Can you create sentimental value?

In my mind, the sentimental value usually comes from a connection to a loved one but could also come from something personal. Three watches that I consider sentimental include the watch my dad wore when he died, the watch that my wife gave me as an engagement present, and my own personal Timex that I had as a kid, which I stumbled across with one of my grandsons while going through some old boxes.

A watch can gain sentimental value if it was what you were wearing for a significant occasion or was it a watch that was worn for a significant amount of time during a happy time in your life. My dad has a Seiko navigator he has owned since new and has a story to every scratch, so sentimental value will just grow over time.

All great examples, and yes sentimental value can absolutely develop with time like your Timex.

I don’t attach sentiment and memories to watches. They’re just things.

I’ve worn a watch every day since I was maybe 9 or 10 years old. Over the last four-and-a-half decades I’ve been to some fantastic places, met awesome people and done incredible things. And I couldn’t tell you which watch I was wearing for any of them. That’s because the watch I was wearing wasn’t an important part of the story; just like I don’t remember what shoes I was wearing.

That said, before Christmas I posted asked people to tell me something interesting about their watch - beyond its price and specifications. Interestingly, very few people write anything about the actual watch, but quite a few told (or made up!) stories about themselves that involved a watch.

Mrs was on the back of my Triumph when we had a Biggie, she got quite smashed up and so did my Khaki King Auto she was wearing.

The watch is pretty bashed up but still runs fine.

It's Mary's favourite watch now, more than her nicer pieces like her Cartier. It's her lucky watch and I'm sure would be the last to go.

I think it's weird but just shows how sentimental attachment can grow from even dire situations.

When I purchase watch, sentiments is not an intent. Sentiments come from memories invoked by the timepiece. When I look at my Tissot Motogp, I think of my vacation in Hong Kong in the mid 2000s. My Astron and Brightz invokes memories of living in Japan. That's what make a watch sentimental for me

I have a few as gifts, but I have no sentimental connections with any.

I could never get rid of my watches that were given as gifts, I just can't

But there are different types of gift? Most of my watches were either Christmas or birthday gifts, but after careful selection by me, from our joint funds, and often ordered by me personally. The very best gifts are something unexpected, that you either instantly or grow to love. With most of us being very fussy about our hobby, I’d say this is a rare with a watch?

Watches are just mass produced objects designed to sell to an appreciative public. I have certain watches that I have attached personal importance to but were never more than something that I wanted to wear when I bought them in the first place. I am a lifelong enthusiast so I sometimes recall watches more vividly than persons that I have encountered in the past but that is nothing to be proud of. I have a friend who will be awarded 10k cad to pay towards a Rolex to mark 25 continuous years working for one real estate firm, he must make up the difference, the token must also be a watch from that brand. If he ever manages to buy one without going into the grey market, the watch will be memorable, he insists it will not be positive!

Well my 50th birthday gift was totally unexpected and I was genuinely shocked by it, another was given to me by close family friends who I shot photos for. Mind you I've been shooting their photos for years cause I do it as strictly a hobby but one time they did surprise me with a watch which also surprised me. There were a couple others that took me by surprise and was unexpected. Those I cherish.

I watch that has real memories are the best watches, whether cheap or not. I have my late Dad's Longines and it holds so many memories it is priceless to me. I gave a friend a Seiko Solar 24 years ago and he wewars it every day and when I see his still talk about his watch and lucky for him, he is a one watch person and has no intention of changing it.

Yes, you can develop a sentimental value, but I cannot force it. I might remember a watch from a bittersweet trip to a college town with my son, before he left for school. I don´t have to receive the watch from another person, but it needs to be connected to an emotional time in my life, and that is very hard to do deliberately.

Hey John, interesting discussion. I think sentimental value can be created but it does not happen automatically just because one buys a watch to commemorate a specific point in time/life achievement.

I bought a 40th Anniv G-Shock for example to mark my finishing of my master’s degree in 2023. Despite only being with me for a few months, it already has sentimental value for me bec I’ve used it in pretty much all of my hikes this year. Whether it was at a national park, an arboretum or even my first fall cottage trip with friends. I even wore it during my first time building a snowman (albeit a tiny and ugly one 😅) yesterday because we got a good amount of snow here this week.

I shared this story bec a few months is objectively not a long time. I think we typically assume sentimental value will only be created through years/decades/generations but it can be much shorter depending on one’s specific experiences with a watch. It all depends on the person’s shared memories with their watch.

