I think all collectors have that as part of our personality. We study, collect, read, and ultimately try to understand our chosen hobby. I have collected firearms, comics, vintage toys, and now watches. There is something different about watches. I guess it’s that you can take them with you all day and admire them. The nice ones require skill to build. They are tiny works of art and can be considered old world craftsmanship. New models come out all the time so the options never go stale. I love collecting watches if you can’t tell.

 

I guess it’s that you can take them with you all day and admire them.

I think you nailed it. Watches hold a significant advantage over a lot of other hobbies in that it's very "portable." They're always with you.

I also collect guns and knives. And, while they're also always with me, they're concealed by necessity. And, I can only use my guns at the range. I can whip out one of my pocket knives to open packages without much issue. Well... depending on which one I whip out! LOL!

I was also into performance cars for a long time and was a track junkie. But, then we had kids! Tracking cars is EXPENSIVE.

Another thing about watches is that it's a hobby that can be enjoyed within almost any budget.

 

Is it a personality disorder?

Yes.

 

Takes up less space than cars.

 

Why watches? I got sick of pulling my phone out to check the time.

 

Yep! Until July 2020, I had two watches. Both mechanical (automatics). A Breitling and a Rolex. The Breitling broke years previously (the crown tube stripped). Then the Rolex quit. So, I went a few months with no watch - depending on my phone to tell the time. Haaaaaaaaated it!

But, I wasn't anxious to spend a couple grand on getting the Breitling and Rolex fixed. I know what I'll do! I'll get myself a "cheap" Casio to hold me over! Yeah! That's what I'll do! Of course, I have to research just about everything I do to the "nth" degree... and the search for the Casio began. I settled on the GST-S300G-1A1. It looked cool. Solar-rechargeable battery. Not exactly "cheap," but at $260, way less than a Rolex service.

But, then I started looking at OTHER G-Shocks... Hey, they're pretty cool! And "affordable!" And, what about Bulova? Hamilton? And Lum-Tec??

And then this happened over the next couple of covid years!

Of course, I ended up getting the Rolex and Breitling back in action, too!

 

If anything, this is similar to "why jewelry?" only watches are functional (but non-essential with everyone having phones). I don't wear jewelry in general, and the watch kind of fills that role.

Also we all kind of have issues. I doubt women troll jewelry forums no matter how much of it they have.

 

Is there a better hobby? For me, yes, it's cars. Watches come second. Still a great hobby and a solid #2.

I do enter "seasons" where one has more focus in terms of what I spend money on. Both have been an interest since my youth, but I could stop wearing a watch tomorrow if I had to. I'm always going to have some type of non A to B car in my life even if it's just a Lego.

 

Unlike other things i like, watches are.

1. Most cost and space effective. Hell, you even make money, if you buy em right. Also, insurance and service is relatively drama free also.
Look at this pic. Some bastard did a hit and run in a public parking lot and damaged my car. Sentry mode was useless and now im stuck with all the drama of trying to find buildings sec. camera footage and insurance bs.

2. Safest. Despite mugging risks, if you are careful and insure your watches, its a minor pecadillo.
3. Healthy and safe, at least compared to whiskys lol. You are not going to die from collecting watches, unless a crazy wife throws your submariner at you straight to your head at 99mph, or get mugged in compton (cars and bikes are also subject to mugging).
4. Flexible. Unlike bikes, cars and guns, which are controlled by govt. (Conceal carry, speed limits, no straight pipes), watches are limited only by your budget and your preference.

Ultimately, they stay with your wrist, so they naturally bond with you more!

 

I used to collect firearms, particularly WWII era. But then I discovered I can't really wear my gun collection everyday. With watches you can actually wear and admire your collection on a daily basis, in and out of the house. They don't take up a ton of storage. And they express your personality and individuality, particularly out there in a sea a plastic computer chips strapped to peoples' arms. I've never enjoyed a hobby as much as I have with watches. Always something new and interesting to discover.

 

To start from a side point, men tend to dominate this hobby because men are more interested in things than women are. As for why watches over other hobbies, I think the main points have already been touched on: namely that watches are accessible at all income levels, don't take up much space, and have a certain beauty/artistic nature to them that is appealing. I am interested in road cycling as my other hobby, however that is limited to certain times of the year (not winter), and finding time when I'm not busy with work, family, etc to carve out a 2-hour ride.

