Wrist shot of my newest acquisition, a Tag Heuer Monza wr2110 to exemplify my recent direction.

 

Happened to me about 8-10 years ago. I drifted away, spent some time wrenching on older cars, but recent changes in design pulled me back it. Sometimes every relationship needs a little time away.

 

Being new to collecting and servicing watches I've yet to become bored yet.

This did happen to me with bicycles. I had quite a few projects in the garage. As soon as someone sees that you can paint a bike, they want you to paint theirs. The work involved in getting a nice paint job (with decals and all) is a labor of love. It turns into work and scrutiny when doing it for others. I had no time for this.

All my bikes have been traded or sold now. Just like them, I have my attention trained on watches these days. Thankfully I can say (in jest) that I'm confident no one will ever ask me to paint their watch! It's likened to buying a pick up truck...inevitably someone is going to ask you to help them move something!

 

I did go through a bit of a dry spell some years ago when I struggled to find anything a really wanted but it lasted on a few months (phew)

 

Yeah for sure I've gone through that, but I've also come out the other side. I think the first thing is to recognize that for most people it isn't a "hobby". Its just an interest. Ideally hobbies take up time and give you some sense of fulfillment: you finally complete your set of rare British colonial stamps, you finish your oil painting and recognize that you've finally mastered sunlight, you fix up that MGB and drive it to the antique car show. Buying watches doesn't give you that. And there's only so much you can learn about the history of Patek Phillippe or the inherent accuracy of mechanical movements, for those of us who even care. So I just don't expect a lot from owning some watches. I don't get bored about them because I don't expect to be entertained by them; I like them but don't put too much pressure on that.

 

I want to second this sentiment. Unless you are diving into watchmaking, watches are what I like to think of as a 'passive hobby'. Passive hobbies are comfortable and easy to access by just reading or or looking up some pictures. They don't demand much input and as a result don't offer as much fulfillment, or the richer fulfillment of a new watch-guy is time limited.

I find it's good to also have an active hobby. Wrenching cars, triathlons, and drawing/painting are my active hobbies. Once I have tended to my obligations and one of my active hobbies for the day, I find I get more out of my love for watches having satisfied the other parts of my brain. Over time, it's also comforting to know these watches have been with us as we did other things and went on other adventures. I think it's easy to want this hobby to satisfy too many of our needs. It's a richer experience when expectations are managed and when the quiet periods of dormant interest are allowed to happen until the more active passion naturally shows itself again.

Good topic. I think most can identify with the ebb and flow of interest in this hobby.

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Not really gotten bored with collecting - but I guess that is in part due to always taking the slow, methodical approach to purchasing anything. The fun is in the search more so than actually accumulating anything. There has been a pretty consistent trickle of new watches over the last year that have piqued my interest. That has inevitably led to a quest to read or watch as many of the hands-on reviews of said watches, and I’ve set about comparing specs and considering how such a watch would (or wouldn’t) work in my small set. I never find that kind of mental exercise to be boring (and surely it’s much friendlier on the wallet).

The one thing I do find boring (perhaps I would go so far as to say “tedious” even) is the constant stream of micro brand offerings that now look a dime a dozen from Kickstarter. Then again, I’m sure the same could be said about any major brand that releases the umpteenth annual “Limited Edition” model of a particular watch, but c’est la vie.

 

I try to keep my collection fresh by changing straps. Changing a bracelet to leather or nylon, or my latest trend - tweed - for winter. changes the whole look of a watch

 

I do this as well. For me, a different strap completely changes the look and feel of a watch.

 

I don't want another dive watch, that's for sure.

 

Boredom can also be the flip side of restlessness and short-term thinking. Constant movement is a drug that we get hooked on, forgetting the joys of pausing, reflecting and savouring.

One of my favourite writers is Blaise Pascal, and he had this to say about the mad desire to be doing things all of the time. I paraphrase: "The sum of the world's ills would be greatly diminished if people learnt to sit quietly in a room from time to time." He meant a number of things by this, including the harm we do to ourselves by always being in a hurry. He wrote that in the late 17th century too, and the condition has only deteriorated across many, many cultures.

When I stopped collecting Marvel comics in my mid-teens it wasn't out of boredom. It was because I couldn't afford to keep up with the proliferation of story lines across different titles. I've never stopped amassing books and have had two whole collections at different stages of life. That's thousands of books segmented into about one dozen themes. I have a collection of artwork and sculpture that has grown ever so slowly over decades, and I now have a collection of watches too. It's the product of 40 years, beginning with my father's watches. For 35 years, nothing happened until I began to add a few.

I don't feel boredom with the things I collect for one simple reason. Someone has already said why very nicely above: I don't over-expect. I collect things I like. They acquire symbolism and meaning, but only over time. Eventually, the things we collect can become reflections of who we are. The things we collect can surprise us with revelations about ourselves only with the passage of time. For that we need patience or even to forget about them for long whiles.

 

Yea I think we all flame out occasionally. For me I try not to buy too similar from piece to piece so maybe that helps

 

I think I will refrain from buying for a while.