I think you have to build memories wearing a watch. That’ll create more sentimental value than purchasing a watch to celebrate a specific event in your life

Last year, I've helped out a friend, a fellow watch collector, in sorting out a family crisis. I won't go into specifics, 'nuff said that it worked and as a family, they faced it and resolved it together.

So, as a token of gratitude, for my birthday I got a lovely Tissot bumper auto from 1951. I just had it serviced and put on a custom-made Buttero leather strap in period-correct style.

It's one of these watches that I won't let go, ever.

The watches that hold the most value to me were either given to me or inherited.

I think we can create sentimental for others we care about. I have a friend and coworker. He loves watches, mostly Tissot, but buys only quartz watches over the years. This past Christmas I gifted him a P80 PRX as an introduction to mechanical watches. I was very happy to see that he thoroughly enjoys it.

For me sentimental value comes from the memories made with something. I also bought myself a Rolex as a celebratory thing, but that event isn't sentimental that was just a purchase. The sentimentality comes from the years it's spent on my wrist, travelling, raising my kids, working, living life. I can look back at pictures and see if on my wrist, I can remember countless experiences where it was there in my wrist. That's where the sentimental value comes in, that's what makes it My watch not just A watch.

My most sentimental value watch? Easy...the G-shock ref G314RC-9AV. Bought it prior to deploying to Iraq in 2006, wore it practically every day when back at home station, and again every day while deployed to Afghanistan for a year. So probably longer than any other watch I've ever owned. "Retired" it from the rotation when I got home in 2012 and haven't worn it but a time or two since. I've more memories - good and bad - with this watch than any other newer/nicer/more expensive piece in my collection. Despite never wearing it, it gets a new battery when needed and will always have a place in my watch box.

I bought my watch just before a 6 months trip to Wales, and i only wore that watch everyday for that trip. The watch reminds me of all the adventures i had and what was such a pivotal moment in my life (getting engaged too there), you definitely can create sentimental value by buying a watch just before making a whole load of memories with it.

Some of mine but not all. If I am ever able to track down my late father's Timex, it will be my most prized piece. I have been nostalgic and sentimental, even as a child

I have multiple watches that are in the sentimental value category (different stages) that I bought myself.

In fact I prefer buying them myself and do not like being given gifts. 🤷‍♂️

If I were to explain the full story behind this watch, I'd be typing for a few hours. I'm releasing a blog post on it soon though.

To summarise it, although I'm the first owner, it stretches back to my watchmaker's father's day. He sold his shop to a Greek businessman, who could only pay in postdated cheques. The agreement was that he kept half of the stock.

This watch was in storage from my watchmaker's father's shop, which he bought back from the Greek in the same way after his father passed away.

I see it as picking up on an already epic story, curating enough memories with it so that it'll have a book's worth of stories when I pass it on one day.

I've tried to do this, wearing a particular watch on a special occasion, but it hasn't worked for me as my tastes evolve over time.

I have two watches that hold sentimental value. One is my late grandfather’s watch. Obviously means the world to me. Just an old gold plated timex. Nothing special to most. For me, it was the watch of marine and steel mill worker and family man that I loved. I wear it hard for the holidays. The other is my Omega Seamaster 300m Professional. The only watch I have ever bought myself. When I was 27, I had stage 4 cancer. I thought it would be a miracle to make it to 28, let alone 40. It coincided with a better job, married, two dogs, having a house, and most needs filled. I decided to celebrate and my wife was all for it. I find tremendous sentimental value in the fact that when I look at it, I know I had a 5 percent chance (what they told me later) of not being able to experience it on my wrist or any of the other awesome things in my life. I’m sorry I know that was long winded, but for me, they aren’t just something that tell me the time or look pretty.

I read that as I am a badass and so is this watch. Thank you for your service.

there's a lot of responses already, so I won't read them all right now, but I'll provide my own experience.

Sentimental value can be whatever you want it to be. A connection to a loved one, a career goal, birth of a child, death of a friend, etc.

I have a Longines BigEye that I purchased for myself to mark the point in time I felt like I had finally put my life back on track. I went back to school while working full time overnight jobs, graduated with straight As, got some industry certifications at the same time, and then a few months later landed a job in said new career. My Longines has no connection to anyone but myself, but I would be living out of a box before I let it go. Its my reminder that hard work pays off, and I've already done the hard work once, if I need to do it again I could.