Horological Meandering

Just  wanted to see how many watches you all have.  Is there a "ideal" number so they all get wrist time?  I am approaching 11 pieces  and am starting to wonder if it is getting to a point that they wont get worn enough.  Its a very personal/subjective question but just curious  about the conventional wisdom.   Thank you!!

added to Editor's Pick

This message has been edited by AnthonyTsai on 2008-01-10 14:25:32

I don't thing there is an ideal number.  Greater than one is a start.

I think you really have so many reasons for collecting watches for lack of a better term.  Without getting all technical you could look at it from a category  perspective with a goal of wearing your watches.  I am not addressing the non watch wearing safe queen category here. 

You need a dress watch or two, a tool watch or two, a swim/dive watch or two, a chrono or two, a complicated watch or two, a "I don't know why I bought this watch" or two, a vintage watch or two, a pocket watch or two.  That's about eight to sixteen watches.  This a good start for a horizontal approach.  Next you go vertical in the category or two you favor most and add another eight to ten watches. 

You could take a brand specific approach and remain faithful or play the field and remain non committal and free wheeling.

I think from here the sky is the limit.

Try and change watches at least once a day i.e. when you get home swap your watch for another and keep the stable happy.

Soooo much fun.

Bill

I know of quite a few others with collections that range in the 600 to over 1000 range.

All who hang out here, all who respect everyone else's collection.

Some collect by brand;

others by complication.

Some collect by "horological significance" and others purely by what "tugs their heartstrings"

Some for representative examples of regional styles.

I myself have collected along all these modalities; I've found my fascination is along how a particular piece "represents" something -  a particularly good (or bad) repeater; the smallest tourbillon and the largest; differing "periods" for a brand that I particularly like (mostly AP)

In the end, I get what I like, even if it doesn't qualify for a "category."

And I fairly regularly "rotate" the crop - wear any and all, and de-accession one (or more) when a better specimen or representation comes along.

Conceptually, I agree there is a distinction between "acquiring" and "collecting" but in practice, it is pretty hard to be rigourous about it, and most just end up fitting a justification around something they really like.

 

Cheers,

TM

Thomas, I was amused to see that you collect, among other categories, watches that represent something – good or bad. In addition to the few good watches that I enjoy, I have also built up over the years a collection I believe to be unique, a collection of some of the worst watches ever made. There's one advantage to collecting them: they tend to cost a lot less than the most desirable watches (or in my case many happen to have been "freebies") and I tend not to lavish any great care on them, so I spend nothing on maintaining them. It's another way of looking at things – but I guess few manufacturers would boast about being included in this special collection. I don't often look at them now: I prefer to log in here and drool over some of your fabulous watches and those posted by other members of the community here.

..."and most just end up fitting a justification around something they really like."

I like that Thomas. Lovely.

 

regards Christian

For wearing, when you get much over a dozen you start to feel that a lot of watches are getting left out. I have about that many really wearable watches (well, maybe a few more); I normally keep about seven or eight out, and occasionally give myself a "new watch" by putting one into storage and pulling another out. However, if you enjoy the watches as art, there is really no limit. I have dozens more watches that I rarely, if ever, wear, but that have historical, technical or aesthetic characteristics that make them worth owning. Some are completely unwearable: an old verge fusee pocket watch movement, several World War I-era watches (tiny and fragile), etc.; others are wearable but when it comes time actually to put a watch on my wrist I don't gravitate toward them. Nevertheless, I enjoy owning them and spend quite a bit of time looking at them.

Very interesting point!
The big difference, IMHO, between collecting and accumulating watches is that, in the 1st case , you have a " raisonnée" ( don't know how to traduce it in good English) approach.
I mean that when adding a new piece in your collection, you think about only one point: Will this new piece add something to your collection?
For example, do you follow a vertical approach of the watches you already own? For example, Divers Watches, Alarms...of the same brand.
Do you go further in the complications? IE, do you go from a petite sonnerie to a Minute Repeater, or form a Minute Repeater to a Grande Sonnerie?
From a simple Chrono to a Flyback, then to a Rattrapante, and to a Foudroyante?
etc, etc...
But this is not the only reason, you may with the same legitimity og only on watches that speak to you.
As previously said by others here, there is no limits, except the sky....
The only thing to avoid, I think , is to accumulate watches for the only reason to accumulate watches...But this is my personnal point of view...
Who am I to give lessons to the others???
Nicolas

the theme of the collection.

For example:

• all important chronos
• all "important" simple watches with three hands
• everything you fall in love
• one watch for each complication
• ...

A collection is always something really personal. If some people just have a "collection" to impress other people it also means a lot.

Just my humble view

oliver

so only have 3 watches

William

 

I have 7 mechanical watch (coming to 8) and 3 quartz. I usually have 5 watch ready to wear anytime at home (with winder) and the rest in the bank safe deposit box. I keep 5 at home because i have 4 winder and 1 to wear. The quest for watch seem endless and wanting more and more. So I restrict myself to only 1 watch per brand and 1 tourbillon per brand. I consider myself a "wearer" since I wore all the watches I bought and never thought of selling them ever. I even thought of keeping them for my 2 sons, now 1yr old and 2 mths old  . A very good excuse for my wife.....

