Selling most of my watch collecting in 2019 and finding balance

kov · Apr 13, 2020

Shabbaz
Seven years ago I had a sabbatical of 6 months. Although some would call it a burn out. I had two (expensive) houses, I worked day and night and at a certain moment I realised I was just working for the mortgage and a expensive lifestyle. I felt I was a slave of the system. I did'nt gave a shit about money when I was younger. Suddenly it was the most important thing. More, more, more. I thought: fυck that. That's not me.

So happy for you you could realize what was happening and change it !

Dalai Lama, when asked what surprised him most about humanity :

Dalai Lama said:
Man.
Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money.
Then he sacrifices money to try to recuperate his health.
And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present;
the result being that he does not live in the present or the future;
he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.

Same thing happened to me about two years ago. Together with my girlfriend - now wife - we both did quit our comfortable jobs at the same time. Was like a dive into nowhere but the best decision ever. We found new jobs, different, better, smarter. We learn more, we enjoy more, we work less but are more efficient, we earn less but are happier. If you want to be proud of your story, write it instead of undergoing it.

STANDY · Apr 13, 2020

I went from looking at this on the way to a job.

To looking at this

The first time I remember just being in complete amazement and wanted to ring someone and smiled and giggled to myself when I realised I had no phone coverage until I had reached the job.

Walrus · Apr 13, 2020

A great man said it’s not what we own, it’s what owns us.

Spacefruit · Apr 14, 2020

JwRosenthal
I’ve been through the same hobby soul searching over the years. I collected vintage audio equipment for many years- even did repairs and sales for a while for the local record shops- I stopped about 3 years ago when the stress of working with clients became a headache (it was my hobby that became a source of extra income, then a source of stress). I found myself looking at my basement workshop this week- shelving packed to the limits with audio gear- much in working condition, some not- many unfinished projects.

My need to reappropriate the room for newly re-found interests outweighs my desire to keep the gear and selling audio gear online is a nightmare (too fragile, too many unrealistic buyers- it’s a 50 year old tube amp- yes it is gonna have had the tubes replaced at some point or have a scratch on the chassis).
I called my friends who owns the local hifi shop and told them to clear some space, I was bringing a car load of stuff over...and I just dumped about 15 pieces on them- for free, their problem now- not mine. Yes, I just gave away a few grand of stuff, but the amount of work it takes to sell the stuff outweighs the value in selling it.
I, of course kept the primo stuff for myself- by doing a hard purge (no emotion involved- do I intend to use this or is it worth more than the headache of trying to broker it), I reduced my footprint by about 400lbs of stuff and bought back a huge amount of workshop real estate.

I feel lighter, freer, more empowered....I had a moment last night when I thought that maybe I should ask for the Nakamichi cassette deck back....but this morning I don’t feel any regret- I still have a studio Denon deck and haven’t listened to cassettes in years...so why?!
Maybe I’ll look at my watch collection next- I have found that of the 50+ I only wear about 20 on regular rotation....some hard choices there.

I saw Nakamichi.

Got lost in my head for a few minutes.....the dragon.....

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Dash1 · Apr 14, 2020

A lot of this thread rings true for me also. Nowadays I try to follow the advice of one of my design hero’s - Dieter Rams - who’s mantra was ‘Less but better.’ He was talking about industrial design but I find it applies to nearly all aspects of life.

Archer · Apr 14, 2020

Spacefruit
I saw Nakamichi.

Got lost in my head for a few minutes.....the dragon.....

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That auto-reverse is sooo slow...but definitely cool to watch.

I had an Akai CS-732D auto reverse...mine was in silver but this is what it looked like:

It changed the direction of the tape and flipped the head around, all in 1/4 of a second. It sensed the clear leader tape so didn't wait until the end of the spool to switch, which meant you could record with it in auto-reverse, and it barely missed a beat. It was state of the art and fastest available when I bought mine in 1980...

jsducote · Apr 14, 2020

Regardless of your views on religion, eastern or otherwise, I could not more highly recommend The Art of Happiness. I read that 15 years ago and a lot of what I was doing wrong and causing myself mental harm rang true. I'm overdue for re-reading it and giving myself a checkup.

I read a lot of the threads here about this and that grails, which specific model some famous person (usually an astronaut/cosmonaut) wore, all of the variants of something noteworthy (e.g. the Dirty Dozen full set), and worst of all, limited editions. A big part of me wants those things. I can even afford quite a few of them. But I manage to convince myself that admiring from afar is sufficient. I'll probably buy a few more watches in my lifetime, but I'll never have a "collection" of things that I'm no longer able to appreciate.

