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Does your wife, husband, significant other support your watch addiction?

MtV
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My SO claims to have no interest in watches whatsoever. Sometimes, she’s a bit surprised regarding prices, but let’s me do what I do. Every once in a while, I come home from a 2-day business trip for example, open my watch drawer and find one of the manually wound examples ticking along, even though I didn’t wind it up before I left. I also started to notice traces of wear on the first holes of some of my straps - both these things exclusively occur on the smaller 33-35mm pieces. When I ask about it, she just smiles and says I don’t know what you’re talking about. Which has now become my exact reply to her asking if a certain watch is new. I quite like that dynamic. 😀

(But for special occasions like a wedding, there are a few pieces she does wear “officially”)
 
michael22
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MtV MtV
My SO claims to have no interest in watches whatsoever. Sometimes, she’s a bit surprised regarding prices, but let’s me do what I do. Every once in a while, I come home from a 2-day business trip for example, open my watch drawer and find one of the manually wound examples ticking along, even though I didn’t wind it up before I left. I also started to notice traces of wear on the first holes of some of my straps - both these things exclusively occur on the smaller 33-35mm pieces. When I ask about it, she just smiles and says I don’t know what you’re talking about. Which has now become my exact reply to her asking if a certain watch is new. I quite like that dynamic. 😀

(But for special occasions like a wedding, there are a few pieces she does wear “officially”)
This is a sweet story!
 
Scooterino36
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Not anymore, but she knows she can manipulate me with a new strap any time she needs to.

She once made me cancel an online order for a midsize Seamaster because she felt she could negotiate better than I could (she can) for the full size. She marched down to the AD with a printout of a grey market price (“find me the cheapest price online and print it”) and shockingly negotiated a really good discount.
 
ajn3323
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At first I’d say she tolerates it, but I guess she really does “support” it. She’s never questioned the time and money involved. She’s never said I have too many watches. She’s gone with me to a handful of watch related events. She doesn’t wear my watches often. Too big or too scared to scratch one. I’ve tried to get her to wear a few of them to no avail. I picked up a 1962 Rolex 1500 date not long ago and told her this is for you and if you don’t want it I’ll keep or sell it. It’s now her daily. But I’ve concluded a vintage automatic isn’t ideal. I’ve had to replace the rotor and canon pinion. She’s also got a Baume & Mercier quartz Hampton I got for her one Christmas - before I was really into watches. The other day I saw she had on her old quartz Tag Heuer I bought for her as a wedding gift. She was devastated when her 1980s Swatch stopped working. I’m looking for someone to salvage that one!
 
WatchCor
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Yeah, in all honesty I have to admit she does support my hobby. She actively ask "cute" questions about my new watches , hasn't questioned a single time my new acquisitions. She often jokes about it wearing her "real" watch (that I bought her) vs the digital sports "watch" she has. Eventually I'll buy her a second watch for daily wear and see if I can turn her to the light(dark?) side.😁
 
DaveK
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My wife would joke that I was suddenly obsessed with watches, even though it was my getting her dad’s ww2 era Legion watch repaired that got me into watches - it’s her fault, and she mocks me? 😉

The first real conversation about it happened when we stumbled upon a bunch of Wolf watchboxes on sale at Winners - a discount and clearance retailer. I couldn’t decide, do I want two 6 slot boxes, or the nice big 12 slot box, or ooooh, a stackable 24 slot box!

“How many watches are you wanting to buy?!?”
“I dunno, 6? 12?”
😲

What makes this an understandable hobby is to share interesting factoids about watches and horological history. What also makes this mutually understandable to to buy your significant other a watch now and then, so you’re both having new toys.

My wife now regularly stops movies and TV shows “what watch is she wearing?” “Is that a Rolex?” I love this, and she has fun with it too. Now she wants a Cellini, and whatever watch Kenzie wears on NCIS Los Angelus (if you know, please tell me!)

So we have fun, and she somewhat understands the hobby. I do not buy and sell much, but I have flipped a couple watches for profit, which makes her think that I can make sound decisions 🙄

As long as the important finances are taken care of first, and nothing is bought on credit, we are both happy on the road to madness
 
Walrus
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I often call my wife a hoarder. She grew up in another country when she was a kid and would often go days without food. (Her family didn’t support Chairman Mao and the aftermath of that lasted generations. Anyway, she is an expert repurposer. After my most recent purchase which was just a simple mechanical Hamilton she is now calling me a “watch hoarder”.
 
janice&fred
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My wife couldn't care less. We have a good division of labor in our household so there is never a problem. As long as I earn the money, handle all household chores, grocery shop, take care of lawn care and vehicle maintenance I am free to do anything I want. I call the shots like a manly man should.
 
Cheddar
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Great to read all these varying reactions from the SO -- some very sweet stories in here.

It took my wife a bit to understand my fascination -- I think the prices were the hardest thing for her to come to peace with, but now that I've shown that I make good buys and am usually able to sell pretty easily and get most of the $$ back out, she feels better about it.

