Different stages of watch collecting

I’m at the “alrite if I remortgage the house, sell 3 watches and get a loan for X$k usd” I think I can make this happen stage. 🤣

The only changes to my collecting has been from pocket and vintage watches to modern. I'm quite happy with the £200 to £500 range with the odd one closer to £1000. I personally doubt I would get any more enjoyment out of a £10,000 watch as I do a £1000 one unless it was vintage with an amazing history.

Tuesday. It happens on a Tuesday.

Maybe an age thing, as we get older financial responsibilities decrease so disposable income goes up.

Ive been into watches most of my life like many of us on here, & I certainly wouldn't have been able to afford what I own now back in my younger day's.

I think it's natural to want "better" and keep improving the collection, with the sweet spot depending on the individual point where the "Law of diminishing returns" and financial self imposed limits kick in.

For me I've got one watch that cost substantially more than the others, my "Grail" & I'm sure I'll never buy anything that pricey again. I'm happiest around the £800-£1500 mark, my Grail cost £3500.

Time in the hobby has an effect too as you get desensitized to priced...

I’m at the very first steps of collecting. Where you get thrilled by almost everything you see, but enough into it to be responsible and give each piece a reason to be bought or not.

Also, I don’t know much about grails, but I think I got mine without knowing. First I got it, then I realized I could basically do with just that one. But I’m not, just in case.

Ok, that’s what I thought. Thanks for the confirmation.

I've jumped from 100 dollars to 1000 dollar range in a year. Now the I'm in the stage where I save up to buy really expensive watches. I think in the next decade I will end up buying max 3 watches between 1000-2500 dollar range including my grail.

The three stages are typically accumulation, refinement, culling. You are in stage one where you are sniffing around to determine what really suits you. Refinement means narrowing in on what you like and has nothing to do with increased spending or actual better taste. Ultimately you have to atone for having excess stuff and get rid of a lot of it.

Always happy to help

Excellent response! I’m in the refinement stage: I’ve learned through accumulation what I like and don’t like, and what price range I’m comfortable buying in. I’ve cycled through many watches this year and will be very selective with purchases next year.

You lost me at "atone" 40 years in and I'm still at the making excuses stage.

I don't think getting to that stage is inevitable, but the best input here will certainly be offered by the most seasoned collectors amongst us...

I have been collecting watches most of my adult life, my wife continues to work from home as a director in a finance related business but covid nudged me into retirement. I dabbled with higher horology and vintage sourced from auctions during my best most productive professional years, was not my comfort level. Today I buy whatever I want to see on my wrist as long as I can easily afford the watch and still have adequate dollars to repair the roof because my brilliant dad always lectured that into every life, a bit of rain might, will fall!

It wasn't linear for me. I was exposed to marquee brands before being exposed to the "watch community".

In the beginning I whimsically thought "ohh watches are expensive but if I only own one or two..."🤣 I had previously tried to just have the best example of something I could comfortably afford whether it be boots or bicycles.

Now after a couple of years of buying Seiko, Hamilton, etc I'm creeping back to where I began. I'm grateful for the journey though.

If you ever buy a Trinity watch you will completely change your perspective. You will need to come up with ways of making this fun. I always recommend people to push outside of their comfort zone, but hey, I’m just wired that way.

Took me 8 years of being in the hobby but finally said “fuck it” last week and went big

Stages come at different rates for people. I gradually went from Seiko 5s to boutique to forum darlings (Grand Seiko, Omega, Rolex, etc.) to JLC, Cartier, Glashuette Original, and Blancpain. What I discovered is that, for me, cost and joy don’t have a linear relationship. I am now at a stage where I find an equal amount of joy wearing a fun $500 G-Shock the day after I wore my 5-figure Blancpain. What a trip it has been; in looking back, if I weren’t lucky enough to have the financial means that I do from my business, I would still have the same joy collecting a bunch of Seiko 5s… of course, I’d always think more joy could be had with a Rolex, which I’ve learned has not been the case.

Good luck with your stages. It’ll be fun, however it goes.

Keep having fun on the way to your grail. There’s no timetable for it.

Well I have just started collecting watches this year, there are lot of amazing watches at 1000$ or below, just need to wait a bit get the right watches. We'll I would like to get my hands on Rolex or Omegas if I stretch, rather I would like to stick on to great watches from the likes of Seikos, Mido or Tissot which can give some amazing watch experiences.

I’ve reached this stage very recently, the price of the watches I like has been slowly creeping up until recently when I’ve started to pop into my nearest Boutiques and get tempted by some of the pricey offerings, maybe the itch will be scratched after the first expensive (to me) purchase but knowing this hobby I doubt it 😂

I went from owning 10+ watches in the $50-$400 range to owning 3 core watches in the “luxury” range. I could easily reduce the collection to 2 or 1 watch. I’m much happier now that I have a small collection I’ll wear all the time.

I’m at the phase where I only buy a new watch every 2-3 years and usually when I hit some kind of life milestone. Budget has definitely gone up in the last few years. Each new buy is in the $2-10k range depending on the milestone.

Trinity?

Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin, Audemars Piguet