As for me- I did the kid test. I held up pictures of Rolexes, Omegas and Heuers. The 11 and 12 year olds who know nothing about watches like the Speedmaster the best. Unbiased opinions from kids did it for me.
Yeah, I was a bit the same to start with. It actually started out with Navitimers, that became the grail watch, until I saw one in the flesh. Wasn't as life changing as I thought... then the Speedie reared it's head, they look very different in the flesh. This forum only fueled an out of control fire, all this talk of pre-moon, straight writing case backs, tritium dials, 321s and 861s, symmetrical Ts- by goodness it's another language! Rest is history!