I really enjoy hearing about other people’s collections, so I’m happy to finally post and officially share mine. I have quite a few other cheapies and a G-shock not shown, but watching my wearing habits over the year has helped me narrow down the collection to these (shown in most to least worn order):




CW C63 36mm
This is the first of my milestone birthday watches. This one was planned to commemorate the birthday and was preordered a few months before. I wanted a black dial, 36mm, GADA watch with quick adjust and this was significantly cheapeR than the Other guy I was Looking at an EXample of. I think it's pretty much perfect.

I was happy to see this as my most worn watch over the year, as this has been the watch I would choose to wear if you only let me wear one watch for an extended period of time. Because it is a jack of all trades, other watches tend to get grabbed over it to complete a look I'm going for, but the more stylish watches don't have the consistency that this one does.

Glycine Combat Sub
It's 42mm, but the lug shape makes it well really well for the size. It makes a great casual weekend watch and is super comfortable whether it's on bracelet, velcro, NATO, or sailcloth. If you made me really narrow down the collection, this would be the watch that would fulfil the "beater" role. It's currently my #1 beach, pool party, and water sports watch and my second most worn watch overall.

Seiko SRPD
A very versatile piece that could easily be a one watch collection. It has a vintage feel on bracelet and a sporty modern feel on the fitted rubber strap. Because of the Seiko mod community, there are so many bespoke fitted strap and bracelet options. I find it amazing that you can get a watch that looks this good and iconic at such a low price, an easy recommendation for a one watch collection.

CW Moonglow
This is the second milestone birthday watch (same birthday). This one was put up on ebay ending on my birthday at an incredible price. I discovered it that day, jumped on it, and it's now core to the collection. I think it's absolutely beautiful, quirky in a way I like, and looks great on leather. The fact that it’s my 4th most worn watch is very impressive because I’ve only had it back from service for 8 months and everything else in the top 8 has been around the whole year.

MFG Bronze Bay
My Seiko Mod, even though only the movement is Seiko. This is a bronze, IWC Spitfire style case, with an absolutely gorgeous dial, with some 3D printing by me to get it all to fit.

With the rubber strap that it came with, and an Erica style strap, I couldn’t get it comfy. But since pairing it with this Christopher Ward strap with bronze hardware, it’s so comfortable. The watch has a nice thickness and wrist presence to it that just feels so solid. I love the look of the distressed strap and the aged bronze.

It’s hard to imagine this ever leaving the collection as the bronze is a fun metal to have.

Bulova Breton
I picked this up to celebrate a new job. I love the numerals on the dial and it looks great on both the bracelet and the strap. It’s doing the heavy lifting as the sole white watch and really dresses up or down.

Seiko Speedtimer
This was an estate sale pickup and my best “find”. This has been locking down the chrono / reverse panda spot in my collection. I don’t think I’ll be picking something else for this spot until this has to be retired.

Citizen Tsuyosa
I initially got this watch because of the red and in spite of the gold. But I’ve actually really grown to love the gold. This is my perfect bling watch, if you’re going for red, why not make it gold too?

The variety of brushed and polished rose gold surfaces is really eye catching and beautiful. I’m not the biggest fan of the movement (non-hacking makes setting the time accurately hard, time setting feels a bit cheap, rotor can be loud) but overall, the package is wonderful.

I think this has probably taken the spot I was holding in my collection for a Twelve, at least until I can see one in person, which is very unlikely here in the US.

Tag 3000 Pro
I picked this on up from Japan, it’s in great condition but needed the dial reattached. I fixed that and was hoping that this would be a sporty daily wear knockout like the BB54, but it actually wears a lot more casual. I really enjoy it in the casual wear spot even though I didn’t expect it to fill that role.

Citizen Attesa
The newcomer to the collection and a watch that’s really making me rethink a lot about watches.

The finishing is incredible for the MSRP and I paid way less than that. The accuracy is +- 5 seconds per month and it automatically gps time syncs 5 times a month to stay within 1 second of atomic time.

It’s titanium and that completely negates my complaints with the watch in terms of wearability. The choice to use male end links means the final link of the bracelet sits slightly off on my wrist. The watch is a bit big and thick, but you wouldn’t be able to tell wearing it because of how ridiculously light it it.

