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Watch my Whisky
·The only good thing to come from the internet is OnlyFans.
Has the internet potentially shortened your watch collecting longevity?
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ErichPryde
··Seamasters ForeverThe only good thing to come from the internet is OnlyFans.
Lazlo's pyramid of inverted terror?
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kohster
·I still have a lot of data from back then. Transcripts of old Usenet groups and such. Zipped and compressed in obscure cryptically named files. Sometimes I attempt to see what is in these folders. It is always the lost data or image one desires more than the others. When I do look at the old chat transcripts they seem odd and I wonder why I saved them. Or the many revisions of the programs what read the data.
I was recently talking with someone about ancient AppleScripts I had written and went back looking through my work documents archive for them. Turns out the actual scripts were saved in the resource forks of files which did not survive the transition from being saved on my work computers to some Isilon-based file server to Box and now to OneDrive. Pity. My coding has always been terrible, and it would have been amusing to see it in AppleScript of all things.
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Mam
·I think both takes have value in merit. The internet allows people to explore things they might be interested in in a depth that they were not able to do so before, which can lead to a brief flurry of activity and then total abandonment as the op mentioned. Or, you can get flurries of activity as people get interested in something because they saw an influencer talk about it.
But it also can lead to people like you and me and others falling down the rabbit hole and REALLY get involved in the history.
I totally agree with you. This is what happened with me when it comes to smoking pipe or watches. I have fallen down the rabbit hole.
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Archer
··Omega Qualified WatchmakerI think both takes have value in merit. The internet allows people to explore things they might be interested in in a depth that they were not able to do so before, which can lead to a brief flurry of activity and then total abandonment as the op mentioned. Or, you can get flurries of activity as people get interested in something because they saw an influencer talk about it.
But it also can lead to people like you and me and others falling down the rabbit hole and REALLY get involved in the history.
I think overall it’s an overwhelming positive. Now some old school collectors who used to be able to find bargains, and now can’t because everyone has knowledge at their fingertips may not like it, but it has brought so many more people into the hobby I can’t really see it as a negative.
Competition rubs people the wrong way, but the hobby needs new people in it, or it will whither and die.
In my experience, the length of your watch journey isn’t related to the internet. What I’ve seen is that people who take their time and don’t rush into things tend to be the long term collectors. People who get into it and blast through a ton of watches very quickly, and never really solidify their tastes, tend to burn out fairly fast. It’s more about your personality type than the internet.
Of course there are exceptions, and interest even in hard core collectors can vary over time. But I don’t think the internet is shortening the hobby for most.
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noelekal
··Home For Wayward WatchesArcher's comments are most pragmatic.
I appreciated watches before any involvement with the internet which has only proven to add gasoline to the fire
I appreciate the internet for the efficient tool that it is.
I appreciated watches before any involvement with the internet which has only proven to add gasoline to the fire
I appreciate the internet for the efficient tool that it is.
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M'Bob
·I think overall it’s an overwhelming positive. Now some old school collectors who used to be able to find bargains, and now can’t because everyone has knowledge at their fingertips may not like it, but it has brought so many more people into the hobby I can’t really see it as a negative.
Good point. Further: if you are “younger,” and your only reference point for collecting is the internet, you have no context for what has been missed.
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ErichPryde
··Seamasters ForeverThis is a great point. It's also worth noting that back before people had access to information it rarely benefited sellers. It benefited collectors who could get great deals and it benefited scalpers who could purchase these watches for cheap and then turn a really solid profit.
I'm not judging anyone who has turned a profit by doing the leg work, doing the research, and hunting for a bargain. However, it isn't really a bad thing when people who don't have any idea what they have and might be taken advantage of can inform themselves.
And obviously it's not that simple, because some of that still goes on...
I'm not judging anyone who has turned a profit by doing the leg work, doing the research, and hunting for a bargain. However, it isn't really a bad thing when people who don't have any idea what they have and might be taken advantage of can inform themselves.
And obviously it's not that simple, because some of that still goes on...
I think overall it’s an overwhelming positive. Now some old school collectors who used to be able to find bargains, and now can’t because everyone has knowledge at their fingertips may not like it, but it has brought so many more people into the hobby I can’t really see it as a negative.
Competition rubs people the wrong way, but the hobby needs new people in it, or it will whither and die.
In my experience, the length of your watch journey isn’t related to the internet. What I’ve seen is that people who take their time and don’t rush into things tend to be the long term collectors. People who get into it and blast through a ton of watches very quickly, and never really solidify their tastes, tend to burn out fairly fast. It’s more about your personality type than the internet.
Of course there are exceptions, and interest even in hard core collectors can vary over time. But I don’t think the internet is shortening the hobby for most.
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Arancio601
·Good point. Further: if you are “younger,” and your only reference point for collecting is the internet, you have no context for what has been missed.
I think the abundance of information is fantastic. I am also slowly making some great international connections which is always fun and something I do through my many online forum based hobbies. Being Australian we have limited vintage pieces locally so shopping around the world is soooo much better.
