I've decided to change up the collection again. Again. Status quo never sits well with me. You could give me a dozen of the most expensive and most desirable watches in the world, and after about a week, I'd be looking to switch it up again. At least 25% of the hobby for me is trying new watches and trying to find good deals, another 50% is the friendships made with fellow watch nuts, and 25% is left for the actual watches themselves.

After the Sealander came in, and my initial doubts about it, I'm now "all in" with this watch. Besides the MK2s which cannot be beat for my money, the Sealander range is remarkable. Looking at the watch box(es), I saw a LOT of divers and chronographs. At least 90% of the watches were one of those two types - The Beast manages to be both AND it's also a MK2 so imagine how highly I rank that?

Some more "all-rounders" are now on the horizon. The Sealander is one, and my recently re-purchased Citizen Grand Classic would be another (long-ish story - post on WUS here if you'd like to read it: https://www.watchuseek.com/threads/it%E ... t-54887845)

So I'm mixing it up again. I sold the C65 Anthro LE GMT last month, and also sold the C65 Chronograph. I've agreed to a sale of my MK2 Yellow LE to a friend, and another friend may be interested in another Citizen I own. More divers and chronographs departing. It didn't help I was up to 18 watches between two boxes and it made me feel bad about all the money sitting in the boxes and all the nice watches that don't get worn. Ultimately, I've decided that I'm not a "collector" so having four MK2s is just too many. I love them, but I can't wear them all when there are other watches also sitting unused far too often.

Interested to hear how you guys manage it? I find that my ideal collection size is around 12 or so. Any less and I feel like adding a few more. Once I get to about 15, I start thinking about what I can sell.

- Jacob

I'm hoarder, but I am identifying some watches that I seldom wear.

I’m trying to limit my collection but it’s hard when there are so many nice watches out there tempting me! My wife helps to curb my enthusiasm though

I found the only way to keep myself in check was to buy a watch box with 4 slots, I then can only have 5 watches. I’ve already negotiated myself up to 4 in the box and 1 on the wrist…..

The perennial question – and the never-ending quest for the perfect number (not to mention the perfect watches!)

Having updated my SOTC a week or two back, I gave this some thought again.

It became apparent during the lockdowns that I had a number of watches that I wasn’t wearing; they had, so to speak, fallen out of favour. I managed quite a fair box reduction over a couple of years, but of course there were some additions as well.

I had quite a few quartz chronographs but they have all gone. I used to wear them quite a lot for work when I was teaching full time and timing tests or activities. The only chronographs I have now are my Speedy and my vintage Leonidas.

I have never had a great fondness for divers, or swimming watches as I disparagingly call them. The C63 and the MeisterSinger both have good WR, so they can happily swim on holiday. I also wear my G-Shock to the gym, and that sometimes involves wet activities.

I have always had a penchant for the more dressy types of watch, and I do like a nice GMT even if it is not strictly necessary in the places I tend to visit.

The collection is a little smaller than it was, but I am happier with it. I had watches which I wore occasionally simply because I felt I ought to wear them, but I was resentful that they were taking up time from my favourites! That feeling has subsided, and I’m happy to wear them all, though some do get more time than others.

Only taking one watch on trips has been quite a liberating experience, and I am also content that the overall quality of the watches is higher than it used to be. Equally, I am now happy that in my Top Box of eight watches there is not a lot of repetition in terms of style and brand; I don’t open the box nowadays and see a whole row of very similar watches.

Good luck with the process; it’s difficult but quite cathartic and satisfying.

I was at over 20 at the start of this year, and I wasn't happy about it but I'm not 100% sure why. I had thought it was due to the sheer number, and after selling a few I'm now down to 18. This is the number of spaces I have in my watch boxes and I feel a bit more settled, so maybe I was just anxious about having a few watches untidily lying around rather than the overall number or the amount of money that my collection represents.

Part of me still wants to reduce that number further to 10 - 12 and to that end I've split my watches across the two boxes; my 10 higher end pieces and 8 lower-end (with CW having good representation in both boxes). The box of 8, while a nice collection in its own right, in theory contains nothing that you'd want to pick ahead of the other 10, and my expectation was that I could put the box away and eventually, through lack of wear, I'd want to sell them. However, I still find myself dipping in to it from from time to time. The question I must now ask of myself is why. Is my theory wrong? Does the split follow perceived stereotypes rather than my own free will? Do I genuinely value the amount of choice?

