Horological Meandering

Maybe there are a few WPS participants out there who have never sold or traded away a watch, but if you’re like me, chances are there were a few dearly departed members of your collection that you let go of for one reason or another. In light of a couple ...  

Thanks for sharing! 👍🏻 Like you, I enjoy watches due to the way they look and wear on my wrist. Not much more. I can’t site back catalogues, vast ocean of reference numbers, movements, the technicalities of watchmaking and certainly don’t have a hundred t... 

I find the various perspectives from which we admire watches to be fascinating, and I imagine each of our purchasing, trading, and selling histories will tell a unique story. I also think it's great that the world of watches offers something out there for... 

Earlier this year, my income was affected at work. So I decided to part with the GP. The Explorer I was a failed experiment. After a week I just didn't bond with it. Too small, and lost interest in the dial.

But somehow it does not make me excited when I put it on my wrist. And my 37 mm Memovox is very similar in style and colour. Now in the process of selling it to fund a white "explorer" (oyster perpetual 34mm white dial with 3-6-9 numeral)

This one had me in stitches. The Zenith Pilot’s chronograph registers on the dial that critics call “cross-eyed,” which you can never unsee and ruined it for you.

It's not often that I'm swayed by someone else's opinion when it comes to watches (or clothing, music, food, art, etc., for that matter) but the cross-eyed pilot watch was just too much. There is a lesson buried there about matching cases to the calibers ... 

I like when collectors don’t take themselves too seriously and are able to have a laugh at the capriciousness of this totally nuts hobby.

I like the ALS cabaret and the Bregeuet 5967...elegant but uncommon. The 40 mm Memovox felt too big for small wrist, coupled with silver dial and silver hands, indeed looks too sterile. That's why I opted for the 37 mm memovox with black dial and manual w...  

Cannot add from my side, as all of the watches I ever acquired are still me. Been contemplating consolidating the collection for a while but so far never got to that point. Maybe one day soon.

All I can say is that you've got a whole lot more discipline than I do. ;-D

a hoarder?

Like you — my journey has been so much fun — and consolidating in recent years was slightly painful, in letting one or two watches go, but not unbearable. Thanks again for sharing your insights!

Best, Emmanuel

I’ve never had the money to really go for it, but have “tried” many brands/models that I’d read about on “the usual” sites (not too smart of me) been fascinated with throughout time or just flat liked the way they looked. I now have only a few, consisting... 

Modernahab has gotten rid of more watches than I've owned...and most of them are waaaay out of range for me.

In the last seven years, all the while searching for *the one* (in my price range). Buy, sell, buy, sell, buy, sell…thoroughly unhealthy. I almost killed the whole “hobby” with it. At this point, however, I’ve experienced so much (again, of my price range... 

There's always somebody out there with more and more expensive watches (cars, clothes, etc.) than us. I can daydream about spending without guilt on an ALS Richard Lange Perperual Calendar Terraluna or an early 21st century De Bethune perpetual calendar.

Particularly liked where you shared their successors! While I do have some watches that languish unworn for a while, I've not yet sold any. Thanks for sharing Cheers JML

Have you noticed any changes or patterns over time as far as how easy or hard it is for you to sell a watch, or how long you tend to keep watches? Or is it pretty random?

I seem to go in cycles. I'll go for relatively long periods without trading or purchasing any new watches, an then will come a flurry of activity. Then I'll start feeling guilty for spending money on watches, and settle down again. A coupe of things gener... 

Long periods of nothing, and then suddenly a flurry of activity. That's familiar!

I’m a bit of a watch hoe and find to really appreciate and get to know a watch I need to wear it for an extended period of time. I’ve gone through 100+ watches but now I know what I really like and what I dislike. One mistake I made was selling watches af... 

Have you noticed any changes or patterns over time as far as how easy or hard it is for you to sell a watch, or how long you tend to keep watches? Or is it pretty random?