Collection Connections

Each person and their journey is unique. Some folks wear one watch for their entire life and they’re perfectly content and then that watch gets passed onto the next generation. Others will spend an entire lifetime amassing a large collection, but not have any sentimental feelings for one piece over another. And some folks buy watches as a reminder of some milestone, vacation, birthday, kid’s birth etc, and that watch is forever associated with that event. I wouldn’t worry too much about what others think as long as you’re appreciative of what you got going on.

Kind of in the same boat. Sitting at 25 pieces, I would like to sell some of them so that I can afford my newer tastes which are more expensive. I am attached to a few of them that I will never sell due to history and story attached but most of them I haven't really bonded with. The part that I dread is going through the process of figuring out how to sell them as I don't want to set up an eBay account or anything like that. I just would kind of like to post them somewhere and let somebody take them. Average price in my collection is $300 to 700, with a couple of them over the $2,000. Mark.

Your question is interesting and I'm glad you've posed it as I don't believe you were alone. We get carried away with our hobbies sometimes.

I think the more you wear a watch, the more of a connection you build with it. It can start to remind you of things you’ve done or places you’ve been.

While I enjoy all my watches, I tend to gravitate towards certain ones more than others for various reasons.

For example, this is the watch I wore for the first #wwc last year.

That was an interesting experience when I was new to this site, so I’ve got those memories associated with it. Also, it’s the watch I wore when I went to Iceland. So when I think of that trip, I think of this watch, and vice versa.

This watch was given to me by my wife before we were married.

Among other things, it’s a symbol of her faith in me. Who knew if we’d ever get married at that point, and neither of us owned anything but a car that cost that much. So it will stay with me until I give it to one of my children, building memories the whole time.

Maybe this won’t happen for you, but many of us have these connections. I think a precondition is that the watch stands out in your mind enough that you reach for it more or at least when embarking on memorable experiences.

I hope that helps.

That's very true. My collection is quite varied and while most are 'watches that I wanted to buy' there are a few in there that I have bought to commemorate specific events. I wonder whether its one of those things that reinforces itself - something like 'I bought that watch for my wedding and so now I wear it for special occasions with my wife, and that reinforces the connection'.

It certainly can be that. I tend to wear the watch my wife got me or my half of the pair I got us for our 10 year anniversary when she and I go out, so I guess I’m reinforcing my connection with those two.

Because I am a collector. 😀 I think that there are two kinds of any collector - the first collects the item because the primarily love the item, the second collects the item because they love collecting. I have always loved watches, but I have also always been a collector of something. I buy to build my collection, and I get joy from the variety and gestalt of the collection. While a lot of people have a collection of individual watches, I have a number of watches that have become a collection. I like watches as expressions and tiny, complex machines.

Similar situation for me. Roughly 40 watches in the collection. Started out with homages and Seikos about 6 years ago. A career change helped add less affordable brands to the collection.

As a collector I consider I have a connection to all of them in that something about the watch - be that design, movement, history, heritage, country of origin (I’ve lived abroad and traveled extensively), etc - connected with me enough to add it to the collection, even if that was simply a desire to “experience” the watch. Certainly the connection to some is certainly stronger for various reasons. The watch I have the greatest connection (ie the most memories with) I haven’t worn in over a decade but iwill always have a place in my watch box is the G-Shock I wore for years in the service and while deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. The Grand Seiko Snowflake I got to commemorate my 30th wedding anniversary is only worn sparingly.

I have culled the heard so to speak by gifting a dozen or more (Seiko 5s, GShocks, homage watches) to family. Have yet to sell any though. Probably should since it would free up funds for other watches I’d love to have, but just can’t seem to do it. I think gifting them makes me happier.

I go back and forth between wearing a different watch for a day or two, to wearing 3 different watches in a day, to wearing the same watch for a week - at least to work, then switching to a different watch once home. I went on a “watch fast” once and wore the same watch for a month straight. Not likely will do that again, but know that I could, especially since most of my life I only had one or two watches. But I enjoy all the watches I’ve collected and make an effort to wear them all, even if for some that’s only a few times a year.

I think many of us ran into this situation early in collecting journey, meaning accumulating watches like there is no tomorrow ( most likely in lower tier segment ). Some stick to that concept of collecting later on and that is fine as we should do what we prefer. I can only say for myself I went trough this "hoarding" phase and now my focus is completely different. Now I have less of them, sold all that didn't get wrist time ( as you said at 40 watches at least 50% of them get no or close to no love ) and have more appreciation for my watches that remained. Majority of them were to commemorate larger life events ( birth of children, big business sucess, special experience ... ), also my preferences changed ( no impulse or FOMO purchases, no influence from others what to buy, have more disposable income ... ). It is nothing wrong to collect many watches and have no meaningfull connection to them, we all have our own way of handling this disease called watch collecting😂But I am pass that stage and glad I made the decision. I found more joy of educating myself and always on the hunt for next desired watch - enjoy more in the journey and not only in the purchase part

I generally wear a watch for a single day, and then switch it out. I will wear most of my watches pretty equally. A few of the casio beaters dont get much wrist time but aside from that they will all get a bit of time in the sun. The watches I have do remind me of a certain time in my life, maybe not individually and maybe not of a specific event, but the first box of 12 was my starting point a few years ago, etc. I do enjoy choosing what one to pick out for a day, even just a regular Tuesday.

I made a semi-deliberate effort early in my collecting. The foundation of my collection is a variety of relatively cheap watches (around US$400-US$600 generally) but there are very few homages (I have a Heimdallr Monster but thats the only watch I would consider an homage) and no unbranded Chinese movements - Seiko, Miyota or Sellita mostly. Every watch I bought, I bought for a reason. I wanted a broad selection, so that at this point I could slow down and still continue to enjoy the affordable pieces in my collection while saving for the less affordable pieces. I dont really have any regrets, to be honest. I am enjoying more the curating of the collection now, targeting pieces that I really love, even if they require saving for half a year, but I get as much joy from my first Kickstarter diver as I ever did still.

I guess I placed too much faith in the 'each watch tells a story' side of collecting. That might be for people who have had the same 5 watch collection for three decades, but I am ok to sacrifice this for the joy of a more extensive collection and keeping options open for the next watch to add.