A Year In Collecting & Battling Addiction.

Thanks for sharing! I think we are all a work in progress. Sometimes we slip up, but what matters is doing what it takes to get back on track. My best wishes to you! 🤗

I agree 100%. I bought 16 G Shocks in the span of 5 weeks. Then I was like stop this enough is enough. Anticipation the watches arrival, opening the box, unwrapping it, putting it on. The dopamine yup. That feeling. Fortunately I stopped. I don’t regret the purchases but I know what you mean. Nice post.

I get it. My drug budget far outweighs my watch budget (cannabis, 2oz per week) and I'm fine with that - I hold down a responsible job and am a functional member of society, unlike the 10 years I had on prescription opiates following a serious bike accident.

So that's how I limit my addictive personality from buying more watches 😂

I've given a fair few watches to mates, actually find it more satisfying than just buying something for myself for the sake of it - tho I've had my Grail a few years. ...

So my advice would be find that one watch that really floats your boat. Once you have your Grail then anything else will steal wrist time from your pride and joy, so the urge to buy will ease off... I'm pretty much a strap collector now 😂

Good luck mate 👍🏻🖖🏻

Thank you. The solution I turned to in the past after some time on the couch, was exercise. I started rowing. Of course I took it to the extreme, never having rest days, upgrading the rowing machine a few times etc. Exercise is however the best way to release feel good endorphines into the brain.

The rowing machine is getting dusted down over the weekend & I will be posting a wrist shot in mid row very shortly. If my rowing machine isn't a Porsche, Ferrari, Merc or BMW, it may take a bit longer 😀

Wow, 16 watches in 5 weeks. I'm an amateur 😀

In all seriousness, you absolutely know what I'm feeling right now. It's good to talk, it helps alleviate some of the guilt.

Here's the thing... while I understand the issues you raise, and I don't downplay them at all, there's still a profound difference between putting something up your nose, or in your arm... and a nice watch that you can always flog off and get most of, sometimes all, your money back. So while the addictive tendencies are still there, you aren't going to bankrupt yourself, and you're going to have some nice baubles to look at along the way.

Dr Robert's* diagnosis... it's good to keep things in check, but on the list of things to be addicted to, watches aren't bad, and are miles ahead of many other nasties out there.

(*Not a real Doctor)

Definitely need those rest days when it comes to working out! Moderation is key to most things in life. I admit since getting into watches this year it has reminded me of the days when I used to collect Jordans/Nikes. I sold off most of my shoe collection years ago after a foot injury and my podiatrist told me to stick with wide running shoes. Here’s to finding balance and moderation together! 🤝

You're in your happy place, you, Happy Gilmore & the foxy chick wearing suspenders.

You mentioning you're a strap collector now actually helps clear a path for me. I actually get more pleasure from finding an alternative strap for a watch than I do from the purchase of the watch. It's like a challenge, a goal, to find something that in my mind looks better than the watchmaker intends it.

A grail plus regular strap renewal may act as a damper to my current urges. 👍

Great post🤝

Oh absolutely I agree with you there, when you're closer to 60 than 50 your body absolutely needs recovery days. I found that the days I wasn't going to row much like a smoker without a packet of cigarettes. Anxiety, nervous energy, fidgeting etc. No rest days & the body soon tells you. I started to get really bad tendonitis & was told to take up Yoga.

Sorry, but that was just never going to make it on to my menu.

I absolutely agree with that, I just drew the comparison as it's essentially the same driving factor in very different habits/addictions.

I view this addiction very much like Marge Simpson did when Homer became a workaholic. She told him this was very much her favourite a-holic of Homer's long list.

Thank you 👍

Absolutely mate, a really premium strap can cost between £70+£200, far cheaper than a watch & really elevates the whole wearing experience!

Theres a whole fascinating history of straps too, & reproductions of many historic straps/bracelets out there eg WW2 pre-Nato's, Moonwatch Forstner Komfit, Sailcloth etc...

Absolutely, an addictive personality will go after anything. Sometimes those things are very bad, sometimes they're a bit meh, and sometimes they can even be very good.

I loved your story and thanks for sharing . Stories like this helps with our outlook in life and importance that drives us individually. All the best my friend!

Hi Sam. You put a lot of effort into that reply, so I will give a bit more background.

At 31 my wife & I separated. I had already been using drugs for 4 years on a daily basis. Once the dust settled I had around £40,000 of unsecured debt, no house & little to no disposable income. It took me 18 years to become debt free. I worked in financial services for 20 years, so I was at least a functioning addict. 2 years after I separated from my ex-wife my solicitor, acting on my behalf during my divorce, & I became romantically involved, for want of a better expression. We've been together for 24 years now. For the first 15 years she supported me emotionally & financially, without her things could have gotten a whole lot worse for me. So my current wife divorced me before she married me :)

I digress. I hated working in financial services & after 20 years I woke up one morning & said no more. Life is too short to be miserable & doing the same thing over & over that is the cause of the misery isn't going to change one thing. So I jacked in my job with no plan & no idea what I was going to do.

My father is a Chartered Accountant, still working today at 83 years of age. He said to me on hearing I'd jacked in my job, great you can come & work with me I'm desperate for someone. I'm not a qualified accountant but from the age of 13 my father had me working the summer holidays in his business. I learned a lot of accounting skills without having the bit of paper that says I can do it. I worked for him for 2 years getting paid a living wage, no more.

Then one month he took ill & work stopped. I had no job & no idea wtf I was going to do. A friend of a friend put out a call on Facebook for someone to sort out his tax receipts for him for a couple of hundred quid. I told him I'd do it. I'd do anything at that point. He had worked in the film industry for 20 years & when I gave him his tax receipts back, I said to him "you must have accounts people in your line of work" to which he confirmed there were. I said to him if he hears of any job going could he put my name forward for it.

