Hobby or Obsession

When one watch evolves into a collection, is an intervention necessary?

I started recently to give serious thought as to how my watch collection has grown, or as I call it matured through the years.

One Becomes Two, Two Becomes Three, and So On...........

But How Does the Expansion Start?

The answer to this question will be different for everyone. I can tell you that I began to think about the origins of the current state of my collection as the eye-rolling by my better-half continued to become more pronounced as each new box, and new watch was delivered to our residence, LOL. Way back in the day, when my collection was less than a handful, I would add timepieces to my collection based on style; sport versus dress, versus casual, a watch for all occasions. It was at that point that I began to recognize the different brands and styles, or sub-genres if you will, of watches available to the collector. In the sport category alone, you've got divers, pilot, and racing inspired styles, just to name a few. It was then that I began gravitating to dive watch styles primarily, throwing in a few pilot (flieger), dress, and casual style watches to round-out my collection, and so began my journey.

Collecting Strategy

My strategy is not a strategy at all, as I simply look to add timepieces to my collection that have some sort of aesthetic design appeal to me. This appeal could be the look and style of the overall timepiece, including the case, dial, complication of the movement powering the timepiece, or exclusivity, limited production of the timepiece. I have met other collectors that collect certain genres of watches, specific brands or styles such as diver, pilot, Mickey Mouse, etc., and the style and number of timepieces can certainly run the gambit from collector to collector; there is no standard here. I do have one rule with my collection though, I wear all of the timepieces I purchase. If a watch isn't getting sufficient wrist time, it usually ends up getting flipped (sold). There is the rare collector that may purchase certain timepieces as investment opportunities, but this would be reserved for the rarer luxury brands, and these timepieces would get zero wrist-time to hold their value.

Is There a Limit or Breaking Point?

The limits to the growth of your collection will be based mainly on the tolerances of your disposable income, inventory space for housing the accumulation of extra timepieces, and the tolerances of your better-half to your spending habits. I will say that it can be very easy to get caught-up in the excitement of adding additional timepieces to your collection, between home shopping presentations, internet advertising, and plenty of willing enablers on the various internet watch forums, keeping a level head, and utilizing sensible spending habits is my best suggestion for enjoying the hobby while building a solid collection, and keeping the peace within your home.