Is less more?

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Jkpa
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Re: Is less more?

Post by Jkpa »

Nope. I think it’s great to have a small collection and more power to you if that works for you. For me, I like buying and selling and trying new models. I have some really nice pieces from Omega but I love the affordable options as well and have gone through probably close to 100 watches at this point and the collection is currently at 14 watches with 2 more on the way (both CWs).
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Re: Is less more?

Post by StrappedUp »

It's a yes from me.

I went up to around 12 watches about 2 years ago and can genuinely say I didn't enjoy the 'experience' of owning them.
Buying them was great though :D
I really liked the individual watches, but felt forced into wearing them all.
Just leaving the others in the box to wear one I wanted for longer periods gave me a horrible feeling of guilt.

I'm now down to 2 (bar 1 in SC) and find it much more enjoyable with each one getting a good amount of wear.
I honestly can't see me owning any more than 3 watches moving forward.

I've had thoughts of a single 'grail' watch, but I'm not totally sold on the idea just yet.
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strapline
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Re: Is less more?

Post by strapline »

StrappedUp wrote: Mon Sep 13, 2021 5:44 pm It's a yes from me.

I'm now down to 2 (bar 1 in SC) and find it much more enjoyable with each one getting a good amount of wear.
I honestly can't see me owning any more than 3 watches moving forward.

I've had thoughts of a single 'grail' watch, but I'm not totally sold on the idea just yet.
I think you and I are on a similar page, Ryan. Three works well for me right now; I can't help thinking further watches would just serve to confuse the issue. Still, I like looking at other's big collections...as I said in my OP it's vicarious watch collecting.

Des
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Re: Is less more?

Post by jkbarnes »

strapline wrote: Mon Sep 13, 2021 6:04 pm Still, I like looking at other’s big collections...as I said in my OP it's vicarious watch collecting.
That’s pretty much why I’m here! :lol:

It’s been interesting to read this thread and reflect on different observations about this. I currently have a grand total of five watches. One is a memory from childhood, purchased because of the nostalgia it drums up - it rarely gets worn and will never be sold. Another is my first mechanical, a Seiko 5, that is more or less my beater watch - worn when working in the yard or around the house. That leaves three that are my primary watches, two CWs and a modded Seiko. After taking in what others have said, I think that might be a perfect number for me. Any more and they’d be sitting around unworn for longer periods with me feeling guilty about that. Of the three, two have strong sentimental meaning (wedding gift and milestone birthday gift), so are not going anywhere. The modded Seiko isn’t going anywhere because it’s unique to me.

So I guess I’m done collecting?….except for a Reverso when I retire!

Now, back to the vicarious enjoyment of others’ vast collections….
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Re: Is less more?

Post by Thegreyman »

I came to the decision lately that I wasn't really enjoying all of the lovely watches I own due to infrequent wear and lack of free time to properly appreciate them. Perhaps if I was retired and not still working I'd have a different view. So I have downsized from 15 proper watches (excluding cheap digis) to 11 and one or two more may go. If I do end up buying another one at some point in the near future at least there is capacity in the collection (and the watch fund is liquid!).
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Re: Is less more?

Post by ajax87 »

I’ve delayed responding to this because I’ve been having an internal battle with myself over the last few months. My collection is at about 17, and sometimes I feel bad if I haven’t worn one for a while.

But every time I think about selling one, I just plain don’t want to. I like having it in my collection to admire, and wear once in a blue moon.

I’ve sold 2 watches in the last 11 years, and one I bought back.

So I guess that’s where I’m at right now!
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Re: Is less more?

Post by nbg »

Thegreyman wrote: Tue Sep 14, 2021 5:12 pm I came to the decision lately that I wasn't really enjoying all of the lovely watches I own due to infrequent wear and lack of free time to properly appreciate them. Perhaps if I was retired and not still working I'd have a different view.
Patrick I confirm that I wear more different watches since I packed in work, than when I put one on at 5:50am and didn’t have the opportunity to switch until about 7:40pm. Plus no chance to change if I was staying away from home.

Keep the excess watches until you retire. :)

That said I do have a few of my better watches that I have just realised I haven’t worn this year. :problem:

Neil
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strapline
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Re: Is less more?

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ajax87 wrote: Tue Sep 14, 2021 5:47 pm I’ve delayed responding to this because I’ve been having an internal battle with myself over the last few months. My collection is at about 17, and sometimes I feel bad if I haven’t worn one for a while.

But every time I think about selling one, I just plain don’t want to. I like having it in my collection to admire, and wear once in a blue moon.

I’ve sold 2 watches in the last 11 years, and one I bought back.

So I guess that’s where I’m at right now!
Ha... Those damn internal battles, eh Alex. :lol: :lol: Funnily enough, when I often put up a post I imagine the people that might respond, from my experience of seeing who posts what on the forum. I thought you might reply, you're a fairly regular poster and you have around 17 watches to boot. But there are others that are well qualified to post on this subject but haven't. I had a similar thought process with the recent 'Rolex a discussion' thread I put up. You imagine certain forumites commenting, but they don't, for whatever reason. Perhaps, in this case, the thread caused too many people to have internal battles or uncomfortable discussions with themselves. :lol: :lol:

Whatever...it was just meant as food for thought.

Des
Does melancholy count as two of your five daily servings?
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Re: Is less more?