 

2020 has been quite different, so I take most internal/though process/habit/personality changes with a grain of salt. Also, I have a lot of hobbies and their prevalence in my life comes and goes, sometimes being dormant for years at a time. It's possible this will happen with watches for me, as my watch habit kicked up during the forced lockdowns. But I don't expect to ever drop the hobby.

Now, shifting preferences within a hobby, like moving toward cushion cases, I think this is natural as we get more settled within a particular hobby.

 

I don't know if I got bored, but I did buy this. Love your Monza.

FWIW, I keep looking for one of these:
Time Factors PRS-36

 

That Smiths 😍

 

I bought a number of watches about a decade ago. Then I stopped. I bought a number of watches this year. Now I am going to stop. Since I tend to pre-order it means I'll have a new watch every month or so for a while.

My latest watches do not have black or completely black dials.

My latest purchase is the Boldr Expedition Everest. In pictures it looks to be a bold matte blue with an interesting case and 2 crowns. I'll post pictures when it arrives or you can check out the Boldr site where it is still on sale but for less than I bought it for the other day. Still a good price for a SW200-1.

The Reise I have on order has a very interesting titanium case with hard coating. It looks like the Alpine White with a fumed off white dial and full lume on the dial is the only one currently left. This is the model I bought as I wanted the bgw9 lumed dial with C3 hands. Seems like a great travel watch for when travel starts up again.

The Solas has an averturine dial and micro rotor movement. It just looks like a cool dress watch that is unique.

However, for a lot of these you are looking at micro brands and not the big players.

If you are looking to make a profit, I recommend my other hobby, gambling in the stock market

 

Watches have remained exiting to me because I am true to my own tastes in watches.

I have noticed that many WUS members start with their own taste in watches, then after awhile they start conforming to the crowd and think their watch is too big. Next thing you know they are wearing a Submariner clone.

I have not gotten tired of any watches because I have only been paying attention to the ones I like.

 

Definitely got bored with collecting for a spell. So, I ordered a bunch of watchmaking tools, grabbed a cheap water damaged watch of mine, and serviced it (VERY clumsily) with the help of YouTube. Now each watch I handle has a richness and depth to it that has piqued my interest again. Can I work on what's under the hood?

 

Sometimes I get bored but have 3 important rules:

1. Put part of collection away and pretend its not there.

2. In case of extreme boredom I research new gshock models.

3. In case of emegency read articles about my favorite watches that I already own.

But I noticed that no matter how I bored and tired I always going back to my roots - tried and true SKX007.

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I wouldn’t say I’ve gotten bored but I do think I’ve hit a point where I dont feel the need to buy any more watches. I think I may shift slightly to higher quality straps and see how that goes for a little bit.

 

I find healthy separation is the best way to go about this interest (which includes fighting the temptation to spend money). I get super interested with watches and the watch community/industry for a few months at a time (such as right now), then avoid forums and videos on Youtube like the plague a few month after that. This allows me to appreciate what I have without thinking about what to buy next, but also this isn't a super fast industry, so you can catch up pretty quick if you decide to stay away for a bit. I also find myself most tempted to spend money on watches when I'm browsing these forums, seeing the stunning watches everyone here enjoys, so it also keeps my finances in check.

 

The day I get tired of watches is the day I find a new hobby and forum to participate in........

 

Good thread!

After family obligations, which I enjoy in their own right, I consider wristwatches a more passive interest because, short of modding and dismantling, it involves reading forums and surfing the web. The get-togethers are something to treasure. Certainly it is possible to truly deep dive by reading and researching but I do the multitasking while surfing and I don't consider this a deep dive. When I first got into this world a few years back I spent lots of time reading (web), lusting, buying, selling. In the last two years i've mentally detached a bit yet somehow have bought and sold a few watches, go figure. My active hobby is playing guitar, collecting, and modding, but most important, being creative. In the end if I collect too many pieces I inevitably sell to about 6 watches.

 

Does anyone feel like this hobby is inherently consumeristic? I'm having a hard time seeing how to be interested in watches when I want to stop buying and stop searching for "the next best thing". But I feel like without actively shopping for watches or straps, things get a lot more.. lackluster.

 

Well, yes, in many regards, especially on a forum like this, where every other thread is "look at this new thing I bought", there will be a measure of consumerism. And it's not like on, say, a bicycle forum, where you can have threads on "How can I ride my bike faster?". There's pretty much only one thing you can do with a watch.

I think the best thing to do is pick that one thing that really draws you in and focus on gaining knowledge on that. Say you're really into quartz Omega Constellations from the 1980s. Focus on that, and ignore the Seiko divers and latest threads fretting about the price of Rolex sports watches. Becoming an expert would be more satisfying than watching other people spend money. That's my thinking.

 

Usually wear a gshock for a bit. Recently bought a Garmin gps watch which is amazing with offline gps ability and crazy battery life.


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I go in and out myself. Usually ebbs and flows with the seasons. Currently don't give a crap, but probably will again in the spring.

 

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