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Big collecting mistake/regret?

Dgercp
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I mean a chronic systemic mistake or regret, not a single isolated one (like selling or buying one, or dropping one etc.).

For instance my biggest is not paying enough attention to case condition. For years it was only about the dial and I neglected the importance of an unpolished or nearly unpolished case. Now these pieces really bother me.

Anybody else have some others?
 
Nupero
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Purchasing too many watches with a date function... Now the dial asymmetry bothers me and the date is always wrong because I have a deep rotation 😡
 
MRC
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Dgercp Dgercp
I mean a chronic systemic mistake or regret, not a single isolated one (like selling or buying one, or dropping one etc.).

Not getting interested 20+ years ago. I was happy with one (Jack Heuer) Heuer and one Omega Seamaster. Now I have more of each make and I'm less happy. Ah, first world problems.....
 
Nepomuceño
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I wish I would have slowed down with the buying in the beginning. I probably could have learned more and been more patient.
 
gbesq
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Not being patient and not having acquired enough knowledge to properly evaluate a vintage watch. That was particularly true when I started collecting and resulted in my buying several watches then with polished cases, dial damage, etc. that I wouldn’t buy now. I lost money on virtually all of those early purchases when I later realized my mistakes and sold the watches.
 
JwRosenthal
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Nepomuceño Nepomuceño
I had to delete eBay off my phone to control myself :whipped:
That is what the bargain thread is for, man! It’s retail therapy where we shop- then we throw it out to the group and we don’t look back….or shouldn’t look back 👎
 
SkunkPrince
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I found a steel 2627 at a flea market. Missing its bezel. I write Omega, they tell me it was gold capped and they will of course install a bezel for me. It never occurred to me that no, it was all steel, wtf? That watch had three or four dial refinishes, including changing steel furniture into gold, and then I tried to really get a gold-capped case and I did but it was crap and after all of it was done. I had turned a nice watch into a franken piece of garbage.

I learned that mothership isn't always right, and to slow down and consider.

I also trusted the wrong "CMW". Sent a watch, a steel 14700, and what I got back was basically a case that was melted away. I was very upset. Fortunately, I was able to find a replacement case, and aside from the shipping, said CMW did the case swap. Did I mention original black dial? Then I decide to sell the thing to this shady woman who wanted to make payments, well, she claimed the watch was broken, so of course it was gone forever.

I learned to not be so trusting with someone you don't k now that well. Hell, I even gave her daughter a camera!

Just stop, think, don't assume, and there are liars everywhere.
 
Nepomuceño
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JwRosenthal JwRosenthal
That is what the bargain thread is for, man! It’s retail therapy where we shop- then we throw it out to the group and we don’t look back….or shouldn’t look back 👎
Ha I keep telling myself that but then a watch covered in wrist cheese shows up at my door inevitably 🤔
 
Rman
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Telling myself that a watch was “rare” and I wouldn’t find another then seeing 3 of them in the month after purchase.
 
w@tcher
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When i started the hobby i never gave value to the Speedies and i was buying only Seamaster models.
After 2 or 3 years and owning 2-3 Seamaster watches, i realized my big mistake and i started to sell my Seamaster watches in order to buy only Speedies.

Now my Bible is the Moonwatch Only and all my collection could be consisted only of Speedmasters.
Edited:
 
texasmade
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Not buying certain Omegas because they would come on a strap or bracelet that I didn't like. I didn't realize that Omega sold accessories to swap these things out to make your watch more enjoyable to you.
 
Lukeeesteve
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JwRosenthal JwRosenthal
That is what the bargain thread is for, man! It’s retail therapy where we shop- then we throw it out to the group and we don’t look back….or shouldn’t look back 👎

…………looks like he downloaded the spank app -> :whipped:
 
Gefa
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MRC MRC
Not getting interested 20+ years ago. I was happy with one (Jack Heuer) Heuer and one Omega Seamaster. Now I have more of each make and I'm less happy. Ah, first world problems.....
... are you less happy because you own more watches ... or because of other reasons and more watches can not cure this? 😉
 
JayBe
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I am on the same page as most. When I started, I was not picky enough in terms of condition and originality. Once I got saturated and started to only buy the best examples, I became more pleased with the collection.

Now, the imperfect pieces bother me as well, but I take them as beaters and a lesson that brought value to my collection in making me a better collector, instead of monetary value.

Another systemic tick is that I cannot resist buying cheap watches (10-30 USD), because I have a savoir complex and feel that they are undervalued in terms of the reproduction cost, intrinsic value, not market value.
 
Togri v. 2.0
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Buying too many watches that I don’t feel a “connection” with when I hate selling stuff
 
STANDY
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Sleeping…..The amount of watches I missed sleeping in the 2013 to 2018 heyday
 
TheGreekPhysique
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1) Not participating here on the forum earlier because I thought I had nothing to offer.

2) Taking time off of school. I could have finished earlier and bought more watches when they weren't so damn expensive.
 
iamvr
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I definitely bought too many watches during my first year of collecting. Lack of focus and patience for sure.

Plus I had them serviced too quickly after purchase just to realize that I don’t bond with some of them and now won‘t be able to recoup my costs.
 
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