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Bonk
·I’ve been a watch fan for decades and I’ve owned many watches over the years. As far back as the 80’s I had about 30 Swatches when they were a thing. That was easy to do when they only cost about $30 a piece. All of those are long gone and I have no idea where they went. Along the way I’ve had Seiko, Timex, Fortis, Shinola and some other brands I’ve forgotten. I’ve only recently started to think of myself as a collector and I have what I think is a modest collection of 10 watches. Omega, Grand Seiko, Breitling and Rolex. Mostly sport/GADA watches but there’s a pure dress watch in the mix too. Automatics, manual and quartz. Bracelets, leather straps and rubber straps. Dates, no dates, chronos, divers and pilot watches. In essence a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Other than a 15 year old Breitling I don’t own anything even close to vintage.
I mention all that to qualify what I’m about to say. I have a ‘fair’ amount of watch ownership experience and I read and watch a lot of watch content. Two things stand out. One, the influencers rarely say anything negative. They might complain about the bracelet but that’s about it. As such their opinions don’t mean a whole lot but they do a great job of giving a close look at the watch and it’s details. That’s a good thing. OTOH, the people that comment on reviews are the most nitpicky hobbiests I’ve ever known. They’ll completely dismiss a watch because the lume is the wrong color or the bracelet doesn’t taper to their exact preference or the crown is too large or too small. They’re also convinced all new watches aren’t as good as the previous models and anything vintage is king. Frankly, most of their opinions don’t carry much weight with me either because of their constant negativity.
None of the watches I own or have owned are perfect. A handful are pretty close but all of them have an attribute I might have done differently. I still like them a lot and would buy them again. Some of the ones I let go for whatever reason I’d like to have back.
Why is it so difficult to just appreciate a watch for what it is without nitpicking the hell out of it? If it’s not your cup of tea, fine, but why is it necessary to discard it as unworthy of consideration because some minor thing isn’t exactly the way you think it ought to be. OMG, it doesn’t have a micro adjust bracelet! What a POS!
Just something I’ve noticed that seems to be pervasive in the watch community.
I mention all that to qualify what I’m about to say. I have a ‘fair’ amount of watch ownership experience and I read and watch a lot of watch content. Two things stand out. One, the influencers rarely say anything negative. They might complain about the bracelet but that’s about it. As such their opinions don’t mean a whole lot but they do a great job of giving a close look at the watch and it’s details. That’s a good thing. OTOH, the people that comment on reviews are the most nitpicky hobbiests I’ve ever known. They’ll completely dismiss a watch because the lume is the wrong color or the bracelet doesn’t taper to their exact preference or the crown is too large or too small. They’re also convinced all new watches aren’t as good as the previous models and anything vintage is king. Frankly, most of their opinions don’t carry much weight with me either because of their constant negativity.
None of the watches I own or have owned are perfect. A handful are pretty close but all of them have an attribute I might have done differently. I still like them a lot and would buy them again. Some of the ones I let go for whatever reason I’d like to have back.
Why is it so difficult to just appreciate a watch for what it is without nitpicking the hell out of it? If it’s not your cup of tea, fine, but why is it necessary to discard it as unworthy of consideration because some minor thing isn’t exactly the way you think it ought to be. OMG, it doesn’t have a micro adjust bracelet! What a POS!
Just something I’ve noticed that seems to be pervasive in the watch community.
