Is it okay to NOT have a grail?

IMO most people with grail are looking for a way out of their love of watches. That's why they set the starting point too high so that the grail is really everything that an individual could want from a watch. But in reality it doesn't work that way. If someone likes a watch, the grail will not get them out of that enthusiasm. It's a momentary pleasure and satisfaction of reaching the goal, but life goes on and sooner or later another grail comes after a grail anyway 🤷‍♂😉

Not every temporary obsession is a "grail". I have many temporary obsessions and no grails. I have a few long-term goals, but I will only acquire them if they are original and at a price that is right for me. In no way would my collection be complete if I obtained these watches or incomplete if I didn't.

I think that "grail" is just a clever shorthand for "beautiful thing just out of reach". If you think about it, it is a McGuffin, a plot device. It is meant to keep you chasing and animate your watch experience. Obtaining it is of no matter to the plot. If you ever catch it you will realize that it is just a watch, with flaws like any other.

Perhaps the Airking isn't your true grail. It seems to me that your purchases have been more spontaneous than well considered (we are all guilty of that in the beginning). I have absolutely no doubt that the longer you are interested in watches, and the more you get to know about them, many, many more will become your grail.

Grail is a myth imo. Any grail I ever coveted and then got just gave way to another grail. Then you link that to changes in taste, changes in disposable income, milestones, etc.

Wayne's World, that next level that doesn't exist on the game arcade machine

A grail is something that develops over time. You are probably to new to have develops your own taste fully. Is it also OK to change your grail! And also to never achieve it. Btw Mine is currently a cartier tortue monopoussoir.

I really like this theory, makes it sound like we're all just in a different chapter of a long book about watches!

Well now, this introduces the notion of a "true Grail" doesn't it. Right now, there's no watch, at any pricepoint, that I want more than the Air King.

Spontaneity vs well considered in an intersting one too. I've been thinking of the Air King for coming up 12 months before I registered my interest for it. It may not come for another 12 months too. Where would that sit on your timeline of impromtu or planned?

Certainly the Longines was much quicker flash to bang, maybe 4 months from when I first saw it to picking it up from the AD.

I have a stretch grail and a real grail.

JLC Reverso Duo Face is my stretch grail, it’ll take. A few years but something to work toward - and right now, I can’t pop shop and buy one, so right now unattainable.

Then an actual grail - the Vianney Halter Deep Space Tourbillon. I’ll never even see one in the metal, but damn, that’s the one.

Wow, I had to google it, but that is quite the thing isn't it!

To me a grail always make me sad… because is something that i cannot obtain however much i like it🤣

@Aurelian made all the points, I have no further questions, and the prosecution rests.

cleaver shorthand for “beautiful thing just out of reach”

I could not have said this more eloquently. I would bet that most of us on this platform value the chase more than the prize because it is, after all, just a watch.

To me a grail IS a myth. It's a watch that may not even exist.

Mine are things like a Certina DS Amagnetic with kite indices, a Citizen Leopard Superbeat10 with faceted crystal and un-hooded lugs or a white-dialed Junghans J88 Bundeseigentum.

I see a grail watch as something to seek, hunt, or aspire for that has special meaning to me, or that has caught my passion so strongly, that it motivates me to figure out how to get it. The bar is extremely high, so that lessens the chances, but oh how sweet the hunt, and the reward should it come. Mine are Lange Datograph and original JLC Polaris Memovox. Both are coveted, but rather narrow in their audience.

I feel the grail is always the hunt... I think we all hope the get that "one watch" but there will always be a new grail while in this hobby. Perhaps it's best to never obtain your true grail... haha

TBH, I'm not sure that I can even understand the concept of a Grail watch.

Sorry about that..that is one of the reasons i left Minnesota 50 years ago..so I could make a dec ent living. I can see your problem now..wish I could help. Keep you chin up...

Just quietly, it's OK to not have something, not want something, not think something, etc, in watches.

Our economy is booming, super low unemployment and a budget surplus. I'm just sick and old. Social Security is pretty thin.

Im 73 so I understand the SS thing...Hang in there..

It's not the prize, it's the hunt.

Yea I don't have a "grail" watch. I just buy whatever I think looks cool and that's my simple system and it works for me.

Yes, but a grail watch is one on the top rung you

want. It's a watch you aspire to, You go to an AD or look at it online.

You hope you can get money for it. You are ok if you don't.

This hobby should be fun, not life and death.

One only needs to open a dictionary to see how many dying and evolving definitions a single word can have. For me a grail is theoretically obtainable however the path is so difficult that only the hero's journey gets one within reach.

To mind “Aspirational” is a more accurate term . “Grail” is a watch you need to win lotto to obtain in my mind ( opinion ) . I dont just have a grail watch , I have a grail collection in my mind’s eye 👁️ 😂. In my imagination my lifestyle is blooming fabulous:)

Discussions about "grail" watches are usually had by people who badly want to want something badly. Just let desire happen (or not) on its own.

I feel like everyone has a different definition of a grail. I don’t think that watches you just have to wait for are necessarily grails, but again everyone has a different opinion.

I hope you get your AirKing man! I have a feeling if you’re really getting bit with the bug, there will be more “stepping stones” before the hopeful IWC!

That Longines is nice!

I don’t believe price is the prime driver of grail status. Or, a grail shouldn’t be only something that you have to save for, and then buy. There are 543 116900s on Chrono24 right now. The challenge there is only the financial one. I admire anyone with the discipline and commitment to save for a goal, but to me that’s not a grail. That’s just an expensive watch. And there’s nothing wrong with that. I would like to have some more watches of value.

For me a grail is a very specific watch. Maybe the first watch you remember taking note of, or one worn by a personal hero, real or fictional. Or a watch you once had and desperately want back. Perhaps an heirloom that you parted with out of desperation or ignorance. A watch that was lost through tragic circumstances. In any case the search and reason for significance are the drivers of grail status for me. Not the cost.

👍

I'm equally comfortable wearing my iwc, omega or cartier as with my seikos, apple watch and casios... each has strengths and uses. Grail is probably just something you would like to motivate yourself with..