An experienced watch collector shares helpful advice on selecting your next watch, controlling the addiction of 'that next FIX' and successfully cultivating your collection
A cracking subject to look at and really great advice! I certainly use the two week tip. Another one that link's to your last point, is Iearning to fall back in love with a watch by immersing in re-researching to bring back the same interest from when I acquired it. If that doesn't work, I know it's time to get rid of it.
Being a recovering alcoholic & drug addict i find it very easy to switch addictions. It's important to realize this & think about how many watches does one really need.
The reality is that 99.999% of all people do not know what watch is on your wrist, nor do they care. Just sold over 15 pieces and have paired down my collection to 5 watches. It became a job to figure out what damn watch to wear on a given day :)
@@daviddoan8076 well so far I have sold 11 but bought 14! Now on 37 but this temporary as the few left that dont bring a smile will go. I will never get down to 10, but I reckon 24ish is a solid number for a collector. All bases covered and 2 worn a month. Give it a year from that target then consolidate further. There's been good solid advice on this video - not rushing and trimming slowly seems to be key. Good luck
I love these tips. Another strategy I've started is making sure every watch in my collection has some meaning. Be it a gift from someone special, or from a big trip, or during a big landmark in my life. I have dozens of watches in mind that would be nice to have, and they'll be nicer if I wait for one to pop up at the right time. No rush, like you say.
Some good advice. I would add to that to be careful buying watches from abroad. You should really really want that watch before considering buying from abroad. What can happen is that you buy, them get hit with customs/duty charges. Then, you receive the watch and it doesn't look as good as you'd hoped and you have to send it back. Returning a watch and then having to apply for the duty charges refund is major hassle, as it selling it on eBay. Sometimes returned watches get stuck in customs too.
Yes I've been hit a few times. Good advice. I only wanted to include 5 tips so will pin this comment. The customs duty is an underapprecoated 20% hit. It doesn't put me off buying from abroad as I've had great watches from reputable sellers , but it needs to be noted. I only sell in UK now if I sell
Great advice 👍. I haven't bought anything over £250 for 25 years, so money wise I haven't spent a lot, but I have 16 watches and I make sure I wear them all every month. If I don't want to wear it, I sell it, or more often give it away (I have spent as little as £28 on an Armitron 😁 and most were under £100). One rule I find useful, is never buy more than one watch at a time. The collectors I know who have masses of watches, tend to have two or three watches in the post at a time. This is a bad idea for cost, but it also means you can't appreciate each watch as it arrives.
Excellent advice. I have subscribed to a 30 day wait rule for many years. For some unknown reason I'm having difficulty applying that to watches! This little video helped get me back on track. Thank You!
Trying on watches probably would have stopped most of my early purchases. And I bought a lot of them with lukewarm interest instead of burning desire. Thankfully I didn't do this too long and they were inexpensive. But I like your suggestion of waiting for something that really interests and excites you and making sure it holds that interest for some time. I also stopped using the idea of "I'll just get it as a beater watch" because I was even babying the beaters! I decided to use the affordable watches I like and see how they fare. If I actually wear it out I may not be able to get the same watch but I bet there'll be something I actually want to replace it with.
100% on all points. I also baby the beaters, even if I bought a homage just to try the fit! I guess we watch collectors are very similar and fall into the same traps
Thanks for this.. I’ve bought some 20 watches in the last 4 months and the main trigger point has been FOMO (on great deal, ‘last one left’ etc..). Thankfully all these are Casios and under 90 USD.. Slowly and surely some sort of maturity is setting in and frequency of clicking on ‘buy’ has reduced and I’ve now realized that if I miss out on a deal today, there’ll always be tomorrow !
Yes took me a while too, but am actually enjoying taking the time now, fully researching and having pleasure in the search. Satisfied also that I can resist urges. Not easy
I totally agree with the fact that the "rush" of a new passion can be overwhelming, regardless if you're getting into watches, motorcycles, cars or clothes (I'm into a little bit of each). In the beginning you feel you know everything because you're learning new things so fast and as far as watches are concerned, FOMO (fear of missing out) can be borderline crippling whenever you discover a new model that you like and you're afraid that if you don't buy it now, it will go out of stock - that is fairly common with limited editions or micro-brands (or worst, limited editions from micro-brands). I started my watch collection with a very modest Seiko SNK809, but then I discovered Christopher Ward and jumped on a limited edition C60 Ombre Green Bronze watch. A bit of an impulse buy, but I do not regret buying it and I will probably keep it forever just to justify the spur of the moment acquisition, LOL! I continued with more affordable items, but that "hunger" is always present and it does need to be tempered. Love the video, btw!