This is where the luck comes in. If you ask 100 people for that same favour, 95 of them will say yes, of course. The reality is though that only a handfull will every make good on it. Other sh1t comes up, they forget etc etc. My luck was that the one person I did ask, was one of the few that deliver on their word. 10 days later I started working on a film, that was 9 years ago. There is a lot of money in this industry & once I realised what a stroke of luck I'd got I worked my @ss off to build a reputation that saw me have the opportunity to earn the money that I now do. It's only been in the last 4 years that I have become the accounts HOD or financial controller. That's where the money gets silly. I'm obviously not going to say how much but it's enough to put me in the top 5% of earners in the UK. I'm not rich, I was earning £20,000pa 10 years ago. What I do have now is a high income & that's what allows me to spend the sums of money I have done over the last 3 years on what was always a passion, watches.

I went to a professional counsellor after the break up of my marriage & it certainly helped me understand my weaknesses. It didn't however rid me of them. I recognise the signs & today's admission was the equivalent of "My name's Chris & I'm an alcoholic" for the first timer at an AA meet. I did it to forceably remind myself not to get too big for my own boots, to remain humble & not to get arrogant or cocky on the turnaround I have experienced in my life. I calculated how much I'd spent this year & it shocked me. It's got out of control.

I've worked 60 hour weeks for the last 9 years to get here but it was a huge stroke of luck that got me the opportunity & that's why I consider myself to be a very fortunate & lucky man today. The one other benefit of my experience is that I discovered a drive & ambition existed in me that I never knew I had for the first 20 years of my working life. Once you discover it, it certainly can become an incredibly positive characteristic that pushes you on leaps & bounds.

Thank you for your thoughts & I have to agree that what would give me the most pleasure is to give my 2 lifelong best mates a watch each now. They were there for me when life was a car crash, it would make me very happy to give them something they have for the rest of their lives.

My nephews can wait, they're a bit too young to appreciate watches nor would they want any of the ones I have I wouldn't think.

TYVM 👍

Go for it then! And you’ll be able to tell when your nephews are ready

I'm in your shoes with the watch buying spree and i can totally relate. Some days i question why i keep buying more, but indeed it is a dopamine hit when a new one arrives. I guess as long as we're not in debt it is still a healthy hobby? 😄

My friend suggested the only way to get our minds off the watch hobby is to find a different, equally interesting hobby to set our focus on. It might be effective but it would probably be just as expensive so i havent tried yet. 🫣

When you find a solution let us know 🤗

Hi there. I'm an addictologist working primarily with white and brown powder addicts, but also green stuff and alcohol.

If I'm not mistaken you already got yourself out of deeper problems before, you can do it again.

A little advice that helps me control my watch itches and can't be used agains other addictions : you can spend time (rather than money) doing research : try wasting time looking for the best deals, rather than just pulling the trigger... Even better educate yourself, read, watch videos.

Rather than endlessly buying me watches I decided to buy dials, hands and bezel inserts on AliExpress and start modding. Too soon to say how well it works but I already saved myself some time and money.

As English isn't my native language I don't know if I answered correctly to your concerns so don't hesitate to ask a more direct and short question

Sober 13 years here. It's a problem if you think it's a problem. I recommend therapy to help you find the hole you're trying to fill.

Hey thank you for your thoughts & suggestions. I think you may have just hit the right button with one. I do enjoy a challenge, something that you know you cannot currently do to any great standard but through application, many mistakes & a lot of practice eventually sees something created. Trying to create a watch would be a great distraction. Akin to Homer's BBQ building episode;

I see things slightly differently. You have to first recognise a problem but then figure what you need to do to make that problem a solution.

I'd just like to thank the many Watchcrunchers that have offered up support & ideas in this thread but also to the many of you that have messaged me privately.

This is a really great community on here, one that is borne out of a shared love & genuine desire to be informative, supportive & helpful to others with the same love of all watches. It's refreshing, as we all know that internet trolls exist pretty much everywhere & can really ruin a forum for others.

Thanks for sharing your story. None of us here are free of demons, and it's good to remember that from time to time.

It's not the watches I'm addicted to. I'm addicted to the projection of what it means to have a lot of watches. Not sure if that makes sense. I am sure that it won't end, so I just need to keep making money.

Thanks a lot for sharing your story. I personally found it very relatable in certain context.

Fortunately I'm not into any addiction, but lots of things happened the last several years & i found myself laden with debt as well. Currently a middle class worker living from paycheck to paycheck while still accummulating debt at the same time coz I haven't managed to get a job with better pay yet until now. Kinda depressing like being in a dark tunnel where you can't see the exit, you keep on walking but the tunnel just keeps on going with no definite end.

Hence I could only afford myself a single watch with several straps collection to satisfy my passion for watches. Anyway, I hope things will be better in 2024 & I can finally get some break financially.

Thanks again for sharing. Your story touch me deeper than you know 🍻

The only advice I can offer to you is never stop believing that you will get through the tunnel, never give up.

I realised that I had to make a decision in my career & eventually found the courage to do so. Fortunately it worked out & the new found energy & confidence it gave me made the journey easier than I thought. Sometimes you have to accept the risk to get the reward. I wish you the best in solving your issues going forward.

Yeah.. still got 2 little kids depending on me, so giving up is definitely not a choice 😂

Thanks for the kind encouragement, it means a lot! 🍻

Totally understand. I only made my career move once my daughter turned 18. Responsibly for others > responsibility to oneself.