I have too many watches, and I've been wondering if I have too many Quartz Chronograph watches; they make up about more than 30% of my collection. Should I start paring back on the chronographs so I can pursue other types of interesting watches.

I'm at the point where I need to bring some discipline my watch collecting habits. Any advice.or perspectives about managing a watch collection would be appreciated.

Leon O wrote: ↑Sat Apr 23, 2022 4:06 pm I have too many watches, and I've been wondering if I have too many Quartz Chronograph watches; they make up about more than 30% of my collection. Should I start paring back on the chronographs so I can pursue other types of interesting watches.

I'm at the point where I need to bring some discipline my watch collecting habits. Any advice.or perspectives about managing a watch collection would be appreciated.
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Not at all, wear what you like best. Discipline will come with time.

Whether it is too many or not is a question only you can answer, Leon. For me it would be too many. I let several quartz chronographs go fairly recently because I wasn’t wearing them. I have tried consciously to avoid too much repetition in the box over the last couple of years.

My “top box” now consists of eight very different watches. The only brand repetition is CW with three, but they are all very different. As a result there is nothing that really gets overlooked, though some are worn less than others. But I feel that at last I have a mixture of styles, brands and functions in that box that I’m really happy with, and there is no dead wood.

There are plenty of people, I know, who have several iterations of the same watch in different colours. That is something I have very much avoided recently. It works for them, but not for me. I will be interested to see the reactions to your question.

Let me tell you how to go about finding your One Watch.....

missF wrote: ↑Sat Apr 23, 2022 4:36 pm Let me tell you how to go about finding your One Watch.....

Leon…step back…NOW!

The top two both look to be similarly sized with black dials, bezels and straps in steel cases - they may have a different sub-dial arrangement but they would be too similar for me to keep both.

Assuming you actually use the chrono function you could swap one of them for a red/orange/yellow one and I'd not say you have too many.

The term 'Too Many' is not a thing, imo..nice collection!!..

So firstly I’d say that abstract questions like ‘do I have too many quartz chronos?’ don’t help you because that means you’re looking for other people to tell you how your collection should be. Perhaps you’d be happiest with a collection full of quartz chronos?

What helped me last time round the cycle when I wanted to cut down numbers was to run a wee series of experiments to see how i actually felt in my gut about particular watches, rather than my head. Gut makes better decisions because it can’t be fooled.

So set up the first experiment. As an example- perhaps you want to find out what it would be like if you cut the chronos down by half. So take half the chronos (doesn’t matter how you choose - might as well toss a coin) and put them in a cupboard. You are not allowed to look at them. Leave the door shut. Then run your rotation as before. Give it a few weeks - maybe a month. In that time you’ll know if your gut is giving you a niggle - either there will clearly be a watch or watches that you miss wearing, in which case resurrect them, or you’ll realise that you can do without a watch altogether because you haven’t missed it, in which case leave it in the cupboard to be sold.

You can set the experiment up with any subset of watches.

It's all a matter of perspective and deciding what you want to collect, is there a theme you are following? Having a theme makes it a collection rather than random acquisitions that may or may not hang together. Had you set out to collect quartz chronographs, then with four, you're just getting started. Should you decide that you don't really like quartz chronographs, then you have four too many.
But the simplest answer is that if you look at your collection and think "I have too many ..." or think " I'd like some more ..." then you're probably right.

suicidal_orange wrote: ↑Sat Apr 23, 2022 4:51 pm The top two both look to be similarly sized with black dials, bezels and straps in steel cases - they may have a different sub-dial arrangement but they would be too similar for me to keep both.

Assuming you actually use the chrono function you could swap one of them for a red/orange/yellow one and I'd not say you have too many.

I do like the way chronographs look, but I never use the functions. Thanks for sharing you perspective on the black chronographs. That is an excellent point of view to work from.

The blue and green C7 Rapides are my most worn, so they are keepers for sure. Surprisingly (to me ) I wear the Trident more often than the AM GT. I don't think I bonded with it because the AM GT was not truly the last quartz model issued by CW.

I like the C3 as a business watch, but I'm now a full time remote worker, and I can wear a C5 Malvern on those rare times when I wear a suit.

I'm hoarder and can always use a nudge to part with my treasures.

Thanks all for humoring me work this out my issue on the forum.

Leon

Thanks all for humoring me work this out my issue on the forum.

It's like a cheaper version of visiting a psychiatrist, thus saving you money to spend on watches.

I love Quartz and bought my ultimate personal quartz, SBGV 207 with the 9F. I currently have one other, and have just sold another.

But I don't like too many quartz, because like having to service auto/mechanical watches, you have to keep changing the battery.
So with that and your max collection size tolerance. I get itchy over 8 and very itchy over 12. That's gives you your answer.

Battery changing tolerance PLUS
Max collection(s) size GIVES
Number of quartz Chronographs.

See, makes total sense

Leon O wrote: ↑Sat Apr 23, 2022 7:48 pm
I do like the way chronographs look, but I never use the functions.

I wouldn’t worry, when did logic and common sense apply to this shared compulsion of ours!

Maybe tune to try a mechanical chrono though?