 

I've always been fascinated with time, trying to understand it at a visceral level, to capture it, since a very young age, but never quite making it. Reading physic books did not help in any way, but wearing a timepiece gets me closer to an instinctive understanding.

I'm also fascinated with mechanical things. I also have a small collection of guns for example, but I don't hunt, don't carry them for "protection" and rarely shoot them, and it's an eclectic collection centered on pieces I find mechanically interesting. So mechanical watches also satisfy that itch.

 

Honestly, I have no clue. I've never collected anything else and don't really have anything that I would describe as a hobby.

One day I just happened to notice a watch ad on a flight, and it grew from there. First quartz fashion watches, then autos, and up the line.

Over time I developed appreciation for the things that folks like us would appreciate, like the finishing, decoration, mechanics, history, etc.

 

“Is there a better hobby?”
I don’t think so, I think there’s different hobbies, and there all good, when your into them.
I have collected guns and pocket knives and watches, now watch repairing ( or trying too) but I also do blacksmithing, stone carving wine making and gardening, among a handful of other things.
My wife calls me the “Serial Hobbiest“ It never really ends For me.

 

My wife calls me the “Serial Hobbiest“ It never really ends For me.

A cereal hobbyist would be cheaper!

 

Cheaper (at least in theory...), than my German car hobby.........

Fun. Always something different out there. Always more to learn about how they work. Always more to buy......

 

Micro machines. That's why.

 

Dunno. Just love owning the stupid little things.

 

Perfect explanation. Nothing to add.

 

I don't really think of it as collecting watches. I try to collect watch "experiences" limiting myself to 6 watches I really wear. I'll buy a watch used, wear it abroad for 6 weeks traveling or to work for a while. Kinda trying to get that watch experience. Then I might keep or sell. I don't want a big watch case with 20+ watches I never wear. I want to "experience" different watches. I have 2 I'll never sell for sentimental reasons and kinda rotate the other 4.

Not sure if this makes sense to anyone else.

 

I think about this often, why watches? In fact my late father often asked me this, especially when yet another package arrived at my door!

People often have multiple hobbies, and they often ebb and flow for any number of reasons, including age. My dad is a classic example: over time, tennis, racquetball, hiking, swimming, riding bikes, tinkering with car engines, riding a motorcycle (Honda 750), smaller home repairs, scenic paintings, target shooting, building plastic models of military vehicles, visiting forts and air museums, flying small model aircraft....

Watches can be a pretty low impact hobby. They're small, relatively easy to store, usually run for years with minimal maintenance, and they exist across a very wide range of prices - one can fit the hobby into a fairly wide spectrum of budgets, augmented by buying/selling if needed. Enjoying them includes some lower-cost diversions like getting a few good watch tools, doing one's own maintenance or modifications to whatever degree one cares to learn about, or adding a strap or bracelet from time to time.

Other than watches, one of my main diversions is being outdoors. Early on, that meant guiding hiking, cycling & canoe trips over summers. as i got older & otherwise employed, it turned into more occasional trips & lots of day hiking but also meant getting better gear. That transformed into reviewing gear and posting the reviews online (i have posted 188 reviews of outdoors gear since 2007). That led to an invite to join an outdoor website's 'review corps,' which means i periodically get free or loaned state of the art gear to test and review.

As far as why, you must do it because you like it. that's all that matters, isn't it?

 

People often have multiple hobbies, and they often ebb and flow for any number of reasons, including age. My dad is a classic example: over time, tennis, racquetball, hiking, swimming, riding bikes, tinkering with car engines, riding a motorcycle (Honda 750), smaller home repairs, scenic paintings, target shooting, building plastic models of military vehicles, visiting forts and air museums, flying small model aircraft....

Watches can be a pretty low impact hobby. They're small, relatively easy to store, usually run for years with minimal maintenance, and they exist across a very wide range of prices - one can fit the hobby into a fairly wide spectrum of budgets, augmented by buying/selling if needed. Enjoying them includes some lower-cost diversions like getting a few good watch tools, doing one's own maintenance or modifications to whatever degree one cares to learn about, or adding a strap or bracelet from time to time.

