I have this one and a Vintage 1971 KING SEIKO Weekdater 5625-7110. I would choose the latter.

But it's such a personal choice. Love the poll and the ideas and thought behind it though.

I feel that, for a long time I thought the King Seiko 45-7000 was gonna be my vintage pick for a high beat seiko but once I saw that case, I fell in love.