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SOG53
·
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SOG53
·Agree with Archers comments. I view the internet as a facilitator, of knowledge and research and global connectivity of course, but also for those with obsessive and addictive tendencies it can facilitate excessive consumption with financial consequences- not just collecting but particularly online gambling. So it can facilitate positive and negative aspects of life.
I find myself going in and out over time and my hearty participation during the pandemic has given me the opportunity to handle a number of watches that are less attractive to me now. But I chalk it up to the refinement of taste and enjoy making others happy as I sell them.
My other collecting niche is original wooden duck hunting decoys (many 100 yrs old) which Ive been at for nearly 30 years having lived on Chesapeake Bay in the 70's-90's and its taken years to better focus on what I collect. Its about the process of learning and friendships made along the way.
Heres a pair of Chesapeake Bay canvasbacks over 100 yrs old in original paint!
I find myself going in and out over time and my hearty participation during the pandemic has given me the opportunity to handle a number of watches that are less attractive to me now. But I chalk it up to the refinement of taste and enjoy making others happy as I sell them.
My other collecting niche is original wooden duck hunting decoys (many 100 yrs old) which Ive been at for nearly 30 years having lived on Chesapeake Bay in the 70's-90's and its taken years to better focus on what I collect. Its about the process of learning and friendships made along the way.
Heres a pair of Chesapeake Bay canvasbacks over 100 yrs old in original paint!
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Waltesefalcon
·I started off collecting pocket watches when I was in high school, and until ten years ago I was only interested in pocket watches. Then I changed careers and became a teacher, suddenly a wrist watch was no longer a liability, as it was when I was a mechanic. A wrist watch was even more convenient than a pocket watch.
I had an old Omega trench watch I had bought In a box of parts at an estate sale many years ago that I had never done anything with. I joined this forum with the hopes of learning more about it. With some helpful guidance I found a decent case for the watch, a pair of hands, and began wearing it. It's been gone a long time now, but my interest in wrist watches was piqued. I've learned a great deal about Omega, Longines, Eterna, and Accutron here, and this forum has helped shape my taste in wrist watches.
Now, though, I find myself cooling on wrist watches and going back to pocket watches. I haven't even worn my beloved Astronaut since last May, eschewing it for my big Hamilton 946, I bought this summer.
Over the years the internet has helped me find some watches I wouldn't have otherwise, and it has helped me research some aspects of watches I wouldn't have been able to without it. It has certainly not shortened my interest in collecting, but I admit it may have bouyed my interest in wrist watches for a time.
I had an old Omega trench watch I had bought In a box of parts at an estate sale many years ago that I had never done anything with. I joined this forum with the hopes of learning more about it. With some helpful guidance I found a decent case for the watch, a pair of hands, and began wearing it. It's been gone a long time now, but my interest in wrist watches was piqued. I've learned a great deal about Omega, Longines, Eterna, and Accutron here, and this forum has helped shape my taste in wrist watches.
Now, though, I find myself cooling on wrist watches and going back to pocket watches. I haven't even worn my beloved Astronaut since last May, eschewing it for my big Hamilton 946, I bought this summer.
Over the years the internet has helped me find some watches I wouldn't have otherwise, and it has helped me research some aspects of watches I wouldn't have been able to without it. It has certainly not shortened my interest in collecting, but I admit it may have bouyed my interest in wrist watches for a time.
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Dan S
·It's worth mentioning that most of the information on the internet is total crap, and most people using the internet for research are incapable of distinguishing which information is valid. Virtually every new member of this forum illustrates this phenomenon.
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bardamu
·I get your point.
Without internet, I probably wouldn't even have a watch collection.
Having a little time to wander around, the web allowed me to get more and more knowledge, and the vast majority of my purchases comes from internet.
On the one hand this has made things easier, on the other hand I miss the practical experience that many others have had in the past.
Without internet, I probably wouldn't even have a watch collection.
Having a little time to wander around, the web allowed me to get more and more knowledge, and the vast majority of my purchases comes from internet.
On the one hand this has made things easier, on the other hand I miss the practical experience that many others have had in the past.
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sheepdoll
·It's worth mentioning that most of the information on the internet is total crap, and most people using the internet for research are incapable of distinguishing which information is valid. Virtually every new member of this forum illustrates this phenomenon.
There is a lot of illusion relating to information.
When Kodak failed they did a scorched earth policy. The patents were auctioned and a company called Alaris or something bought the trademarks. Ironically Kodak promised Photo CD media would last 100 years. Many who worked on it are retired or dead. They spent a lifetime working on something that was scrapped. Management did make bad decisions. Some say driven by greed. (Let us no longer support the mom and pop photo finishers.) Rapid changes to the way things were done did not help. Now I see the so called energy sector repeating this. Trying to hold on to what worked in the past.
The thing is that the net has the power to re-write history. None of this is new. Julius Caesar wrote his own autobiography. Many statues and inscriptions have the noses broken off. Including his.
Information (like what barns to find things in.) Is power. Hiding unpleasant information makes people feel better. Or worse. There is also a lot of denial. Things that used to be impossible are common place. So that means that nothing should be impossible. So I did do three impossible things before breakfast. All facts should be questioned. So anything you tell me three times is true.
Who wants to hear their watch is not up to snuff. That the scratch over the three makes it not collectable.
