View Single Post
      03-11-2014, 11:50 PM   #34
tony20009
Major General
tony20009's Avatar
United_States
1042
Rep
5,660
Posts

Drives: BMW 335i - Coupe
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Washington, DC

iTrader: (0)

Quote:
Originally Posted by Devious21 View Post
Read this and I gotta know which watches in your collection are earning those top spots for your favorites. Also thought of some other questions. Apologies if you've already talked about these in other threads.
  1. What are the two or three favorite watches in your collection you wear daily (currently).
  2. When you add a new watch to your collection, I assume it temprarily gets moved into rotation for a few days/weeks?
  3. Are there any watches in your collection you specifically do not wear? Pieces that are simply collectable? (Pictures!)
  4. What was your first Automatic watch?
  5. What watch in your collection means to most to you? If you found out today that you had to liquidate the entire collection - which one would you keep?

  1. What are the two or three favorite watches in your collection you wear daily (currently).
    • Omega Constellation Manhattan -- this watch sees more wrist time than all the others combined, or at least it has over the past lustrum. I used to change up more often when I also worked more often in the U.S. because then I also at got home at least every weekend.
    • Rolex Submariner (black) + Tag Series 2000
    • Breguet Marine + JLC Reverso Duo + AP RO (at the moment)
  2. When you add a new watch to your collection, I assume it temprarily gets moved into rotation for a few days/weeks?
    • It does if I'm staying home for a while. (I'm only home about 50 to 120 days a year.) I don't change up my style as goes what I wear to work most of the time. The Constellation is dressy enough for any work-related thing and it's not so showy that it attracts unwanted attention (read that as scoundrels) or so super pricey that whatever happens to it bothers me, and it's a watch I like the looks of quite a lot.
  3. Are there any watches in your collection you specifically do not wear? Pieces that are simply collectable? (Pictures!)
    • Strictly collectable? No. None. I'm not at that level of collecting. I hope to one day buy what I call a "pinnacle" watch that has serious collector importance, but I won't buy such a thing until my kids are all finished with school and living on their own dime. (I have three kids.)
  4. What was your first Automatic watch?
    • Rolex Air King
  5. What watch in your collection means to most to you? If you found out today that you had to liquidate the entire collection - which one would you keep?
    • Somebody asked almost that very question just the other day. I'll tell you what I told them. I don't know for sure, but whatever watch it would be that I'd keep were I to keep only one, it'd be a quartz watch. The reason is that if I have only one watch, it has to be something that I wouldn't have to do without while it's being serviced for a watch being worn daily would absolutely have to be serviced periodically. A battery will die in a quartz watch, but it's no big thing to get a new one. I have several quartz watches -- Movado Eliro, Cartier Le Must Tank, Shinola, Seiko LaSalle, a couple Citizens, a Fossil and a few more. Of those, I would probably pick the Movado, maybe the Cartier, but I think the Movado would work better with my overall lifestyle and sartorial tastes.

      The trouble I have with identifying one single watch of all the ones I own is that none of them were purchased with the thought that they'd be my "only watch" and that they'd have to work for every situation. I can easily tell you that if I were to have just one suit, it'd be navy blue, single breasted three piece model, probably made from a middle weight plain or twill wool blend because I could wear it with a formal, pleated or piqued shirt and patent leather shoes get by, and I could wear the jacket, vest and pants as separates. It's not quite the same with my watches, but I do know that if I must have only one, the most luxurious and indulgent one wouldn't be it.
    • Means the most to me -- I don't know that any of them mean much to me besides being trinkets I enjoy having. They are all still just things, and as things go, my watches are no different than my shoes or shirt or sport jackets. None of them have much if any sentimental value. I have a floor clock that my parents gave me and a chest I got from my grandfather. I also have other objects that were gifts from people who are/were important in my life and that I'd be devastated were I to lose them, but not so any of my watches.

      Well, perhaps my Air King mean a bit more because it's the first "real" watch I ever bought. Also, when I bought it, it symbolized to me that I'd been doing something right that allowed me to finally afford to buy a luxury item the way I'd seen my parents do over the course of my life prior to that point. Being able to spend that much on something so frivolous as a watch and know that doing so was neither a stretch nor something that was going to cause me to forgo other nice things or obligations I had to me meant that "I'd made it," so to speak. That was the first and last watch that symbolized anything to me, so I guess if any, it's the Air King.
I think it's pretty clear I'm into watches, but I'm into them more as fashion accessories -- decorative and/or artful objects that sate a desire to infuse my life with beauty, style and a tiny bit of uniqueness compared to what I commonly see in the world around me -- they are to me luxury indulgences more than they are museum pieces, or at least that's the perspective in which I try to keep them. I buy and wear them to satisfy me, but just me.

One of the reasons I know a a fair amount about watches and buying watches is because I'm cheap in a manner of speaking. I'm not cheap in the sense of not being willing to spend a tidy sum on a watch. I'm cheap in the sense that when, say, it crosses my mind that I want a watch having this or that attribute, I don't want to spend more than I have to to get that attribute. Yes, I'm somewhat curatorial when I choose pricey watches, but in any 12-24 month period I only buy one to three high end watches, but I might buy half a dozen or more moderate to inexpensive ones, especially in the past decade. So I developed my knowledge about watches so that when I buy the sanely priced ones, I'd know a good value from something that just cost more than something else.

A lot of that has more to do with the cost of my kids than it does with the cost of the watch. You'll know what I mean once you have three kids in boarding school/college, have to clothe them, buy them cars, afford their entertainment and travel, etc. I know if I just wanted to afford super pricey watches ($40K+) year after year, I could, but I a couple of those a year would definitely cut into what I could bestow on my kids. That's just not a trade-off I'm willing to make so I can have yet one more fancy watch. Other folks may choose differently and more power to them if they do.

After I'd bought my Sunset, it became very clear to me that price and tangible benefits don't have much to do with each other; they are neither in direct proportion nor indirect proportion to each other. Price and artistic content are in somewhat of a direct proportion to one another in that the more elaborate the artistic details/elements, the more one'll generally have to pay, regardless of the brand name. I'm okay with that, but when I do choose to pay the price for arty/high style watches, I do so knowing that I can't get that style for a lower price. (short of buying a fake copy of it) So that's another reason why I took the time to learn a fair bit about watches.

To close, I'll just say this: It's very easy to spend a large amount of money and get a very beautiful, well made watch. There are lots of watches on the market one can choose that fit the bill. It's a lot harder to spend less and get the same thing. So, one must consider the the resources one has available -- time and money -- decide how much of one of them you want to spend in order to husband more of the other.

If you aren't that into watches, I'd say spend more money and don't spend much time learning about them since you probably will only need one or two. You may spend a few hundred or even a few thousand more than you need to , but over a lifetime of wearing that one watch, how much difference does that really make? Probably not much, regardless of what price point one is at so long as it's a price point one can comfortably afford. If you are into watches and want lots of them, you'll do well to learn good bit about them because over time the savings will get you more watches that are good, cool and that you like.

All the best.
__________________
Cheers,
Tony

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
'07, e92 335i, Sparkling Graphite, Coral Leather, Aluminum, 6-speed

Last edited by tony20009; 03-12-2014 at 01:31 AM..
Appreciate 0