You tube reviewers don’t help matters. Every review is overly positive - mainly as they are sponsored content. It makes people desire watches that they don’t need and are not as good as they are being presented to be. Always take a look at the popular reviewers SoTC - they don’t keep the mid-level stuff that they hype up to everyone - they move it on within months.
Really good advice. Even if money is not a key factor I think and rethink one year or more before I buy I a new watch in my (modest) collection. The main drivers for me are: do I love it today and the years after and how often can I wear this watch.
Great video but I just want to add one tip that helped me. Trying getting a cheap version of an expensive watch you really want. For example I wanted a nice 30 minute chronograph. Before buying it I saw a nice broze 1963 and brought it. I quickly found out how useless a 30 minute chronograph is. I like the 1963 but it saved me from spending >$2k to learn that. I also brought a cheap negative display G-Shock. I also found out how much I hate negative display now. It saved me from wasting money on the more expensive G-Shock. Also just learn to love the watches you have. There's always a better watch and unless you're a millionaire that's a game you just can't win.
I'm fortunate enough to see my 6 watch collection as finished (did go through dozens to get there though). It helps to not be interested in going up the ladder, pricewise.
Thank you for doing this video. There are two things I would like to add. 1st: A lot of brands make limited editions that really shorten that 2 week down to minutes.. 2nd: Watches that were gifts. I can't sell on those that are sentimental. I suppose you were only talking about the ones you purchase yourself.
Yes, I'd never part with gifts. Also I don't really want to support brands that give time sensitive desperate cut off dates for their offerings. There's been plenty recently and I'll avoid look elsewhere
That’s an interesting point you make about thin watches. I always prefer thinner watches, even my divers. As a proud native of North East England, maybe fitting under a cuff for 9 months of the year was a subconscious consideration 😂
The take-two-weeks advice is pretty good. What I do is to put every new watch (and other items such as watch straps or clothing) on a wishlist on my desktop. There are always like 20 different watches (in the sub 1k range, that is) on this list and I constantly go through it and remove watches again: lug to lug was 19mm? naah... this other watch offers the same specs and looks a little bit better? do I really want a green dial and when would I wear it? Is this one too thick? Then I re-watch some youtube reviews. Like that there is quite some fluctuation on that list. Many watches don't go after two weeks though, but maybe after half a year or a couple months.
I developed a twisted desire for extreme accuracy. This means radio-synch to atomic clocks, synch to GPS satellites, and high-accuracy quartz. No mechanical watches. Still too many things out there. Looking for bargains helps.
I’ve bought 16 watches in the last 10 weeks. 😂 Luckily the ones I regret buying were fairly cheap. The most I’ve spent is £1230 on a limited edition Meistersinger Primatik 365 and I do love it. I’m at about £4000 in total but I control it now by not rushing into any watch and after a week or so I don’t want the watch I drooled over.
New sub... and waiting to SEE which ones come back is how you KNOW which ones your suppose to acquire. This habit is insane. I cannot wear 30-50 watches. Started off with $5 watches and latest was $4000. No different than a drug junkie. the LIES we tell ourselves. This is the last one... lmao
Try this, I find that it solved a lot of issues for me. SELL THEM ALL ! Start fresh ! Buy the one watch you've studied for. Wear it, cherish it. When you've tired of it. Be it a month or a year and you are on the hunt for that next great watch then SELL THAT ONE ! and use what money you've made plus/minus funds and buy it. Rinse and repeat over and over. You'll never have a stash of watches you don't wear, you'll always wear that one that you're excited for.
@@perfectwrist23 the thing is I have a weakness fot vintage chronographs from 50-60-70s. The JLC is a simple black dial Master Control Date. Simple and easy to wear.
1 ) don't follow the hype or buy any watch just because someone else suggests it, or you think it impresses someone else you should be buying it for you not them 2) Don't buy on a whim , money limited consider your purchase carefully it's part of ownership. 3) Don't buy a watch because you can't afford the one you really want you'll regret it end up selling it and buying the one you want wasting money in the process.