Post by Thegreyman »

nbg wrote: Tue Sep 14, 2021 6:57 pm
Thegreyman wrote: Tue Sep 14, 2021 5:12 pm I came to the decision lately that I wasn't really enjoying all of the lovely watches I own due to infrequent wear and lack of free time to properly appreciate them. Perhaps if I was retired and not still working I'd have a different view.
Patrick I confirm that I wear more different watches since I packed in work, than when I put one on at 5:50am and didn’t have the opportunity to switch until about 7:40pm. Plus no chance to change if I was staying away from home.

Keep the excess watches until you retire. :)

That said I do have a few of my better watches that I have just realised I haven’t worn this year. :problem:

Neil
Neil, thanks for the good advice. I'm not planning on flogging all of them, there will still be a few decent ones to choose from :)
Patrick

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iain
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Re: Is less more?

Post by iain »

I had been happy with my smaller collection, then it grew to about 10 watches which I think was too much. I traded a couple and sold a few and reduced my collection down to 6 which I was happy with. I seem to have accidentally added 3 more over the summer and I’m again starting to think I’ve got too many. I’m sure there’s a moral to this story, but I’m equally sure I’ll not learn from it.
Iain’s Law: Any discussion on the Christopher Ward forum, irrespective of the thread title or subject matter, will eventually lead to someone mentioning the Bel Canto if the thread continues for long enough.
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Re: Is less more?

Post by Viognier »

I'm also in the 'less is more category' and targeting to be in the 3-4 range. Currently at 5 and have my Omega Speedmaster Pro Moonwatch up for sale. When someone offers me the market value in that watch it will tip me into the target 3-4 range.

Started collection with quantity, then pivoted to quality. Now I'm dialed in on what i really like and what I'll WEAR!

Diver x 2
Chrono x 1
Hybrid dress and casual watch (aka Panerai with strap changes).

what's interesting to me is the variation on movements (handwind in house, coaxial GMT, EP 400B and Sellita)
Small collection of timepieces that I enjoy
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Re: Is less more?

Post by Bident »

Haven't been on the forum as consistently lately and just now seeing this thread....provocative to say the least!

I've purchased 13 watches since mid 2018 when I bought my C65 Trident Diver. I had four or five older watches before then, almost all quartz models, accumulated over three decades since college/university days. I have never sold a watch.

Since I bought the 13 watches all relatively recently, I still want to wear them all as the novelty has not worn off...even for the C65. So I wear one of the 13 in daily rotation. Some days I feel like I want to wear a particular watch for another day and do so, but that is infrequent. So for me, 13 seems to be the right number, and I could see it going up one or two more such that each watch gets worn about twice a month. I will also say most of my 13 are relatively affordable: most are sub $1,000 in price and only two are more than $1k (but under $2k). I think that influences my collection size as I don't feel any guilt about wearing a single watch only twice a month since I didn't pay a relatively large sum of money for any given watch.

The older watches are seldom worn, but they were worn for long stretches at a time when first purchased back in the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, and early to mid 2010s (and they have the scratches to prove it). Several were gifts from my wife and so I feel such strong sentimental attachment that I will likely keep them forever.

Could I see myself in another 20 years having 30 or more watches? Yes, but I think unlikely. So from that perspective, less (at 13 + a few oldies) is more I suppose.
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Re: Is less more?

Post by Amor Vincit Omnia »

nbg wrote: Tue Sep 14, 2021 6:57 pm
Thegreyman wrote: Tue Sep 14, 2021 5:12 pm I came to the decision lately that I wasn't really enjoying all of the lovely watches I own due to infrequent wear and lack of free time to properly appreciate them. Perhaps if I was retired and not still working I'd have a different view.
Patrick I confirm that I wear more different watches since I packed in work, than when I put one on at 5:50am and didn’t have the opportunity to switch until about 7:40pm. Plus no chance to change if I was staying away from home.

Keep the excess watches until you retire. :)
My experience is actually rather different. I was more likely to wear several different watches during the week when I was working full time. Nowadays I find that I wear the same watch for several days in a row. Apart from putting on the G-Shock before going to the gym or to play golf and changing back when I get home, I almost never change my watch during the day.
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Re: Is less more?

Post by strapline »

Reading through this thread I think the one singular event that has caused people to ponder this question is COVID. The pandemic has changed our lifestyles beyond recognition, and not for a few weeks but for eighteen months and counting. Many of us had different watches for different social settings and different activities. A common theme was having watch to wear in the course of leaving your home and going to work then, on arriving home, perhaps changing in to something else. Then there were the watches that we liked to wear fro trips overseas; to keep track of our dive times, to display two time zones both home and where we were currently sunning ourselves.

Covid has made all of us look at how we lead our lives, it has also forced us to ask questions of ourselves that we probably never saw coming; our watch collections were not free from such scrutiny.

Des
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Re: Is less more?

Post by Thermexman »

My collection currently stands at 14.
That's too many.
It wasn't.
It is now?
I have a plan.

I have just sold my most expensive watch and currently have three others for sale. (One of which is on hold for a Forumite)

The plan?
To reduce the numbers down as I approach my intended retirement in a few years.

With the released funds, I intend to buy something to keep. Something that will head up a reduced collection. Something that may end up just being "The One" ?

I have ideas what "The One" will be. Unfortunately, those ideas keep changing!!! :ka:
Steve.