 But i still think sky is the limit and as long as my bank account can take it, i shall buy more and more watch i like.

I do think it's too many and not all get wrist time. But there's always something nice every year...Do check out the posting below r/e value watches...it has reached a point where I think whether I am being "conned" by watch companies...hahaha 

Hi,

I have some watches that I nearly never wear (but would never sell them) like some family watches or vintages (from an old Vulcain chronograph to a stainless steel VC from the 40s).

I have a few clocks and pocket watches of no real use except collection.

And I have watches that I wear (JLC Reverso Date, JLC Master Memovox, JLC Amvox1, Zenih Rainbow Flyback, Zenith Elite rdm, GP 4946, GP Laureato, Daniel Roth 177, Cartier Tank Basculante, Minerva Grande Pythagore).

I've bought and kept these watches after wanting them for a very very long time (only the Amvox1 is still produced and that's my last purchase). No impulse buying in what is left! That counts.

These watches are in my collection because for me they represent fairly well the spirit of brands I appreciate. I can't afford the bimbos from these brands, but I have some nice samples.

So that's (only) ten watches I wear. I'm planning to get much more (a possible Patek year?) and not planning to sell anything anymore (5 left this year).

I never have more than 5 out of the bank, so I don't see them resting at home. I don't feel that I have "unnecessary" watches.

Of course depending on what I buy in the future some current watches I own could become redundant because they would not stand to be compared to new entrants.

But I see no limit, except money!

I'm sure that doesn't help! 

Cheers

Dje

I try not to wear the same watch more than once a week. 

So I can safely say I am capable of nurturing at least a dozen with equal care and love.

So I have upwards of 12.

Bill

...collection and so far he got 10 replies and only one and a half answered the question....lets be up front.....put in the numbers...I have 15.

Lets do a number count. How many watches does the Forum own?

Kindest regards to all,

Jack

Ok,, Ok, ...
35.

. . . with an independent (RGM 222) on the way, and my heirloom watches - a '56 Longines Conquest and '65 Seiko Sea Lion from my dad which are worn semi-regularly, and a '27 Zenith pocket watch from my grandfather which is on display. I have a few others, but they don't count since I've decided to part with them. That makes seven watches in rotation, with room for one more in the next few years, most likely a chronograph, quite possibly an Omega . . . cordially, Art

Yes but.  Do we include all the misc watches like the couple of suunto's or the various old omega's and the misc vintage pieces, the pocket watches and so on.  So I guess one needs to put some parameters around the count otherwise it may give a false positive.

I probably have more than a dozen that fit the misc that I would probably only count if it was bulk count.  At the same time a collection of Swatches amassed over a number of years is a pride collection by all means though monetarily not a significant.  So again,  the difference in classification by value actually  is meaningless. So I would say in your collection meaning the ones that you call collection as in your pride count.   


I think we can put a poll together and do a couple of grouping to put one's collection into context.

Bill

. . . which is why I left out the watches that are being excised from the collection . . . regards, Art

I am waiting for a Panerai PAM87 Submersible 1000m and just added a JLC Master Extreme World-Alarm 18K RG Rossi and a Fisker PCH GMT to the collection this past week. These days I wear my Linde Werdelin Biformeter to the gym and like to strap on the IWC Big Pilot during the day, but I think the Big Pilot has big competition with the W-Alarm, which is such a cool watch with a very handy feature: the mechanical alarm. The Richemont internal battle, so to say!

All of my watches, though, are kept in a bank safe and I only have two at home at the same time. One for sports and one for normal/formal wear. So I have to go to the bank every time I want to switch critter.

Collection wise Rolex sports models fill up most space, but a few of them rarely see the light of day, as they are getting thinner on the ground in their current condition. Also have a Panerai PAM28 that I don't wear no more, due to the fragile PVD-coating. No worries wearing my Panerai PAM195 with DLC coating though – and it shows! Lotsa wear marks on that dark machine!

I used to say that I should sell the pieces I don't wear, but I seem to keep them all anyway! Guess I am getting older and more attached to my watches – or finally have found what I am looking for (semi-quoting a popular Irish band).

5 mechanicals (soon to be 6 (...!!!...) but maybe 7 depending on various factors)

8 that I wear regularly (including the 5 above)

13 in total.

28 ways of telling the time in my house in total..!!!!!

Andy.

