Does your collection have a theme?

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Re: Does your collection have a theme?

Post by christam »

^^^^^^^^^^ That sums up perfectly how I feel. I never was a "collector" and within a few weeks, my "selection" will have become a nicely manageable 5 with no particular theme. For each, though, size (40mm), night-time legibility, and general robustness within an unfussy design are important contributory factors.
I am not a collector of watches. I used to be able to say that and know I was telling the truth.
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Re: Does your collection have a theme?

Post by gaf1958 »

A theme? Not really, as like many here, I buy what I like, although *most* purchases are done with consideration as to how it will fit in with the rest of my collection, namely: will it stand as a sufficiently different watch to the rest, or does it overlap with one or more existing watches? The latter means that some of the collection may be sold at some future point as a result of this purchase. It could even be that the watch to be sold is the one just purchased, as I may eventually decide that the existing ones win out in the long run.

Sensible? Probably not, but I've found that the only way I know which watches I keep is to live with them - some of the watches that I've just had to have, loved when I've tried them on, are those that have been sold after owning them for a while (a couple of examples were my MkII Speedy and the Tudor Pelagos). You can tell if a watch looks good, fits well etc by trying it on before you buy it, but I can only tell if it's a keeper by living with it...

So, back to the theme.... Not so much a theme, but things I prefer. I like dive watches, so do many. I prefer them slim and preferably light, but light will do. So some of favourite divers are my SMPs as they have a very slim profile, but my 8500 Planet Ocean is far from slim, but it IS light (titanium). The steel 8500 went, but the much slimmer 2500 Planet Ocean has stayed. Interestingly the Pelagos which went has many similarities with the titanium PO, but it wore bigger, so....

I also like domed crystals. A lot of my watches have domed crystals - and by domed, I mean like the crystal on a Speedmaster moon watch, not like the curved "domed" crystal on say a C6 Kingfisher (which is a watch I love by the way). With domed crystals, I like both acrylic and sapphire - five of my seven moon watches have acrylic crystals. As do quite a few of my vintage watches... Love 'em...

I really like my watches to be legible. After all, what is the primary purpose of a watch? Telling the time (although some may argue that). I like to be able to tell the time at a glance, so anything that doesn't fit that bill is unlikely to last with me...

Another theme.... colour. I do love me a nice bright watch. ;) For example the aforementioned C6 Kingfisher. I've owned most of the models, but the only ones that have lasted have been the nice bright ones (orange, yellow, blue). I own a few Aqua Terra variants, one is a very rare red dialled Japanese only model, another a white dial with blued hands and hour markers - both hit the liking for colour and legibility... Colour can be as simple as a bezel or second hands or as much as a full dial and bezel, but that's an important part of what I collect.

Oh yes. Modded watches. If a watch is one I like, but is missing one of my other criteria, maybe a mod can fix that! Seikos? Yep, love a modded Seiko. Omega? Yes please, a few of mine are modded, however I always (always!) make sure that I keep the original parts so they can be returned to original if I decide to sell one. Actually one of the (many) reasons I like my red Aqua Terra is that it looks like it's been modded, even though it came that way from the factory...

So, those are the some of the themes that come to mind with my collection. I'm sure that if I took the time, I could find a lot more common threads that run through my collection, but that's a reasonable start. I don't tend to choose based on whether its a pilot's watch, field watch, chronograph, dress watch etc - although there are examples of each of those in my collection. Divers though... I find them hard to resist, but they're also somewhat hard to find in slim and light, so I sometimes bend the rules and just run with colourful and easy to read ;)
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Re: Does your collection have a theme?

Post by neil8fletcher3 »

Too many watches, well that's the view of the Mrs. But my theme would be black, blue or white dials nothing bright. But other than that it's fairly varied with dress, dive and tool covered. Quartz and autos and various sizes but I find I'm leaning towards the smaller watches. Is it a theme that a collection is always missing just one more piece?
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Re: Does your collection have a theme?

Post by gaf1958 »

neil8fletcher3 wrote:Is it a theme that a collection is always missing just one more piece?
No, that a standard feature that comes with all collections... :)
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Re: Does your collection have a theme?

Post by fishman »

How many watches are needed before the term collection is warranted?
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Re: Does your collection have a theme?

Post by nbg »

fishman wrote:How many watches are needed before the term collection is warranted?
I never really thought that I had a "collection" of watches until I joined a watch forum - I just thought I have a few watches, so I guess it's what ever number you want it to be. My wife has 5 watches and if I said to her that she had a watch collection, she would think I was being daft. :)

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Re: Does your collection have a theme?

Post by TheBeatles »

nbg wrote:
fishman wrote:How many watches are needed before the term collection is warranted?
I never really thought that I had a "collection" of watches until I joined a watch forum - I just thought I have a few watches, so I guess it's what ever number you want it to be. My wife has 5 watches and if I said to her that she had a watch collection, she would think I was being daft. :)

Neil
I agree, my wife and most women have numerous earrings, necklaces etc and I doubt they consider them a collection.

That's where we men get into trouble. We shouldn't join a forum, we should keep a low profile and maybe they wouldn't notice how many we have. :lol: :lol:
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Re: Does your collection have a theme?

Post by stefs »

I think in my case there really is no theme as such as there is little or no overlap between the watches in my small collection.
All that has evolved really is that I have bought and sold to end up with the nicest I could afford and covering most catagories. one dive watch, one gmt, one chronograph, one best/dressy, one vintage/retro, one nice quartz and one beater (gshock obviously!)
I suppose the only thing in common is nothing too large with 36 min and 42 max.
Cheers now, Paul
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Re: Does your collection have a theme?

Post by fishman »

My theme is to keep things simple and small. So, I've decided on a permanent core collection of classic designs,at the most five, that will always be in style, masculine, and beautiful. The first three are the Jaeger Reverso models 1931 and 1948 and the Cartier Tank Solo. These three designs are iconic and will always wear well in a variety of situations. The other two positions in the core collection are still under consideration with the Nomos Ludwig and Zenith Elite thin being the leading contenders at the moment. The secondary theme of small refers to keeping the total watch number to ten or twelve. So, within those remaining spaces will go watches of what I deem a more casual and/or practical design. In this group I'll include a water resistant watch appropriate for swimming and outdoor activities for example. It's also within this group that I'll consider the occasional buy/sell if I think a change is warranted.
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Re: Does your collection have a theme?

Post by Wis »

Not sure I have a theme, but I have a few guiding principles:

*Not too big nor too small.
*Slim is better than not slim.
*Not too much overlap.
*An interesting movement and/or complication is a big plus.
*Simplicity and thinness counts as complications.
*Should preferably be a type the brand is known for.

And of course the most important of all: I must really, really, really like it.
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Re: Does your collection have a theme?

Post by fishman »

Wis wrote:Not sure I have a theme, but I have a few guiding principles:

*Not too big nor too small.
*Slim is better than not slim.
*Not too much overlap.
*An interesting movement and/or complication is a big plus.
*Simplicity and thinness counts as complications.
*Should preferably be a type the brand is known for.

And of course the most important of all: I must really, really, really like it.
Excellent principles,particularly "slim is better than not slim" and the last one!
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