There really does seem to be a lot of schadenfreude in this world.
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M'Bob
·What would qualify as "younger" you reckon? Sub 40?
I think the abundance of information is fantastic. I am also slowly making some great international connections which is always fun and something I do through my many online forum based hobbies. Being Australian we have limited vintage pieces locally so shopping around the world is soooo much better.
Can’t specifically define that, just whether or not you did a good part of your collecting pre-internet.
I started in 1988, and there was a lot of travel, phone calls, attending auctions, etc. There was very little instant gratification. A lot of work and tenacity to get anything of substance, either information or watches. In its own, plodding way, it was fun.
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Archer
··Omega Qualified Watchmaker
😉
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STANDY
··schizophrenic pizza orderer and watch collectorI started liking watches when I was 11 and there wasn’t even computers let alone the internet.
Internet has prolonged my collecting.
I am with @Archer the internet would prolong many collectors interest.
Lately I spend just as much time chatting about stuff that has nothing to do with watches with members here.
Internet has prolonged my collecting.
I am with @Archer the internet would prolong many collectors interest.
Lately I spend just as much time chatting about stuff that has nothing to do with watches with members here.
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707mm2
·It's worth mentioning that most of the information on the internet is total crap, and most people using the internet for research are incapable of distinguishing which information is valid. Virtually every new member of this forum illustrates this phenomenon.
I don't know if most information in general is, but concerning horology for sure. I find it more and more difficult with time to access qualitative information on internet. I know a good part of this phenomenon is all my fault, as my passion for watches lead me over time towards subjects so niche, forgotten brands so obscure for most that finding anything will always be difficult. But another part is due to the web's evolution. I remember when I started collecting around 20 years ago, the first results you got googling something often were websites ran by true enthusiasts doing the best they could to have good sources.
Now the place is polluted by shops and businesses, for anything you look you mostly have ads and crappy stores. My image searches are flooded with that PicCilck trash. A lot of the collectors oriented sites have just disappeared... Does any Longines collector remembers House of Longines ?
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Pianotuna
·Not to overstate the obvious but It (the internet) is what it is. The ‘real world’ on steroids with every human condition on display and information, misinformation, prejudice, hate, stupidity, bias, greed, ego and sex all freely available (if not necessarily ‘free’).
At its best you can tap into cerebral, knowledgeable people who are happy to offer their time and share their considerable learned knowledge, such as we see here in the likes of Archer or sheepdoll, who without me leaving the comfort of my own home provide factual information. A resource which on the one hand can let you access the journals of Julius Caesar as he crossed the English Channel or the last remaining pair of original hands for a timepiece somebody made 100 of, from some bloke in Kazakhstan, is fantastic.
On the other hand, and in the age of social media overwhelmingly the majority, the internet is like the drunken, misinformed ‘opinion/gossip-as-fact’ conversation you hear in a pub every night of the week! Sadly, the wondrous thing that is the internet that has given everyone a voice has, regrettably, given everyone a voice. And just like those pub conversations, the listeners demonstrate repeatedly that the single brain cell they own is incapable of discerning what is gold and what is quartz.
To the question at hand, I believe the net accelerates the learning and acquisition of both knowledge and watches. I am one of those for whom the internet has made watch collecting possible. I could consider that while in Covid lockdown for months on end, living on my own, it intensified my interest and very possibly kept me sane. With life now returned to normal (more or less) I have less time to spend on this hobby, less time to follow conversations, less time for everything actually. I am not burnt out of watch collecting but on a beautiful summer day I’d rather be out with friends, hammering the bike through some winding roads or on the bowls green and thus have reached that point where owning 10-12 watches is adequate sufficiency.
Of course, the culling process is not without its challenges.
At its best you can tap into cerebral, knowledgeable people who are happy to offer their time and share their considerable learned knowledge, such as we see here in the likes of Archer or sheepdoll, who without me leaving the comfort of my own home provide factual information. A resource which on the one hand can let you access the journals of Julius Caesar as he crossed the English Channel or the last remaining pair of original hands for a timepiece somebody made 100 of, from some bloke in Kazakhstan, is fantastic.
On the other hand, and in the age of social media overwhelmingly the majority, the internet is like the drunken, misinformed ‘opinion/gossip-as-fact’ conversation you hear in a pub every night of the week! Sadly, the wondrous thing that is the internet that has given everyone a voice has, regrettably, given everyone a voice. And just like those pub conversations, the listeners demonstrate repeatedly that the single brain cell they own is incapable of discerning what is gold and what is quartz.
To the question at hand, I believe the net accelerates the learning and acquisition of both knowledge and watches. I am one of those for whom the internet has made watch collecting possible. I could consider that while in Covid lockdown for months on end, living on my own, it intensified my interest and very possibly kept me sane. With life now returned to normal (more or less) I have less time to spend on this hobby, less time to follow conversations, less time for everything actually. I am not burnt out of watch collecting but on a beautiful summer day I’d rather be out with friends, hammering the bike through some winding roads or on the bowls green and thus have reached that point where owning 10-12 watches is adequate sufficiency.
Of course, the culling process is not without its challenges.