I’m having a bit of a quartz crisis myself with this watch. I think watch people are really sleeping on these (for obvious reasons). It’s really hard to figure out where to go with watches moving forward now that I have this high standard of finishing and knowing that no mechanical watch will be this accurate.

Thanks for sharing your collection and the stories behind each watch. You seem to be on a journey of discovery and still working out what you like and trying different watches, straps and bracelets.

Do you have a favoured style of watch or are you still happy to keep trying out different ones for the time being?

iain wrote:Thanks for sharing your collection and the stories behind each watch. You seem to be on a journey of discovery and still working out what you like and trying different watches, straps and bracelets.

Do you have a favoured style of watch or are you still happy to keep trying out different ones for the time being?

I definitely love the variety of the collection currently and how fresh a watch can feel when I haven’t worn it for a couple weeks. My C63 (most worn) is only getting about 14% of my wrist time and the top 5 watches combined only have a slight majority of the wear time.

I think the most important factor for me is comfort, the watches that have fallen out of the top 10 just don’t sit right on my wrist without a NATO (and are all Citizen Eco-Drives, which tend to be a few mm larger than they probably should be).

I’d love to be a one watch guy but I just can’t see myself being able to successfully choose a watch to wear most of the time at the exclusion of the others. I feel like it would have to join the collection normally and then take over from there.

That's a well written account of your watches I enjoyed reading it. As nice as it is to see compelling photos of watches a great account of how they became part of your collection is equally engaging. I liked the subliminal nod to Rolex in your Sealander write up. The Bulova is particularly charming.

Des

Thanks for this - i love the breakdown and blether about each watch. Especially your thoughts on the black C63 36mm. There's a difference between wanting a watch because it looks like an explorer, and wanting a quality enjoyable 36mm black dial bracelet watch because that's a staple of how you use and enjoy watches. I'm glad you found the watch that seems to really fit with you.

Oh - and the tsuyosa is fabulous. It wouldn't be the same watch if you added a hacking movement, better finished rotor; even if you made it out of solid rose gold. It's a class act on any wrist. I might have to buy one now....

missF wrote: Oh - and the tsuyosa is fabulous. It wouldn't be the same watch if you added a hacking movement, better finished rotor; even if you made it out of solid rose gold. It's a class act on any wrist. I might have to buy one now....

It would look great next to your Jetstar!

Thanks for the kind words everyone, I tried to write the post I would enjoy reading. It makes me very happy that you’ve all enjoyed it as well.

Nice collection, MFG, and very well explained and storied!
I love the distressed look of your bronze gage, and the 1930s vibe of the Bulova. The moonphase is delicious and the plane jane, black 36er is a perfect GADA.

MistaFroggyG wrote: ↑Wed Jan 03, 2024 2:38 am

missF wrote: Oh - and the tsuyosa is fabulous. It wouldn't be the same watch if you added a hacking movement, better finished rotor; even if you made it out of solid rose gold. It's a class act on any wrist. I might have to buy one now....

It would look great next to your Jetstar!

It would seem a tall order to sell the jetstar to replace it with a tsuyosa, but these are the dilemmas i find myself in. I really only have one watch box space for 'gorgeous shiny make-me-smile gold watch'. Come to think of it, how blessed am i that the dilemmas in my life largely revolve around comparing and contrasting excellent watches??

missF wrote:

MistaFroggyG wrote: ↑Wed Jan 03, 2024 2:38 am

missF wrote: Oh - and the tsuyosa is fabulous. It wouldn't be the same watch if you added a hacking movement, better finished rotor; even if you made it out of solid rose gold. It's a class act on any wrist. I might have to buy one now....

It would look great next to your Jetstar!

It would seem a tall order to sell the jetstar to replace it with a tsuyosa, but these are the dilemmas i find myself in. I really only have one watch box space for 'gorgeous shiny make-me-smile gold watch'. Come to think of it, how blessed am i that the dilemmas in my life largely revolve around comparing and contrasting excellent watches??

I get the feeling, when the Jetstar came out, I probably would have gotten the red one except I had just got the Tsuyosa

What a great collection! That Citizen is lovely, never seen one of those before. I really want to get into gold.