CajunTiger · Apr 15, 2020

you sold the dog and the shoe strings?

vacheroyale · Apr 15, 2020

JwRosenthal
Absolutely! If it brings stress (financially, emotionally, mentally), then it’s not an endeavor worth pursuing. Stress is different than challenge- I enjoy challenge in my hobbies (working towards a goal or learning new skills with trial and error), but stress is a killer- not worth it

I agree !!!

Archer · Apr 15, 2020

Not selling any watches, but I am getting rid of some archery equipment I don't use any longer, so a bit of decluttering going on here too.

JwRosenthal · Apr 15, 2020

I’m glad to see that this experience is giving many of us a chance to reassess how we live.
Our house has been set up the same way for years- kitchen is small, dining room barely ever gets used (we entertain in the backyard during the warmer months and kitchen in the cooler- rarely ever have more than 4 people over at a time), basement workshop was busting at the seems.... our house wasn’t working for us.
My lady bakes and the kitchen has always been a bone of contention (works for cooking but baking requires a totally different set of tools and much larger workspace).
We sold off the dining room furniture, set up an Industiral kitchen workstation in the dining room for a baking area, brought the huge “pantry” storage rack in the basement up to the dining room adjacent to her baking station (so she doesn’t have to go down to the basement to get the 10lb tub of flour and sugar), cleared half the space in the basement of my racks of useless audio gear and opened up that footprint for me to bring my massive large format enlargers down from the attic to set up a wet darkroom again (shooting B&W film again for the first time in 8 years).
The purge and reassessment of our home has been the best thing to come of this sequestration...not to mention the rediscovery of long lost interests.

watch3s · Apr 15, 2020

MaxChu2020
Things that I can relate to in your rant: Baseball Cards (overpaid when collecting), Vintage Magic The Gathering Cards (undervalued when selling)...lol.

As far as watches, I've learned to like what I purchase and not let the market dictate my taste.

vintage magic the gathering cards are doing quite alright, especially if you got a whole bunch of NOS Alpha, Beta, Unlimited booster boxes sitting around. Some fellas have pulled black lotuses and other power nines.

Dsloan · Apr 15, 2020

watch3s
vintage magic the gathering cards are doing quite alright, especially if you got a whole bunch of NOS Alpha, Beta, Unlimited booster boxes sitting around. Some fellas have pulled black lotuses and other power nines.

Dang it, just like with watches, I was born too late to get in on this! Now to go see if the 4th edition cards sitting in my parents attic have appreciated...

kov · Apr 15, 2020

watch3s
vintage magic the gathering cards are doing quite alright, especially if you got a whole bunch of NOS Alpha, Beta, Unlimited booster boxes sitting around. Some fellas have pulled black lotuses and other power nines.

Mandatory wrist shot. Sorry for going off topic 😁

STANDY · Apr 15, 2020

watch3s
vintage magic the gathering cards are doing quite alright, especially if you got a whole bunch of NOS Alpha, Beta, Unlimited booster boxes sitting around. Some fellas have pulled black lotuses and other power nines.

Seems your talking @dsio language now 🥱

Dsloan · Apr 15, 2020

kov

Mandatory wrist shot. Sorry for going off topic 😁

😲😲😲

Omg, this forum is such a great intersection of nerdy interests.

watch3s · Apr 15, 2020

Dsloan
Dang it, just like with watches, I was born too late to get in on this! Now to go see if the 4th edition cards sitting in my parents attic have appreciated...

Ha! small world. we had just moved to a new neighborhood and found a card/comics store. All they had was 5th edition starter boxes and Portal boosters. everything else was already on the rise, 4th edition boosters had a premium and other expansion boosters were uncommon to see. Of course the parents insisted it was a waste of money.

Amg786s · Apr 15, 2020

Had a big clear out today. It felt good. Sometimes you need to let things go to move forward.

kov · Apr 15, 2020

Dsloan
😲😲😲

Omg, this forum is such a great intersection of nerdy interests.

yep, there is a dedicated thread about The other things we collect 😉

here it’s about to unclutter, quite the opposite 😉

Dsloan · Apr 15, 2020

kov
yep, there is a dedicated thread about The other things we collect 😉

here it’s about to unclutter, quite the opposite 😉

Fair point about the thread drift. In the spirit of decluttering and unburdening, I'm going to fire up the eBay store this weekend. In particular, lots of unworn watches and menswear just taking up space. Now that I'm home every day, I'm realizing just how much unnecessary stuff I have.

Selling most of my watch collecting in 2019 and finding balance

kov

STANDY

Walrus

Spacefruit

Dash1

Archer

jsducote

CajunTiger

vacheroyale

Archer

JwRosenthal

watch3s

Dsloan

kov

STANDY

Dsloan

watch3s

Amg786s

kov

Dsloan

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