Horological Meandering

A long time coming but this makes me seriously want to rethink any future watch purchases. Watches are getting more expensive, not just Rolex. While I am fortunate to have 2 of them, 3 if you count my wife's, and a Bell and Ross, TAG and several very nice... 

I’ve had as much enjoyment from this than a lot more expensive purchases ...  

If we're all honest, we do not need mechanical timepieces as the Apple Watch is far more useful... and acceptable to wear, and without fear of being robbed or worse! The market for under $1000 pieces has been heating up quite a bit. 'Bargains' can be foun... 

With prices rising across the board, I am hanging on to watches I no longer wear all that much. None of my watches are worth all that much, but it's still not the healthiest behavior.

Gone are the low hanging fruit, but we can still enjoy this hobby if we are interested to search hard enough. I think the current environment is certainly challenging, but there are still some less popular birds out there that haven’t seen the meteoric in... 

You have tons of super choices way below 10, 000 USD. An example? The vintage Lemania chronographs for the RAF or RAN. The Heuer Bund, too. Some great vintage JLCs. Some superb Hamilton Military Chronos. And so on... And among the moderns, too: See Tudor,... 

Lots of great choices for ~10k. For a bit more the Bvlgari Octo FS is a fantastic piece! The Tudor BB METAS is well within budget. ...  

I usually ignore the new releases, especially the hot ones, as I'm just not willing to pay up for them.

… for a while now. Both my purchasing (“mid-level more interesting” and “will only buy the top-tiers if offered at retail”) and wearing patterns have been affected. Between the crazy prices and availability, and the new dog in the house, the watches that ...  

...I am considered 'rich.' But in this community, I am a relative pauper. It's gotten out of hand...

I see that someone here bought a Patek Philippe because they saw it in a window while on a mid afternoon walk back to the office. I completely understand, I'm just not there yet, and may never be, and I'm OK with that. I will give the "mid-level" watches ... 

...it's more my suspicion that real watch lovers are getting left out in the cold because speculators are either speculating and/or parking money in tangible assets. Kind of the way I feel about the art market...

...not that it means anything.

I neither have the means nor desire (luckily) to have the expensive watches (most are to me) I see on here. However, I do enjoy looking at them and marvel at the ingenuity and skills of the watch makers. All the best to those who have the means to have su...