Honestly, if you had bought that watch for 2.1k, I think you might have regretted it later.
(Photo of 1980s quartz watch attached for posterity.)
What really bothers me is when there is some sort of technical glitch that affects my ability to bid electronically when I wanted to bid. With online auctions, it happens pretty frequently to me.
I think that is part of the predestination paradox.
There is always that nagging doubt. There was a bunch of landeron parts (no cases) I never got around to pulling the switch on. They sat in the watch list for weeks if not months. One day the listing ended. No bids nothing. I left it in the watch list till it rolled off the end.
Another lot came up with some cases and what I though were bezels. Turned out they were actually shipping rings. I am still working trough this mess of stuff. All bits and peices none of what fit together.
Would I have been happier with the first lot of scrapped parts, what had a part shown I will need down the road? If I did not get the second collection of parts (what now occupies my time.) would I be regretting it?
Watches and clocks are made by the Billions. Granted some variations are few. There are enough for every person on this planet (over 8 billion now) to have more than one. With millions made every year.
So why is it that the one that gets away is the one that we regret?
The farther things in the past are, the more fixed they seem to be. A rock may be millions of years old. Of course we can chip it grind it shape it and form it into something useful. We can even grind it up and eat it. But it is still a rock. One might even say the same for a tree. Yet a tree can take the minerals from a rock and create itself. Over time the tree can also become a rock. There is even a possibility that some of our corporal form may become a rock. Or have been part of a rock or a tree.
What irks me are some of the things I have lost over the last 30 years. Little things. Like the engraved back that came with my Speedmaster professional. The back currently on it is from a different model. Does not make the watch any less likable. I have had it 30 years. It needs a service. I could have put it in for service and a long wait. Or I could have done what I did and continue where I left off 18 years previously. Many of the other watches are similar. I could do a simple clean and lube of the speedy myself. There is no real need to rush into it. I used to wear it daily. Now I have other watches what I have more fun with and am willing to risk. I suspect there will always be someone who can service the speedy for a price.
When I did get into the drawers after 18 or so years of indifference. I found most of a T-17 watch. Did I have more of it at one time? Was the small part I now so desire given away as a gift to friends during the steampunk craze? Did I give the speed master back away because it was engraved? I was always protective and mizerly (still am) with my watch parts.
As much as I enjoy the steampunk scene. I find the use of watch parts in art to be sickening in a way. So I did not want to part with something and then regret it. Now I wonder what was in those bags of rusted and broken floor sweepings?
When one does see what others can do with such things it takes the temper off the regret.
This is not to say I do not check online auctions daily or even multiple times a day. Most of what excites me is beyond my current means. Sure it would be nice if I do get a low ball bid. I have others that were just as exiting before they went into the to do pile. These are just as enticing as they were when acquired. Were they offered again, such Items would be high on the want list.
In some ways it becomes more about the rabbit hole than the rabbit one went in after.
