Daft thread: Moly, Ratty, Badger or Toad?

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Daft thread: Moly, Ratty, Badger or Toad?

Post by Amor Vincit Omnia »

People who have been around for a while will know that I enjoy these "fantasy" watch games from time to time.

My last one was based around "Yes, Minister!"

A few years back I did The Seven Ages of WIS

So, for a bit of fun I though I'd take a look at the four principal characters in one of my favourite books "The Wind in the Willows" from the watch fan's point of view.

Image

(Picture from The Daily Telegraph)

The Mole - Moly is the newcomer to the Riverbank (or Watch World). He's just discovered the CW website and is smitten. Everything watchlike is wonderful. He doesn't know a Vacheron-Constantin from a Constantin Weisz, but he's willing to learn and in Ratty he finds a patient teacher. He's naive and enthusiastic and he's going to make a few mistakes, but he'll get there in the end.

Mr Toad We'll take him next, because he bears a slight superficial resemblance to Moly; he's enthusiastic and naive , but not in a good way. He gets obsessed, you see, by the latest "must-have". Last year it was divers - he's not short of a bob or two, isn't Toad, so he bought a Sub, a PO and a few others in quick succession. He sold them. He's discovered chronographs - Speedy, EP, Daytona. They won't last long; it will be fliegers or military next. Of course, not everyone has Toad's resources or lives in a house that looks like Sandringham, but you can still do Toad on a Budget.

The Badger - no-one, and I mean no-one, does solid and sensible like Badger. He doesn't buy or sell very often, but he has very good taste and a relatively small collection of high-quality pieces. Badger doesn't do flamboyant. Every addition is considered carefully, and he looks after his watches superbly well. That longcase in the hall is a Vulliamy, it's been in his family for generations. I do like Badger...I just wish he's get one wrong every now and then like the rest of us.

The Rat - Ratty is quite happy and settled in his ways and his collection reflects the fact that he's been around a bit and found some interesting things. He likes quality and also the odd left-field choice. He helps Moly to find his way, he is quite tolerant with Toad - much more so than Badger, whom he respects as an equal.

Which are you? Or are you a mix of more than one? I was a bit like Moly at the start, and developed a couple of Toadish tendencies along the way. I pretty much shook them off. I could never be Badger, and I'd like to think I'm more like Ratty these days. It's an interest, it's fun, but there are other things in life.

Discuss. :D
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Re: Daft thread: Moly, Ratty, Badger or Toad?

Post by kiter65 »

Haha....brilliant Steve, me a little bit of all of them apart from The Badger..and I find the older I get the less tolerant I get, unlike Ratty, not only in watches but in life in general :lol:
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Re: Daft thread: Moly, Ratty, Badger or Toad?

Post by exHowfener »

Yes, very clever. Me? if any at all, "Badger on a budget" is closest - though I try to be pretty tolerant when it comes to watches and other peoples taste.
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Re: Daft thread: Moly, Ratty, Badger or Toad?

Post by watchaholic »

For me, I would like to think I am most akin to Ratty. If there is one thing I have learned since frequenting this forum, is that there as many different likes, as there are watches. I am currently enjoying watching a friend of mine struggle with his first purchase. Bouncing back and forth between the Rolex and Omega ADs, he is, I believe, enjoying the journey. This will be a path he will have to find his own way on as I have no intention of influencing his choice. "Buy what you like" I tell him. Hopefully it won't be too hideous. :lol:
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Daft thread: Moly, Ratty, Badger or Toad?

Post by gaf1958 »

I believe I know the person you had in mind when you wrote the badger paragraph...

Back when I was in mole’s shoes there were no Internet forums, let alone watch forums. So I had to find my way through that particular maze by trial and error, as I had no idea that there were watch magazines... Car mags, computing, yes, but the local newsagents didn’t stock anything as esoteric as that, so I had no idea they existed.

There be shades of toad in my makeup... but there’s always been a budget limit that toad doesn’t seem to have. That leaves what, the rat? Yes, I’d say that’s the closest to my position.

But help anyone? I had to learn it the hard way myself... so get orf the lot o ya...
CW C1+2xC3+6xC6/60K+C7+C11+3xC60T+2xC65+C90+2xC600
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Re: Daft thread: Moly, Ratty, Badger or Toad?

Post by Amor Vincit Omnia »

Haha! :lol:

All my characters are an amalgam of types. In some the strain runs truer than in others, and some exhibit characteristics of more than one type.

