As with any hobby, watch collecting is a vast and complicated field that can be difficult to understand and fully embrace, especially at the beginning of your journey. Mistakes will surely be made and regrets will be felt, as it is natural to our human condition and personal ongoing evolution.
In this post we wish to share our own opinions, not rigid rules or guidelines, but our subjective perspective and advices on watch collecting, so everyone reading it can have a better sense of what this is all about.
1) Main goal: HAVE FUN!
There is one true common objective to every hobby: providing fun and enjoyment. During the course of your watch collecting journey sometimes this will be forgotten, but we urge you to come back to this main goal in every single moment that you are devoting to your timepieces. This is what will keep your interest up, learning every aspect about watches, pushing you forward in the hunt for your own personal pieces.
2) Don’t buy watches only for their residual or future value
Lets face it, nowadays everyone is on social media or uses it to learn new skills and obtain knowledge about basically any interest you can have. It isn’t any different with watch collecting. If you go to Youtube you will find multiple channels about the watch world, some focusing on their history, features and evolution, while others target the current markets and mainly the grey market. One thing you’ll immediately notice is that the watch business is in a fast growing process, but as any other market it is not constant nor completely safe. Our advice is: buy the watches you like, based on your own personal preferences. If the watch brings added monetary value to the table that will be great for you, either you want to keep it or sell it, but it shouldn’t be your only reason for the purchase.
3) Sometimes in-house movement aren’t worth the upgrade in price
In recent years there has been a growing trend in most watch companies, the production and implementation of movements produced by the brands themselves, instead of mass produced movements, such as ETA and Sellita. These in-house movements usually come with an increase of the watch price. We consider that the price increase may be justifiable in more elaborate and complicated timepieces, but unfortunately we also see this trend in base models, which we don’t consider justifiable. Don’t forget that many of the in-house movements are just some slightly modified mass produced movements. Also, ETA, Sellita and other such movements are easier and cheaper to repair, and sometimes even more reliable in a day to day basis.
4) Even cheaper brands have complete knock-out watches
As with every topic, this depends on what you are looking for in a watch, but if you look at a brand such as Seiko you will find watches from every price range, from GMTs to proper diver watches, almost anything is available. And with great dials too. G-Shock is another example, if you are searching for an all-round, beater watch that will withstand everything you submit it to. You don’t have to pay a premium price to have a good-looking and reliable timepiece.
5) There are great watches beyond Switzerland
Well, this one is self-explanatory. Lets just give one of the most obvious example. Grand Seiko, one of the greatest brands in the world, producing the most exquisite dials and stunning timepieces. Accuracy like no other, remarkable finishing technics, everything combines to produce unique pieces that can compete and even surpass many great Swiss made timepieces. If you do your proper research you’ll find great watches from all around the world.
6) Don’t be afraid to personalize
Unless you are buying a watch planning only to resell it, don’t be afraid to make it your own. Changing the straps or bracelets gan give your watch a new life and aesthetics, adapting to different kind of outfits. And if you are planning on passing your collection to your children or relatives in the future, why not leaving them a message in the back of the case so they will always remember you?
7) Expand your knowledge
As with any field of your interest, you should study and do your research, improving your knowledge and enjoyment in your watch collecting. From YouTube, to podcast and many different books available, there isn’t a proper excuse for not being informed. This topic will be expanded in a future post.
8) Your opinions are all that should matter for you
As you can deduce from all that has been previously said, the most important thing in your watch collecting process is to listen to yourself. Don’t follow trends, don’t fall under the pressure of others. When you do what you love and enjoy every moment of it, you’ll grow much happier and probably find new friends with whom you can share your enjoyment.
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