As an avid collector, who usually purchases a myriad of timepieces throughout the year, I find it hard to get excited over the usual, earmark, holiday buying periods such as Black Friday, Cyber Monday, etc. I suppose that's a good thing, as I've tried to be much more intentional with my watch purchase decisions over the past few years, minimizing the tendency to impulse buy, and requiste flipping as a result.
But who doesn't love a deal? And I often found myself perusing the various holiday ads and email flyers, pondering each offering, doing the dance of justification in my mind. Should I buy, should I not? Should I buy small? Should I buy local? Microbrand or Big Brand? And let's not even talk about style choices; decisions, decisions!
The positive, my hesitance to jump at the first shiny new object, and the second, or third, speaks to the current state of my satisfaction with my collection. When the desire to obtain a new timepiece is satiated (to a degree), your watch collection is where you want it to be, period; or at least moving in that direction.
So for this holiday season, I did have a definite plan for purchasing the next timepiece(s) to add to my collection. I was focused on two things, acquiring a blue-dialed, vintage timepiece, and decided to shop small as well, choosing to give my patronage to a microbrand. For the former, I'm pleased to say that luck met opportunity, as I was able to acquire an older Tissot Seaster 1000 automatic timepiece, in excellent condition. And for the latter, I decided to purchase another timepiece from Straton Watch Company, their Swiss Made, Yacht Racer Automatic. I previously owned one of Straton's Daily Drivers, and it was a good looking, exceptionally crafted, affordable timepiece. The Yacht Racer is many steps-up from the Daily Driver in price, but I'm sure the quality of the Yacht Racer will correlate.
Fear not, if you've not been bitten by the holiday, watch shopping bug. It just means you've reached a level of satisfaction with your collection, that many watch collectors are still chasing after; it's called contentment. Although, there always seems to be room for one more.