I suppose there are more moles and rats on the forum than any other type. The moles sometimes, though not always, grow out of it; and many of us are experiencing moments when, like Ratty, we say "Enough!" and are content with what we've got. That's me now, but I'm sure I shall have a relapse before long.

Toads, I'd say, are few. We had a real Toad on here back when I first joined. He left after a while. Drove everyone bonkers.

I'd say we have one or two people here with Badgerish tendencies. Though it must be said, all of them do actually indulge in a bit of buying and selling from time to time.

I suppose we could take another genre at some point. Lord of the Rings? Who would be Gollum with his "preciousss?" Now there's a rhetorical lollipop for you to suck on. :lol:
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Re: Daft thread: Moly, Ratty, Badger or Toad?

Post by Tortoise »

:D :clap:
Nicely done!
I loved that book and the animated series ...
Somewhat embarrassingly, I'm afraid I am probably more Mole than anything else at this point! .... (perhaps I should change my forum handle/avatar? :lol: )

cheers
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Re: Daft thread: Moly, Ratty, Badger or Toad?

Post by Amor Vincit Omnia »

^^^My own early posts (10 years ago) were very Moly in character - like a kid in a sweet-shop!

I know quite a few rats and badgers who felt their way along by buying a whole host of watches they later sold on.
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Re: Daft thread: Moly, Ratty, Badger or Toad?

Post by missF »

I relate to moly, but try to put on an air of insouciance to convince you all that I’ve been in the game for years and know a thing or two! :lol:
watching you fail in your quest for a “one watch” has been great entertainment
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Re: Daft thread: Moly, Ratty, Badger or Toad?

Post by Noush »

Still rather Moly here. On the one hand (or is that wrist?) learning from the experienced folks but on the other learning from myself.
A small collection with a lot of variety (enjoying them all in their ways) teaching me what is important in "the next step".
Which I suppose is learning to be more of a Rat in a Badgery kind of way :)

That next step is proving to be more take a deep breath and then leap. But it's perhaps the most interesting phase.
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Re: Daft thread: Moly, Ratty, Badger or Toad?

Post by Bahnstormer_vRS »

An interesting proposition Steve. :-k :-k

In a nut shell; I think we all somehow start our watch collecting journey as The Mole or Mr Toad progressing over time to The Badger or The Rat.

For me, having wandered in the essentially one watch wilderness for my formative and mid-life years, I discovered WISdom and CW back in 2012 and very quickly established myself as The Mole. Fortuitously, I escaped association with Mr Toad due to financial constraints and a desire to maintain matrimonial harmony.

I was probably on the road to being The Badger, with a firm 'one in - one out with financial equality remit' (necessitating 3-into-1 or 5-into-1 consolidations at times) but with the bereavement of my wife three years ago came 'freedom'.

Progressively I've changed to being The Rat, albeit with a Badgeresque 17th Century Mahogany long case clock, with the acquisition of a few quality pieces and an emphasis on mainly left-field choices. I still very much enjoy playing around in the lower and middle ground though. Help for the Moles of this world is readily offered.

The future? Ask me in five years time. :lol: :lol:

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Re: Daft thread: Moly, Ratty, Badger or Toad?

Post by H0rati0 »

Ahh, Wind in the Willows - a true classic.

My favourite quote: "We'll learn 'em" - Badger, just before clearing the weasels from Toad Hall.

Somewhat appropriate....
"There is no beginning to enlightenment and no end to training" - Dogen Zenji (1200-1253)
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Re: Daft thread: Moly, Ratty, Badger or Toad?

Post by Amor Vincit Omnia »

Bahnstormer_vRS wrote: Wed Apr 14, 2021 12:55 pm In a nut shell; I think we all somehow start our watch collecting journey as The Mole or Mr Toad progressing over time to The Badger or The Rat.
I certainly agree with that, Guy.

Now, a question:

"Mole he is burrowing his way to the sunlight
He knows there's someone there so strong"


Without using Google, who can name the band and the song from which this lovely lyric is taken?
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Re: Daft thread: Moly, Ratty, Badger or Toad?

Post by iain »

As far as the homework question is concerned, I’m probably ratty. However I’m going to go off script a little and say I’m more like Otter. Not one of the main characters but still part of the group.

There is of course our “friend” who likes to make repeated comebacks and cause as much mischief as they can. They must be either a stoat or a weasel possibly even the chief weasel.

Love this booked, I didn’t read it when young but read it many times to my daughter when she was too young to understand it.
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Re: Daft thread: Moly, Ratty, Badger or Toad?

Post by burnki »

Exuberant newbie here, so I would have to go with mostly Moly (though I think in my deep, dark subconscious I may harbor a toad).
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