Did your acquisition match your pre-acquisition lust?

Edward53 · Dec 18, 2016

Being a watch collector is different from collecting toys, art, coins, antique porcelain etc. Watch collectors combine aesthetic pleasure, the joy of owning a fine piece of intricate engineering, and the useful function of telling the time. The watch is also an accessory to whatever you are wearing and/or doing. If you've bought the right one, it's also likely to rise in value, not that true collectors buy them for that reason. I can't think of any other collectable that ticks so many boxes. Even classic cars aren't practical for every occasion.

Collectors always want more. If one day they find they have enough, they cease to be collectors and become owners. Of course most of us have thought at various times that I just need to get this last one and that will be enough, but after days, weeks or even months, the itch begins... That doesn't have to mean ceasing to enjoy the watches you already have. I've had my Watchco SM300 for months now and I still absolutely love it and wear it most of the time. It's just that the more watches you have, the smaller are the portions of love available to each one.

Edited to add: I see I haven't actually answered the original question! The answer is, Yes in every case, but the feeling lasts for varying amounts of time. The Watchco is the current winner.

ahsposo · Dec 18, 2016

More so with women than anything....

But when I finally found a keeper I kepter.

M'Bob · Dec 18, 2016

ahsposo
More so with women than anything...

Here is Billy:

Here is Christie:

How would he answer this question?

Edward53 · Dec 18, 2016

Yikes! Billy has turned into Oliver Reed!

ahsposo · Dec 18, 2016

M'Bob
Here is Billy:

Here is Christie:

How would he answer this question?

I don't have any idea of your experience with really good looking women.

In my premarital life I dated, had "relationships", or played house with quite a few women. Some were seriously good looking in a photogenic way; some were a little more subtle in their looks; a couple were quite plain but were serious fun and very smart. I can tell you I learned to really favor intelligence and humor over flash.

This is not to say I am insensible to a well put together lady.

As far as what I could have possibly offered the women that I was lucky enough to have had these encounters with its kind of a mystery to me. I am not rich, tall or socially powerful. I did figure out fairly early on that women, like men, respond positively to someone that is truly interested in what they say and open to liking them for it.

If I were to go insane and post a picture of myself here and a picture of my beautiful bride of 25 years I think we would look a lot like old Billy and Christie...

zrleopold · Dec 18, 2016

abrod520
This one, so much. Wanted it ever since it debuted at Baselworld a couple years ago. Modern watches are tough to buy as they're very often disappointingly thick or out of proportion but this thing is awesome. If it were manual-wind and the bezel rotated, I might not ever wear another watch!

Wow I love how balanced the dial is. Is the bezel aluminum or ceramic?

M'Bob · Dec 18, 2016

Edward53
Yikes! Billy has turned into Oliver Reed!

Hopefully not...I think Oliver Reed is dead.

abrod520 · Dec 18, 2016

zrleopold
Wow I love how balanced the dial is. Is the bezel aluminum or ceramic?

You know, I'm not sure - it's not shiny so it could be anodized aluminum, but I haven't had much experience with modern ceramic bezels to be able to tell

Larry S · Dec 18, 2016

U ulackfocus
I had a 5 year honeymoon with my VC Malte Grande.

And I'm still haunted by the time it came up for sale this year and I failed to grab it.

M'Bob
Here is Billy:

Here is Christie:

How would he answer this question?

he'd say what a jackass I was!

Edward53 · Dec 18, 2016

M'Bob
Hopefully not...I think Oliver Reed is dead.

Not any more....

rennfahrer · Dec 18, 2016

Hello all:

I am definitely an emotional collector of stuff and get quite attached but always appreciative of the things I have.

I think most people go through a certain amount of complacency or simply take things for granted though. But, absence makes the heart grow fonder, as they say. I find that with watches that don't get enough wrist time or fountain pens that are not inked enough, sometimes you see it in the watch box and you fall in love again.

I have a vintage Sub 5512 meters first which I had for 20 years and which stopped running a few months back - when I finally get around to repairing her, I know she won't leave my wrist for a while.