For now, I'm just trying to take my time and work things out. Enjoy what I have and not get distracted by the thrill of the chase!

I made it down to 6 but have just crept back up to 7. There will be no more in until something goes, but I’m quite content at present with what I have and am not planning any more ins or outs in the near future.

I found consolidating the collection helped with the reduction. Selling 2,3, or 4 to fund 1 higher end watch really helped. However the value of watches I’ve bought had topped out now and I don’t see myself going up any higher.

I now just need to get on with wearing and enjoying what I have.

I've been to a maximum of 17, all CWs at one point last year, but have trimmed down to 14 now. I have been rationalising that quite a few of the watches I currently have, just don't worn often enough to justify keeping them, and I think I've finally realised that some styles of watch I'm falling out of favour with... very strange

As mentioned on another thread though, I'm also considering a (relatively) expensive Omega purchase, sometime over the next few months, and so as I anticipate that will get worn a lot too (and keeping the books balanced a bit), it's very likely a number in my collection will move along quite soon... I think I have three in mind already, one of which will be a bit of a surprise (even to me), but I hate to think of watches sitting unworn when they could be loved by someone else

EDIT: I should add that the Concept and C65 SH21 LEs are going nowhere... I still adore and wear these often

For my better watches I aim to only buy those that I don’t think that I am likely to want to move on. Seems to work, as my most worn watches have been owned for an average of about 6 years or so.

I also dabble with sometimes buying lesser watches, without particular thought. I don’t expect to wear them regularly. Generally don’t get around to moving them on, but quite happy with that.

In an ideal world I would like to aim for dozen or so better watches worn regularly, with say 6-8 add ons, for occasional wear that in total are about the same value as a “better watch”.

Neil

Ask me today, ask me again tomorrow.

I think I'm done with flipping watches carefully accrued only to suffer remorse twelve months further down the line and set about replacing them like for like: I could be the world champion....

Mostly I've decided to not let go any CW watches, any non-tuning fork Omegas and a small gang of others.

I had about a year of Aliexpress and youtube promoters of aliexpress brands and I've been recycling watches through EBay but mostly I'm done with aliexpress now: tried it, tasted it and spat it out again. Cheap as chips? Surely are.

I can still look at kickstarter but only rarely now do I engage. I reckon I back one in five or six of the watch offerings that I actually bother to look at and probably my keep rate is about the same, one in five or six. My test is whether a Ks watch would offer me something which a CW watch wouldn't: that sorts them out.

Significant new aquisitions? Probably not, I'd like to try the Zenith El Primero Chronomaster but that's going to have to be a walk in and try on at some stage.

Jkpa wrote: ↑Mon May 09, 2022 3:03 am I've decided to change up the collection again. Again. Status quo never sits well with me. You could give me a dozen of the most expensive and most desirable watches in the world, and after about a week, I'd be looking to switch it up again. At least 25% of the hobby for me is trying new watches and trying to find good deals, another 50% is the friendships made with fellow watch nuts, and 25% is left for the actual watches themselves.

It didn't help I was up to 18 watches between two boxes and it made me feel bad about all the money sitting in the boxes and all the nice watches that don't get worn. Ultimately, I've decided that I'm not a "collector" so having four MK2s is just too many. I love them, but I can't wear them all when there are other watches also sitting unused far too often.

Interested to hear how you guys manage it? I find that my ideal collection size is around 12 or so. Any less and I feel like adding a few more. Once I get to about 15, I start thinking about what I can sell.

- Jacob

I get where you are coming from and a lot of what you say rings home with me. I have increased then decreased the number of watches I own a few times over the past 6 years or so I've been on the forum. I've settled at the current 12 and haven't bought or sold much in the past year to 18 months so it's getting more settled.

Looking at the basic spreadsheet I keep of the watches I've owned, I see a further 44 have been bought and then subsequently sold in my time on the forum, yikes more than I thought