I really don’t know how many watches I have. Shortly after I count them, I acquire more, and so it goes. But I question what will likely happen to my collection when I bite the dust. If my wife survives me, she will have the same question of what to do with them as I have. I count my lucky stars I won’t be around to see what our son is does with the collection! He has little interest in them! He told me recently that upon my parting this mortal coil, my Hamilton model 21 marine chronometer and my model 22 chronometer (for example) will be donated to our local Naval museum, probably immediately after my celebration of life! As to the rest of 125 +, I fully expect they will be liquidated when the first guy with a cheque book happens by.

What about the rest of you? Concerns? What do you plan to do? Will they be willed to someone who will appreciate them? The bigger the collection, the bigger the problem, as I see it.

 

I'm with you, but I figure I have a good 35 years. But For starters I have everything documented in a spreadsheet. Only one son has shown an interest and has already claimed 2 Speedmasters. But while I don't have as many watches as you, I am planning to pare down and make it a bit easier to manage and provide specific instructions on what I'd like them to do with the collection. Ideally I'd love to get down to 10-12 watches, with each boy keeping 2-4 each (4-8 total) and let them sell the others.


The two that have been claimed.

 

I haven't thought about it. For me, it is all about the now.
I don't collect $5000 pieces, so it will likely get dumped on ebay.

 

As a younger member of the forum, I volunteer to serve as an heir to anyone who requires my services

In all seriousness though this is quite a thought provoking question. On one hand, one can't underestimate how special it is to have something sentimental to remember a loved who has passed. The only piece in my collection that I would refuse to ever sell is a redialed Seamaster Ref 2637-4 SC. It isn't worth much, but it was my grandfather's. He passed away earlier this year. Each time I wear it I remember him shaking the watch next to my ear, to demonstrate the bumper swinging back and forth. He was the first to show me how a mechanical watch worked, and was the spark of my interest in the hobby.

On the other hand, many of the members here have watches worth a significant amount of money and extensive collections. Would you expect your loved ones and your heirs to hold on to the collection as sentiment? Or, does the monetary value at some point overcome the emotional connection?

 

Is this a “dibs”? I’ll have my wife let you know.

 

I take photos of my watches and print copies. On the back of each photo I write a short story about the watch-why, when, where I bought it and how much I paid. Maybe I have too much time on my hands!

 

When we last updated our wills, we realized it would be impossible to cover our stuff in a will. So before we visited the lawyer, I took a three ring binder and made a catalog of our “stuff” to be used as a codicil to our wills. I had no idea when I started out that my catalog would end up with 40 pages, 6 to a page. In addition to my watches, chronometers, and clocks, I covered her jewellery acquired over 53 years of marriage. We don’t have a daughter, and our son is single. But I have a niece and two nephews who are married. Unless something changes in our son’s status, looks like our nieces and one great niece will be the lucky ones.

 

The way I look at it when I pass over on my collections to my kids (3) and mainly firearms at this point, but the same holds true for anything else. If they sell everything it’ll be 100% profit to them, I’ll be dead, and if it gives them the money they need to say, put a down payment towards a house then they served there purpose. So be it, hopefully they’ll keep at least one to remember me by. Just enjoying them is enough for me at this point.

 

Honestly, I don't spend anytime at all thinking about this. Once I’m dead, I no longer exist...lights out. Disclaimer: I'm an atheist and I don’t have kids. I do, however, have a will. Needs to be revised though because it is 10 years old, and my wife (also an atheist) has encouraged me to put something about my watches in there...when I do revise it, they will go to my sister’s kid because he appreciates watches. But all I really worry about with my watches is getting joy out of them myself for as long as I can. Doesn’t make me selfish, because me, my benefactors and my watches will all reach the same end eventually...oblivion.

Too dark?

 

My 6-year-old son loves my watches. He plans on taking them all. And possibly not waiting until I am dead. Of course he may change his mind when he is in his teens, but right now he loves manual transmissions, turntables/ vinyl, and watches.

Also, I have several watches set aside for him that are BNIB. He can either enjoy them or sell them if he wants/ needs the money when he is in his 20s/ 30s.

 

Over time, I aim to zero in on a handful of pieces that I want my 3 children to have as personal heirlooms, making it clear that they are for keeps, and for passing on in time to their kids. They and I will all appreciate that. But the rest of my collection will be for any or all of them to do with as they wish - as others here have said, you'll be in no place to know or care!
However... I do have one anxiety, and I'd like suggestions on it.
They may turn out not to be watch nuts, and I may not be in a position to pass on my own limited wisdom on the subject. So - just how do I make sure they don't get ripped off? I don't mind them selling the collection - I do mind them falling prey to sharks exploiting the uninitiated. "Oh, those old Speedmasters, they can fetch as much as $500, but yours has gone dark brown, so it's only $250". Or the well-meaning "Hey, I can get all those scratches off for you in no time with the buffer in back of the shop".
So, how do we make sure our heirs get the best out of what we leave behind??

 

Let's hear it for analogue. It's so much easier living in the digital age (it gives us OF!), but I've kept a lot of my pre-90s stuff. I still even have a typewriter!

 

Maybe the mods can add an OF-survivor-full-collection-auction sub-forum.

We can all send a link to our significant other, and when the time comes they can start a thread with photos of the entire collection, and there will be a blind auction, with 10% going to support OF.

 

Well... make that 5%...
But maybe there could be a sticky we could point the survivors to, that gave them the "Don't pay the noob tax on your inheritance Course 101"?

 

I've fretted about this very subject over the years. Wife and I don't have any kids, but I've always worried about what would happen to my watches and clocks, and her jewelry. She says, 'who cares after we are both gone?', and she has a point. I've put together a 3-ring binder with links to our finances, plus pictures of her jewelry and my watches. These are numbered and cross linked to a spread sheet that I put in the binder with current values. Plus I've numbered all boxes and papers so the right watch can get paired up. This is mainly for the wife as a roadmap because I don't think my brother-in-law, who is the executor if my wife is deceased, will be that interested in liquidating the watches correctly. But what am I going to do....I'll be dead. My overall plan is I will have time to liquidate the collection while I have my senses about me, but you never know what fate will deal you.

 

Make sure the don’t get sold for what I said I paid for them

Instructions for the Misses to log on here as a newbie and get you guys to do the work on what they are worth. One at a time until she gets to 200 posts

 

I have, in the past two years, parted ways with two significant watches. My concern is that, when a prospective buyer views my collection, he places an offer on the whole job lot (including the two had I not sold them) for less than I sold the two for.

 

Basically personal property is written into a trust. It all goes to Mrs. S and vise versa and ultimately the kid. I will be selling down and hopefully when I cross the rainbow bridge all that remains are the watches the kid wants.

 

Kind of helps you understand the whole King Tut's Tomb thing