Back around Thanksgiving I did a SOTC post and I think I took 65 pictures for it.

home.watchprosite.com

It included Swiss, German, Japanese, etc. wristwatches and about a dozen pocket watches
On top of that there are maybe 10-12 Swatch (some still in the box) that I didn't post.
And I didn't including anything worth less than $100

OK, so that might be the collection, BUT

I sorted through my watch box cabinet the other day and found 2 Swiss watches hiding in their boxes.
There are 6-7 in various states of restoration or refinishing or adjustment with the watchmaker.
That's not counting the clocks which number about 25-30 including 2 Atmos, 1 JLC, 10 Seikos, etc

Wait I just found three more in my "secret" winder box in the office

I think there are 2-3 incoming; I can't remember, and I might have one sold.

Oh, wait there is one at my friend's house in England awaiting collection to avoid Int'l shipping.

And the Stowa coming to Watchbuys for delivery later in the month - numbered special edition

And my Discus Burger is incoming too

How many is that then?

Definitely less than 100

Mike

First - what a nice and interesting thread.

I have a total of 12 pieces and I really find ity is too many. its the same 3-4 pieces I wear and the rest just sit in their scatola boxes so I have decided that before my next purchase 4 pieces have to go. Unfortunately the price curve gets steeper and steeper in trying to improve on the quality of our watches but I would rather have 1 super piece than 4 good ones that I dont wear. I was always a collector by nature  an I used to want a big collection but this autum I had a kind of revelation. My grandad had to be moved to an old peoples home and so we emptied his house. It was schocking to see what he kept that had never been opened or used. Expensive porcelain. Clothes. silver and gold pieces of cutlery .antique carpets e.c.t. Some of this stuff was still in its original gift wrapping paper (unvrapped) with recipts going back 40 years. It really made me think about what I have and how I spend my money. I would rather have a few good things that I use or enjoy than cubboards full of stuff or boxes full of watches. So one of my new years resolutions is to sell the stuff I dont use and that includes some watches. The pieces I have in rotation I think are keepers however. they are pieces that I craved for for a long time and still admire. They are not nesseraily the most expencive or recognized pieces but they just SPEAK to ME. As ThomasM said: " and most just end up fitting a justification around something they really like."

I have a few pieces that are not for wearing because they are too fragile, being vintage pieces. only one I will never ever sell or swap for something better. My grandads 18 kt YG ultra thin Omega. I just spent a year having it restored and will post the story on that one some day.

kind regards

 

christian

100 swatches which didnt really count so they went in bulk to a dealer, then 80 that didnt fit into my themed collection went to buy a car and i still had 240 left, a superb collection of military pieces, accutrons and omegas, but they have just gone as they were too many to cope with. winding them once a month was exhausting and mind numbing. i'm down to about 15 now. much higher value ones which i can concentrate on properly and really appreciate. the problem is that i am addicted so since cutting down so drastically i've bought 6 more and hopefully bidding on another in 2 weeks.

i'm really trying the trick of selling some before i buy others, but its not really working.

at least with a smaller number i can really keep to the theme of unusual dials, movements or rarer makers. i no longer want a watch that just tells the time using conventional hands unless it is groundbreaking. it has to be 'different' to find itself on my wrist now.

Graham

And for me, "too many" in my dictionary means more than 5 watches.  I used to have around 15 watches and that was just too many for me.  Many did not get any wrist time so to me, those watches are just a waste of money.

I'm extremely picky with my watches nowadays and my ideal collection would be to have 5 watches to ensure each and every watch gets wrist time. 

One of my rules now is if I buy a new watch, one watch must unfortunately go.

Cheers,
Anthony

if you have them for a particular reason. it doesnt even matter if you dont wear them. when i was collecting military pieces very few ever got worn, but the object was to try to have an example from each war, each country involved, each branch of the forces, rare pieces used by special forces etc so that the collection could be viewed as a good representation of military horology through the years. i achieved my aim, had a collection that many military enthusiasts respected and admired so i was happy. the same went for my tuning forks and Omegas.

i then had a desire to own a UN Freak and as a direct result of that i sold virtually everything. i'm still collecting but in a different way.

at the end of the day, its not just watches. i'm an addicted collector. i built up a collection of over 100 pieces of early chinese porcelain which i sold in the summer to fund some house renovations.

i'm now trying to be minimalist, but still have about 50 pieces of Welsh pottery from the Ewenny and 'claypits' ewenny potteries in the vale of glamorgan near Cardiff.

i just enjoy collecting, but watches always win over everything else.

Graham

I was just only stating my own personal view on how many watches I want in my collection.  I consider myself not a watch "collector" but a watch "enthusiast."  I buy watches to enjoy and do not like to accumulate them because that goes against my own philosophy of if I don't wear it, it's a waste of money.

I respect everyone's views in this hobby and understand why some have 1, 5, 10, 50, 100, 500, 1000, or 10000 watches.  I'm not saying that someone who has 50 watches is wasting money.  I'm only saying that if I had 50 watches, I would consider myself wasting money because that is my view which I only hold up to myself, not to anyone else.

Cheers,
Anthony

Hi,

I can accept to buy 50, even 100.

Why not 500 if you say please!  

But seriously 1 000, 10 000! Are you kidding!

I don't want to becom a collector!

Cheers

Dje