Best regards,
Patrick

ulackfocus · Dec 18, 2016

Larry S
And I'm still haunted by the time it came up for sale this year and I failed to grab it.

That's okay - sometimes I still kick myself for selling it.

M'Bob
Here is Billy:

Here is Christie:

How would he answer this question?

Larry S
he'd say what a jackass I was!

Ummmmm, not necessarily. First, no matter how hot a woman is there's bound to be several men who are sick of her shit - and the hotter they are, the crazier they get. Second, it's rare that an exceptionally beautiful woman has more to offer than her looks. (Ladies, I would bet the first two statements work in both directions so don't flame me.) Third, I dated an actress or two back when I had hair and was in shape. They're ALWAYS acting. Seriously, they live in a different reality than normal people.

M'Bob · Dec 19, 2016

U ulackfocus
Ummmmm, not necessarily. First, no matter how hot a woman is there's bound to be several men who are sick of her shit - and the hotter they are, the crazier they get. Second, it's rare that an exceptionally beautiful woman has more to offer than her looks. (Ladies, I would bet the first two statements work in both directions so don't flame me.) Third, I dated an actress or two back when I had hair and was in shape. They're ALWAYS acting. Seriously, they live in a different reality than normal people.

I do so enjoy your posts, but why must you make those that read them dig so hard to uncover your true feelings?

lillatroll · Dec 19, 2016

Some watches have not been as glorious as I imagined them to be from the pictures. This has usually been because they looked smaller in real life than I imagined, but they have all grown on me after living with them for a while. I think this is because all the watches I have bought are from the same era; late 60s early 70s. My last purchase was a seamaster Montreal. I know it is a hefty bugger but won't really get a feel for it until I go home next July.

Lonestar · Dec 19, 2016

to the original question,

"it depends"...

Some timepieces I own, I think about fondly already 24hrs before the day when I think I can wear them... on D-day, then I feel like it's a "special" day! Even makes me feel happy to go to the office sometimes! (can you imagine that...) That's like 20% of my collection... the other 80% I was super happy when I bought them ("YEAH! AT LAST!"), but the moment I could have them on my wrist something just vanished. I still wear them with some happiness in most cases, but not with "excitement" as with the other 20%. That's both reassuring - on the one hand it shows that it isn't just about the quest but also about picking the right target so you can enjoy it fully later on. On the other hand, I could have saved a lot of cash, me thinks.

I don't have enough cars to have a truly comparable viewpoint to the watch example... but I feel they are different. Watches, you're happy about owning and wearing and looking at them. It's a pretty "passive" feeling. Cars, they drive "active" feelings, assuming you drive them of course, and they all drive different, and you feel it in your whole body. Watches look different but they provide you with hour information the same way, all of them, yes they look the same but really only your eyes are impacted... I am lucky enough that both my cars are "toy" cars, carefully picked, and they deliver on the honeymoon thing, even though one of them I've had for three years now (and it was the updated version of a similar predecessor I had owned 13yrs but then my wife totalled it...).

M'Bob · Dec 19, 2016

I guess this is quite a complex issue, really.

On a fundamental level, watches tell time, so after that, to be continuously exciting and fulfilling, the design and maybe the history elements have to be so compelling that they don't get boring with on-going exposure. I guess this is human nature - repeated stimulus of a familiar sort seems to evoke less response over time. Like when your friend takes you out to dinner at that new restaurant with its signature dish: at first, you rave, but if you eat there every day, you're soon looking for a new meal.

Inanimate objects don't change, just our relation to them, and our points of view. People, on the other hand, can (sometimes) change, and this can keep things interesting. However, if you objectify people, you will soon tire of them as well. Could this be why DiCaprio only dates supermodels, and then tires of them after awhile, and is on to the next?

bazamu · Dec 19, 2016

This is an interesting topic, and one that I haven't spent a ton of time evaluating. Maybe I should. I fully admit that the "thrill of the hunt" outweighs the actual watch in most cases for me, but there are also some watches where the opposite is true. It's typically when they come to me in relatively uninspiring/emotional ways, and then when I see them in the flesh, I'm smitten. Perfect example is my Heuer 2447NST for Volvo. It came to me in a situation where I would be dumb not to buy it, and I did so originally with the intent of selling it. Then I put it on the wrist, and it surpassed all of my preconceived notions. I didn't even know how much I'd love it until I wore it, and now it's one of my absolute favorites.