Leading up to getting my AT recently, I showed her The Watchmakers' Apprentice and tried to explain the coaxial escapement. Earlier this week, she came home from having dinner with her parents and told me that she told her dad (who also likes watches) all about my new Seamaster and "how it has a coaxial escapement, which was designed by two guys named Daniels and Roger Smith." She said her dad told her he didn't think a coaxial escapement was a thing, so she googled it and showed him. I was very proud of her. 😀
 
M'Bob
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krogerfoot krogerfoot
I’m sure my wife would be supportive of my watch-collecting ways if I ever stop going to great lengths to conceal it from her.

If I ever revealed everything to my wife about my watch collecting, I’d have to change my avatar to Castrati Bob
 
Twocats
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My wife was always a watch lover and already had a Breitling and a TAG when I met her 20+ years ago. We both have a list of what’s the next pieces we want. I have been guilty of purchasing watches that didn’t suit me for whatever reason and nine times out of ten she called it even before I pulled the trigger. We both love the Speedy and she has the new speedy 38 with pink bits and diamond bezel (I tried it on with a pink NATO and thought I was the bee’s knee’s... apparently not). I am going to try modify an Uncle Seiko 19 mm BOR bracelet to fit her speedy. We have grown to enjoy the same brands but the closest we came to a his and hers besides the Speedy’s were the Rolex OP 39 for me and 31 for her but I sold mine. We have two children, a boy and a girl so both have someone to give our watches to when they become adults. We have other interests we share like cars and horses but try as she will she can’t love football but still wears her Chelsea FC jacket....to the horses 😀
 
Twocats
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Twocats Twocats
My wife was always a watch lover and already had a Breitling and a TAG when I met her 20+ years ago. We both have a list of what’s the next pieces we want. I have been guilty of purchasing watches that didn’t suit me for whatever reason and nine times out of ten she called it even before I pulled the trigger. We both love the Speedy and she has the new speedy 38 with pink bits and diamond bezel (I tried it on with a pink NATO and thought I was the bee’s knee’s... apparently not). I am going to try modify an Uncle Seiko 19 mm BOR bracelet to fit her speedy. We have grown to enjoy the same brands but the closest we came to a his and hers besides the Speedy’s were the Rolex OP 39 for me and 31 for her but I sold mine. We have two children, a boy and a girl so both have someone to give our watches to when they become adults. We have other interests we share like cars and horses but try as she will she can’t love football but still wears her Chelsea FC jacket....to the horses 😀
74AD2FDF-EE2B-45E3-95C0-D3AB73ED6C56.jpeg 7238C44C-0F63-4E7B-BC31-5EA25310DB20.jpeg
 
JwRosenthal
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When I bought my BMW M5 15 years ago, my ex was supportive as she knew I had been a car guy my whole life and this was a grail car for me. But she joked- if you’re getting a toy, do I get a toy?
When I was moving my money around to buy it, I also allocated another chunk to buy her the ladies 31mm Rolex she had been eyeing at our local AD (she would come in with me when I was in the hunt). When I brought the car home and we went for our first drive- I had the green box sitting on the passenger seat. We both got our toys.
 
gbesq
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Most of my watches are stainless steel with bracelets. For whatever reason, my other half seems to think that they're all the same watch and doesn't notice when I add to the collection. Who am I to argue? I suspect that she's doing the same thing to me with shoes.
 
Martin_J_N
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Mrs Martin_J_N tolerates my watch collecting hobby, in return I tolerate her growing jewellery collection.

Neither of us has received or will receive anything personal from our parents, there wasn't a good watch or a nice piece of jewellery between them, our parents came through the 'make do and mend' era so spending money on a posh watch or a sparkly bit of bling just wasn't part of their thought process.

Both my wife and myself both feel that this is something that we want to remedy for our children and their children and have personal items that we can give to them when the time is right. So I collect watches but with limits and she collects the sparkly stuff. A happy trade off.
 
Archer
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JwRosenthal JwRosenthal
When I bought my BMW M5 15 years ago, my ex was supportive as she knew I had been a car guy my whole life and this was a grail car for me. But she joked- if you’re getting a toy, do I get a toy?
When I was moving my money around to buy it, I also allocated another chunk to buy her the ladies 31mm Rolex she had been eyeing at our local AD (she would come in with me when I was in the hunt). When I brought the car home and we went for our first drive- I had the green box sitting on the passenger seat. We both got our toys.

You came out ahead on that one...
 
Archer
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To answer the central question of this thread, yes she is.

If it's something that gives me enjoyment and we can afford it, then she's fine with it. Same goes for things she likes.
 
3nicewatches
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My wife was the one that encouraged me to buy all three of my nice watches, and lately she’s been asking me if I have my eye on another one! It’s a good thing I have that username to protect.
 
OmegaRody
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3nicewatches 3nicewatches
My wife was the one that encouraged me to buy all three of my nice watches, and lately she’s been asking me if I have my eye on another one! It’s a good thing I have that username to protect.
Curious I m looking forward to the concept of 3 nice watches being stainless, rubber and leather. They would be the base of my collection.
 
Syzygy
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She thinks I'm crazy, especially today when two boxes arrive with a total of 7 new additions to the collection! But, handing one to her and saying "I thought of you when I saw it and think you'll wear it well!" definitely helped.
 
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