The thing with cheap watches...
So I've been preparing myself for a bit of a collection purge recently and it actually took me a couple months to decide what goes and what stays. Like many enthusiasts I had amassed alot of "cheap" watches early on in my journey and they were the most obvious candidates.
Now by cheap I mean $100-300 CAD range. I know a "cheap" watch is relative to the buyer, and anyone that says you cant get a great watch at any price range just isnt really that enthusiatic about watches to begin with. This is why sometimes getting rid of any watch at all becomes such a struggle only fellow watch nerds understand!
As I was prepping the tributes and doing my little photo shoots to make them look their best, I started wincing again at the thought of letting them go. Just looking at them it reminded me how excited I was when I first got them. Here's a bit of their stories:
- Timex Navi XL - an impulse buy. I wanted a sub style diver and this fit the bill. I put an oyster bracelet on it for a while and actually got lots of compliments on it. Miyota movement, non hacking. Eventually lost to a custom built SKX style watch.
- Chinese MAS clone with wave dial - this one I thought about for a couple weeks. Ultimately it was to test run the comfort of the case as I thought one day I would want an SPB143. I loved the domed tophat saphire crystal and minimalist, bright dial, but it was too top heavy and uncomfortable to me.
- Timex military style chrono - also an impulse buy. I had previously a white dial weekender chrono I let go for this one. I just really liked the indiglo! Again, gshocks usually won my wrist over this piece.
- Vostok Kommander diver - this one I actually carefully thought through. Vostoks facinated me for a few months and their catalogue is so wide! Decided on this one because of the simple white dial. Ended up getting some vintage Vostoks which I now wear more because they are just slimmer and look beat up, which I like.
So if you read to this point you can probably tell, none of these watches are paticularly valuable in monetary or emotional terms. But they did remind me of who I was when I bought them, an excited kid at the candy shop with eyes bigger than his stomach. And even though they werent necessarily important, maybe not even wise purchases, it also reminded me how much fun you can have with this hobby, even with not much money.
Dont get me wrong, I am definitely getting rid of these. I cant stand to have watches I dont wear, plus I already bought something else so the funds are needed. What does make me smile though is the thought someone else will be browsing through used watches and see one of these then get that same small jolt of excitment saying "I want to try that...". And they can do it with little risk because after all, these wont make them go bankrupt.
I know I'm probably preaching to the choir here with my story, but it was fun writing it down. I made some collages of these watches if youve flipped through by now, sort of like a scrap book of pictures of old friends haha. Now the harder part of actually selling them...
Well rounded nerd, into music, guitar pedals, all things DIY, and watches!
I completely relate. I really should purge about half of my collection. But getting them ready to list for sale reminds me why I liked them in the first place, so I just keep them.
My watches always tell me when it's time to move on. There have been a few occasions when I shouldn't have listened though.
Those Timex watches still look great...maybe give them some time off and come back to them
Those Timex watches still look great...maybe give them some time off and come back to them
This is why I want to let them go actually, so they can live a life on someones wrist rather than my closet. Ideally theyll inspire someone else to join this crazy hobby!
This is why I want to let them go actually, so they can live a life on someones wrist rather than my closet. Ideally theyll inspire someone else to join this crazy hobby!
That’s a very mature and responsible response. Exactly the opposite of what I would do! 😂😂
All i will say, is that there is a difference tween cheap and inexpensive.
I was ruminating last night while drifting off how great it would be to manage just one watch box of 12. Each one would receive proper wrist time…and I would connect with each holistically. As it stands, my many watches are like little match boys…waiting in a long dusty line for a measly bowl of gruel.
All i will say, is that there is a difference tween cheap and inexpensive.
Very true, all these watches I would say are low cost but not low value for what I paid.
Thanks for sharing...great pictures and stories to go with them. I'll probably always be an inexpensive/high-value watch guy (Seiko, Timex, Victorinox, Casio, Invicta), but only time will tell.
Our "hobby" is cyclic in nature. We grow enamored of a piece, we buy it , we wear it, we get bored with it, we sell it or gift it. I have not set a definite amount of time, but if I have a watch that I have not worn for a significant amount of time, I gift* it to relatives or friends, because I don't want to go into the hassle of selling it. I usually gift them in a spur-of-the-moment fashion, because I know that I will try to find excuses not to give it, and then it will keep collecting dust in my box.
One of the duties of us enlightened folk is to educate our horologically challenged brethren. That's how I guided my sister from the veritable abyss of wrist junk that are called "modern women's watches" to a very respectable 8-watch collection, most of them previously owned by me. Now I am working on my brother in law, which is more of a challenge, since he has abominable taste.
*= Not the expensive ones, I am not an idiot!
Our "hobby" is cyclic in nature. We grow enamored of a piece, we buy it , we wear it, we get bored with it, we sell it or gift it. I have not set a definite amount of time, but if I have a watch that I have not worn for a significant amount of time, I gift* it to relatives or friends, because I don't want to go into the hassle of selling it. I usually gift them in a spur-of-the-moment fashion, because I know that I will try to find excuses not to give it, and then it will keep collecting dust in my box.
One of the duties of us enlightened folk is to educate our horologically challenged brethren. That's how I guided my sister from the veritable abyss of wrist junk that are called "modern women's watches" to a very respectable 8-watch collection, most of them previously owned by me. Now I am working on my brother in law, which is more of a challenge, since he has abominable taste.
*= Not the expensive ones, I am not an idiot!
Totally agree with your path for purging. We'll likely never get any good selling price on these affordable watches that would be "fair" in our hearts/minds. But passing them on to friends, family or those we are seducing into the hobby seem to provide much greater "return" than any selling price we'd get for them.
There a lot of watches that I gave away and moved on. I have no regrets for me they were watches that were too big for my wrist or just felt I just move on to something more better or that fit my life style. You will out grow certain watches the more in depth in this hobby there is almost no way you just get this one watch and say THIS IS IT... some point you see another one and you just got to have it.
I have gotten to the point where all of my mid level watches are gone. I have one plastic digital sports watch and everything else is at "my highest quality level." For me once I bought a better watch, the level below got passed over and never got wrist time
You got the power to do the right thing 💪😅