Don't Wear Your Watch
I have 30 watches, and one on the way. It is the new Seiko SUR517P1. I don't have a photo, but you can see it on Amazon or Jomashop or even YouTube. And you'd be doing yourself a favor if you like new modern watches and/or you're a Seiko fan. You might enjoy seeing it. It has a sort of industrial pattern on its dial like an IWC Engineer. The watch's selling point is its big date complication at six o'clock, but I really don't care about that. Truth is, I'd rather not have it, but I like the rest of the dial so much it doesn't matter. It also has beautiful metalwork, sapphire, 100m, some lume, sharp looking hands, what I think is a new model quartz movement, and what looks like a good strap, all for $165. Credits and thanks to the WatchCruncher who said in a post or comment recently that Seiko absolutely still makes excellent watches at low prices. You just have to look.
So I'll soon have 31 watches. Can I wear them all? No. Do they all get equal "wrist time"? No. Do I care that they'll get equal wrist time? No. I bought the new Seiko SUR517P1 because I can afford it and because it's a shiny object that resonates with me. I'm guessing I'll wear it quite a bit, because that is important. But no more important than simply having it in a collection.
People collect all sorts of things. Baseball cards, figurines, yarn, scale models, bottle caps, paintings. In most cases people bring these like objects together for no other reason than to have them and to look at them. Nobody would ever think to say a word about someone who collects paintings and never takes them out of the house. That's because looking at fine art is an end in itself.
Almost all watches are art to some degree, and these days probably more Art than Function. Maybe it was always so. If function was all we cared about, every watch would look pretty much the same. But we're not just about function and utility, we're into the Art. And I can enjoy a watch's art on or off my wrist.
There are a few exceptions. Automobile collecting is an obvious example. You will do harm to your car collection if you just leave it sit there. Anything mechanical needs to be run and used occasionally, including mechanical watches, but I would argue that a quartz watch doesn't notice or care if it's ticking on your arm or in a watchbox.
Consider two elderly watch collectors. One has a large collection of interesting watches that he has done his best to wear consistently over the years. They have acquired scratches, patina, there are life stories wrapped up in them, etc. Consider another collector. He also has a large collection of watches from a bygone era, but he has taken great pains to keep every one inside and in pristine condition, so viewing them is like going back in time. If these two invited you to see their collections, whose would you rather see? For me it would be a dead heat, an exact tie.
Catholic, father of two, born before the Quartz Crisis, worked in hospital for 37 years, retired, also was semi-pro drummer (drumset) in loud rock bands and hand drums drummer (African) in acoustic du...
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I'd much prefer to see watches that led a life well lived than a bunch of safe queens.
This is a really good point. We hear the term "beater" a lot in modern life. Beater car, beater watch, etc. I don't like the term, I don't use it, and I don't own anything that I have little regard for. I was taught to take care of things. That comes from my parents who were children during the Depression and also had to endure the 1937 Flood. They had nothing growing up. Then, when they finally had a few little kid possessions, here came the '37 flood and washed them all away. I like the exact words you used: "damage is not a badge of honor".
And it's " . . . not required in order to assign memories to a given watch". No it's not, and also I think we watch guys can go a little overboard with the whole Every Beat Up Watch Has An Interesting Story thing. A guy could say his banged up watch went with him to Mt. Everest when in reality his two-year got a hold of it and bashed it around on the floor for a few days before the guy discovered it was missing. My very first thought when I see beat-up flea market watches is that somebody sure took lousy care of this watch! There may or may not be an interesting story behind it. A wearer of a well-worn watch may (and probably will) . . . uhh . . . embellish the story but that can be good fun too sometimes. Every person has an interesting story, his watch may or may not figure into it, but we can always hope for the satisfying conversation.
But which conversation? That of the well-worn wearer or the dedicated curator? I can't say. And I don't mean that in a watery "It's all good" type of way. Both conversations would be equally interesting, and equally valid.
And I seek no answer. That's good on you to donate that way, and fun and imaginative. St. Teresa of Avila said "God protect me from gloomy faced saints." A person can also donate actual watches to Vietnam Vets, for example, or to a Church festival. I gave my Mondaine to the festival thinking it would be an ultimate fish pond prize for a little boy or girl. It wasn't real big and the strap would have fit, but I found out later that they put it in the auction instead. Maybe they saw "Swiss Made" on it and overestimated its worth.
Excellent. Each collection is it's own and it's up to the collector to see how it evolves. Mine has been a journey that evolved collecting items to create a mini museum in my home office. Do I need to wear them all to enjoy them? No way. Looking at them while I'm working from home 8 hours a day gives me just as much joy. The funny thing I noticed about us watch collectors is we create rules that we feel we have to follow and I'm guilty of this too. I guess it justifies the amount of money we spent, but hey as a kid I collected action figures, matchbox cars, etc. I didn't feel the obligation or need to wear them on my wrist. However, wearing an action figure on my wrist might look pretty cool. lol
Excellent. Each collection is it's own and it's up to the collector to see how it evolves. Mine has been a journey that evolved collecting items to create a mini museum in my home office. Do I need to wear them all to enjoy them? No way. Looking at them while I'm working from home 8 hours a day gives me just as much joy. The funny thing I noticed about us watch collectors is we create rules that we feel we have to follow and I'm guilty of this too. I guess it justifies the amount of money we spent, but hey as a kid I collected action figures, matchbox cars, etc. I didn't feel the obligation or need to wear them on my wrist. However, wearing an action figure on my wrist might look pretty cool. lol
There are no real Watch Collecting Rules, but we like to pretend there are.
Well-said.