Other than watches, one of my main diversions is being outdoors. Early on, that meant guiding hiking, cycling & canoe trips over summers. as i got older & otherwise employed, it turned into more occasional trips & lots of day hiking but also meant getting better gear. That transformed into reviewing gear and posting the reviews online (i have posted 188 reviews of outdoors gear since 2007). That led to an invite to join an outdoor website's 'review corps,' which means i periodically get free or loaned state of the art gear to test and review.

As far as why, you must do it because you like it. that's all that matters, isn't it?

Well put, I am not alone, obviously!

 

I now have this smaller problem, watches. I can't stop buying them. I claim it's all for my "hobby". IS it? Is it a personality disorder?

Why watches?

Watch collecting is not a hobby; it's an expense, or looking at it more cynically perhaps, it's a signal. Once you've bought all your watches, you just wear them. In fact some people don't even do that. Other folks spend thousands on shoes, but that's not a hobby either, at least I've never heard anyone saying "wearing shoes is my hobby".

If you customised watches, serviced them, built them from scratch, or something that involved spending time or creating something, that's more like a hobby. Although just reading about them and building an element of social discourse around them is a hobby, I suppose.

 

An expense is true, but hobbies entail investing in the items to begin with. I also service them and restore them, that's where the hobby part comes from.

 

Well, some years ago I was talking to a customer and I had a important meeting coming up. Whipping out my phone and checking the time would have been a bit rude in front of the customer. So after that experience I decided that a watch would be my next thing to get. And down the rabbit hole...

However I also collect knives and other EDC items and while they are with me, I simply cannot admire them at my desk without looking a total loony. Checking the time on your watch is socially accepted, therefore it is a nice hobby.

There's also benefits for my other hobbies: hiking, cycling (both motor and manual), trekking and all kinds of outdoorsy stuff. So a watch is not only a hobby, but a very convenient addition to my other hobbies.

 

we all need professional help

 

Something I’ve discovered that I really like to do is pick a hobby, and totally immerse myself in as many aspects of it as I can. Find the the other people who are into it, find out those details that seperate the enthusiast perspective and try to learn why those things are important or how they change my understanding of whatever it was, get into making or fixing or the mechanics of it, everything I can.

it’s nice to find community in that, and I always love how learning about the finer parts of the hobby intersect with science and history in ways that I never would have known.I do find that a lot of people find this strategy to be weird so they clearly do not do this themselves, but whatever it is I’ve chosen becomes a really great zen practice for me, and gives me something that’s meaningful to me to do outside of work or family, and just to get away on a mental vacation when necessary.

but then why watches or really why anything in particular? That one is harder to have words for but I do know what all of my hobbies have had in common, and that would be “the fizz”. My hobbies always center around something that, even before I understand what they’re really about, set my brain on fire with this sense that’s something between adoration and curiosity. For example, I always, always looked at the watch cases in stores, even at 10 or 11 years old, and up through adulthood. I had no clue what it was that made these special to me, but I got that same warm kick in the skull that you get when say, looking at a beautiful painting or car or whatever floats your boat. That thing that makes you want to keep on looking but you’re not sure why.

anyway, I like that I am this way and I like all the things I’ve learned and people met doing it. It might take up a little more of my time than other people allow hobbies to take up theirs, but I’ve never had a problem balancing these things with my work or family life, and I’m not doing drugs or putting myself at risk, so I believe it’s a very positive trait that I’m glad I have.

 

Is there a better hobby?

This is a rhetorical question, right?

Or are you just trolling us?

 

I now have this smaller problem, watches. I can't stop buying them. I claim it's all for my "hobby". IS it? Is it a personality disorder?

It's not actually a hobby. It is a spending problem.

 

Yes, there is a better hobby to answer your question.
Collecting firearms, but then, most watch guys already do.

 

Yes, there is a better hobby to answer your question.
Collecting firearms, but then, most then watch guys already do.

Agreed!!! Shoot guns while wearing a watch!

 

I like it vecu for me it’s a passive hobby
I can read about them and look at them and get just as much happiness than actually acquiring them
I have not bought a watch in several years but still enjoy t he hobby