There are others too where I don't necessarily wear them often, but I quite often will take them out and put them on my coffee table for the day just to look at them. Maybe that's weird to some - keeping it in my proximity all day but only wearing it for a few minutes - but I guess when a collection gets fairly large, sometimes it's enough to just handle them with admiration every once in a while.

So while there are situations that I'd say the hunt greatly outweighs wearing the watch, there are definitely other situations where the opposite is true as well.

semper_shells · Dec 19, 2016

I can honestly say for me (being someone that is currently in the hunt for my first big watch/car) that it is nerve racking. I keep trying to find the watch/car that drives me. Trying to figure out how to narrow it down, figure out what kind of collector I am, what I want in a watch. It's difficult on most days and impossible on others. I almost keep pulling to trigger just to get a kill (purchase) under my belt. I want to have something then it would be easier to see where my taste lies. I obsess over details, it's what I do. I don't just take someones word that something is good, I have to know for myself. I need to justify to myself why something cost what it does, what makes it tic(pun intended). I spent months on trying to decide on a pair of boots to buy before I finally spent $300 on a pair of Red Wings. By the way, the pre-acquisition lust didn't compare to the post acquisition lust for these. Best boots ever, and that is coming from someone that wore boots for eight years in the Marine Corps.

semper_shells · Dec 19, 2016

ChicagoFrog
This is an interesting topic, and one that I haven't spent a ton of time evaluating. Maybe I should. I fully admit that the "thrill of the hunt" outweighs the actual watch in most cases for me, but there are also some watches where the opposite is true. It's typically when they come to me in relatively uninspiring/emotional ways, and then when I see them in the flesh, I'm smitten. Perfect example is my Heuer 2447NST for Volvo. It came to me in a situation where I would be dumb not to buy it, and I did so originally with the intent of selling it. Then I put it on the wrist, and it surpassed all of my preconceived notions. I didn't even know how much I'd love it until I wore it, and now it's one of my absolute favorites.

There are others too where I don't necessarily wear them often, but I quite often will take them out and put them on my coffee table for the day just to look at them. Maybe that's weird to some - keeping it in my proximity all day but only wearing it for a few minutes - but I guess when a collection gets fairly large, sometimes it's enough to just handle them with admiration every once in a while.

So while there are situations that I'd say the hunt greatly outweighs wearing the watch, there are definitely other situations where the opposite is true as well.

This is a very nice watch. Thank you for opening my eyes to it majesticness! How rare are they?

timeismoney · Dec 19, 2016

A perfect end of year thread as we all re-examine our collection habit. To quote one of my favorite author, William Gibson on a so called "grail" watch:

"I was looking for one (grail watch), or a few, and I suppose I did find them, but I had to learn to recognize them, which isn’t always that immediate. Watches that can seem “the one” on opening the package need to be worn, understood."

It really resonated with me because I feel that watches are such tactile objects on top of being visually interesting, that explains why I may lust after a watch but then after wearing it for a certain amount of time, the interest is just no longer there. A case in point is the Panerai 233 which I acquired after eyeing for a long time. And having worn it for several months, concluded it just doesn't fit me. I still can appreciate it as an object but I know it is not for me.

In any case, here is the article where the quote is from for those that are interested. An interesting read of a man's journey in collecting.
http://www.watchpaper.com/2015/07/16/william-gibson-on-watches/

Did your acquisition match your pre-acquisition lust?

Edward53

ahsposo

M'Bob

Edward53

ahsposo

zrleopold

M'Bob

abrod520

Larry S

Edward53

rennfahrer

ulackfocus

M'Bob

lillatroll

Lonestar

M'Bob

bazamu

semper_shells

semper_shells

timeismoney

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