I'm interested to hear from other members about their collecting style. Are you focused on a certain model, or brand, or style, or decade? Has your collecting changed over time? I got into this hobby around 2017 (I know, newbie to many of you) and still primarily collect affordable vintage watches. I like to find alarm watches with different calibers because I enjoy seeing different solutions to the problem of alarm setting and ringing. I also like chronographs, either defunct brands with classic calibers like the Valjoux 72, or 70's chronographs with colorful dials. I like time only watches with classic designs. I have a handful of modern divers for everyday use and a handful of pocket watches. I'm more of a "one of each" person rather than "many variations." I remember going to redbar prepandemic and there was a ton of vintage watches, Omega constellations, vintage submariners, polerouters, etc. back when Hodinkee was talking about vintage and it was very popular and cool. Nowadays I'm seeing mostly modern watches but I go more for the company. I've been to a few NAWCC meetings and I really enjoy those but it's a big time commitment and involves travel so I don't go as often as I would like. Please share your experiences and thoughts. Thanks
I am watch and clock nuts. I like various long case clocks, wall clocks, bracket clocks, pocket watches und (vintage) wrist watches. I like such items if made with skill, special technical features and lovely design. So, no specific "strategy" at my end. I am also member of the NAWCC and you might have a look there for various examples. But I am now running out of space and we must consider moving to a castle, in particular for the placing the clocks ... . Cheers, Bernhard
My tastes have certainly changed over the years. One thing that I didn't place enough importance on early on was getting watches on my wrists. I can't tell you how many times I have seen specific brands and models in pictures on forums or IG and fell in love only to have purchased a watch and put it on felt completely underwhelmed. Conversely, there are many watches that I never gave a second thought to only to get one on my wrist and fall in love. My advice to anyone going forward is if there is any watch you are interested in, if possible, try it on first. Your interest in the mechanics behind wrist alarm watches is pretty neat I must say. In terms of my taste I have a affinity for small, precious metal, manually wound wrist watches mostly from the mid twentieth century. My interest always seems peaked by rare watches in the particular price segment that I am able to afford. I agree with you on the RedBar comment. I never went pre-pandemic but now, similar to hondinkee, it seems to be all about modern.
I collect vintage Omegas and focus primarily on 1950’s and early 1960’s Seamasters and Constellations. I’m a sucker for textured dials (waffle and hobnail) and anything unique like curtain dials, crosshair dials, two tone dials, special order luminous packages, etc. That being said, I do wander off the reservation occasionally and I have a 1958 Ranchero, 1969 Speedmaster Straight Writing, 2013 Aqua Terra Skyfall, a modern Seamaster 300 Heritage and a JLC Master Ultra Thin Moon included in my collection.
I am not a collector. I learned 40 years ago that collecting LP records is expensive, watches more so. I just have some watches that have survived me, two of them are Omegas. I might have a problem since I am lying to both my selves and you.
I buy the dial and what fits me. I travel on adventures and I like to mate watches to the adventure. I don’t collect any one brand specifically. I own more Omegas than other brands. I favor Swiss and German heritage brands and avoid micro brands.
I figure it's the historical side of watches that can catch my imagination.. therefore of course my focus is vintage, with the military subniche. Whether if there's a history associated with a certain timepiece, or the brand, or the model in general. Or it could be just a small detail.. The other thing that fascinates me is patina. If there's an otherwise desirable watch, with a unique and good looking patina, most people don't realise how that's a result of decades that becomes unique to a watch as a result of location (i.e. tropical country) & the lifestyle of the owner of the watch he'd lead during the past decades, so they tell a story & give you a one-of-a-kind looking watch
I got hooked a mere year and a half ago when I stumbled on an article about the Longines 30CH chronos. Most of my small collection are vintage chronos - I have a 30CH, panda Zodiac and a newly acquired 2998-6 that I am crazy about. But even in this brief 18 months, I've found my tastes evolve.
My tastes change constantly so I usually buy what I find while lurking on websites reading about watches. Or while browsing the classified sections of watch forums. I usually only keep black dialed simple diver types though in 40-43mm. Oh and I like vintage seiko's, so I collect alot of different shapes and sizes and like to wear them all in rotation.
I’m not a collector — I just enjoy wearing a nice mechanical watch and like to have two so I can alternate and reduce boredom. But I am always tempted to just keep one (or sell the two and buy THE one, which varies depending on my mood), and become a one watch guy. I do have an couple of cheaper quartz watches that I wear when I’m worried about banging up my good ones. They are quartz so I can just pick them up and go without having to worry about winding them. At one time, I was a collector, with probably 4 or so Omegas (vintage and modern), a Rolex Explorer, lots of Seikos, and some other micro brands that struck my fancy, but I felt I was becoming a little too obsessive in the hobby for my own mental health and my savings. I realized I was just buying things that I didn’t fully enjoy, so I reassessed what I enjoyed about having watches and settled on my current “collection.”