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The 2022 Watch Purchasing Abstinence Club (WPAC).

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The 2022 Watch Purchasing Abstinence Club (WPAC).

Welcome to the 2022 Watch Purchasing Abstinence Club, otherwise known as WPAC. This is the 6th year of WPAC, which was started at the beginning of 2017 to try and get myself and some other addicts out of a crazy buying/flipping cycle with watches, we were buying for the sake of it rather than for the appreciation of the watch itself, constantly chasing the next, new shiny watch or searching endlessly, fixated on some watch; generally, IMHO, a rather unhealthy behaviour.

So, what is the point of WPAC? Well, the aim is to abstain from purchasing watches. But that's a bit blunt really, the abstinence is a tool or a method to break the cycle of buying/flipping and become a discerning consumer of horology. Learning to appreciate what you have, understand what works for you with watches and think rationally about purchases, rather than emotionally. Or the ethos of less is more, as some have suggested the philosophy is here. Yes we still love watches, but as we all know we can be weak, so WPAC is a place to get help; here you can take solace from like minded people and get support and encouragement to stop impulse buying.

With those that stick around and make some commitment WPAC has been successful; for me it's certainly helped me break the buy/flip cycle and stop obsessing, so maybe it can help you.

In previous years we've had some rules, but this year there aren't going to be, there seems little point when we all have subtly (sometimes massively) different goals. If you are in serious horological trouble with buying then look back at the OP in previous WPAC threads, the rules should be a useful starting point if you want to get things under control or just shout out here to get some advice, it's what we're good at. Think of it like a clubhouse or a WUS subforum dedicated to being friendly, chatting about everything and anything and where you can find like minded watch fans.

Having said that, there is one rule I'd like everyone to adhere to; first post should be an intro with a SOTC picture (include everything, don't cheat) and some goals/aims for 2022. Whether you want to abstain completely, want to save for a special watch, just need to take control, slow things down or whatever, we'll be happy to have everyone. Just as long as you're clear on what your aims are.

Please participate in the thread, it's what makes it what it is. Any reasonable topic of conversation is acceptable and in fact welcomed.

Bashing of any potential purchases should still be a mandatory element, but let's keep it funny. Nuclear level bashing is required for any actual purchases.
Expect to be challenged by others if you're suggesting a purchase, whatever your personal goals/aims and expect to need to defend yourself.

.....and one last thing, we do occasionally get some trolls visiting, let's agree to not feed them.

Edit - clarification on enabling: this is a difficult one to deal with as WPAC has evolved such that we discuss watches, post pictures, etc., previously we tried not doing that but it didn't really work and as well despite the temptation provided by this individuals need to develop the control to not be tempted every 5 minutes by something. However, this year we seem to have a mixture of regulars and new participants, and some the latter are wanting to abstain. Hence please don't directly enable by suggesting watches......
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My collection:

Watch White Product Black Analog watch



Goals for 2022:
  • Sell the Sinn 104, and probably one more watch as well.
  • Don't buy a single watch for the entire year.
  • Participate in WPAC as a daily reminder of my goals.
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Why do you think the Sinn has failed to make the grade?
I like it, but don’t love it. A couple of reasons: 1. It’s a little too small for my 7-1/4 inch (185 mm) wrist. 2. It competes with my other black and white watches (Speedmaster, Planet Ocean) for wrist time.

For the past two years, I have been ruthlessly paring down my collection to contain only watches that completely delight me in their respective slots. The Sinn is a very nice watch, but it doesn’t stir my loins the way other watches in my collection do.
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Okay so yeah might have a problem, might not. Not sure but I want to slow down. This puts me at 46 total counting the two not here.
46 watches is quite a lot by any standard. WPAC's main goal is to stop unbridled watch purchasing although many of us have found that reducing the number of watches in our collection helps to focus our attention on what really is desired as opposed to what may happen to be the latest Watch Hotness (insert buzzy micro-brand release here) or what can be obtained just because you found a bargain. I see a ton of overlap in your collection and wonder if some carefully-considered culling might be helpful to you.
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Yep, its funny I have always liked watches but until a few years ago was happy with a Timex, a G Shock and an Invicta prodiver (blue one in picture) as my “nice” watch lol, so much simpler before I learned about movements and brand history 🙂, so help me get better.
Looking forward to this!
It's a familiar story to many of us. I had one watch for thirty years before stumbling upon Watchuseek while researching a replacement for a broken Victorinox. I bought a Seiko Monster and the horses bolted from the barn! The largest my collection ever ballooned to is 32 watches, and over 90 have passed through my possession in the past six years. I'm at a much more manageable 12 now and as stated in my 2022 goals, I want to get that down to 10 or less.

My advice is to take a very harsh look at your collection. Move away the ones that you simply cannot sell because of cherished memories or they were gifts that would hurt someone's feelings if you sold them. I have a couple like that, gifts from my wife. Then look what's left and divide them into categories. How many G-Shocks? How many divers? How many chronographs? How many field watches? Then ask yourself, how many of that particular category do I really need? That's how I did it, but you have to answer that for yourself. We can provide moral support and insight to watches that we have owned in the past. But it comes down to your willingness to be ruthless in your evaluation of your collection and how you see it progressing in 2022.
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Does it seem like WUS lately has been making itself, let's say, easier to spend less time on?

I guess I'm just wondering if it's just me, or if there has indeed been something of a sea change.
I think it’s situational. The longer one participates in enthusiast forums, the more one sees repeated subject threads. When one first joins, there is an excitement about learning something new. As one’s knowledge increases, seeing the same set of themes endlessly discussed (the homage debate and the threads about what water resistance really means are my favorite dead horses) does tend to lead to an exhaustion of it all. It happened to me with camera equipment and automobile forums, and now in Watchuseek I tend to only come to WPAC and some of the dedicated brand forums like Omega and Laco. The Public forum is generally a mean place, and I’m usually sorry when I wander over to the Rolex and Tudor forum.

Affordables has always been a generally accepting and friendly forum to hang out, in my experience. What I like about WPAC are the often intelligent discussions about the motivations and frustrations of participating in this hobby. I really don’t need to read any more breathless overheated posts about some new micro-brand release.
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Was thinking that it might be worth some of the WPAC long term residents sharing some of their techniques for abstinence.....

Anyone else want to share their experiences or techniques that worked?
For me, it was moving up the price ladder and concentrating my attention on more expensive watches. I've owned dozens of micro-brand, Seiko, and Casio watches. They are fine for what they are, but I found them way too easy to purchase and eventually flip for incrementally small monetary loss. But I realized one day that owning multiple affordable Seiko divers was almost the same financial outlay as owning one (used, of course) Omega or Tudor. I went from this set of divers:

Watch Analog watch Light Rectangle Clock


To this:

Watch Analog watch Clock Silver Gadget


I found that I was happier with the higher level of quality, enjoyed better overall performance, could rely on an established network of service, and the higher unit price made me much less likely to flip. My collection dropped from a high of 32 watches at one point in 2018 to the 12 that I own today. And no, I will never "just save up for a Rolex because it's what you really want" (a frequently seen bit of advice seen in watch forum comments), because I don't have any desire for going any higher in the pricing structure.
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You're probably right about the reasons, also I wondered about using Reddit, as it seems popular, but I can't be bothered "learning" a new format and building up a reputation.
I'm with you, Hornet -- I purchased a watch earlier this year via reddit and I found it to be a non-intuitive and confusing system for what should be straight-forward things like contacting the seller and registering feedback. But it seems to be the trend for watch sales as more and more transactions are being conducted there. With eBay's growing fees and Watchuseek's stuffy reputation, the Cool Kids are migrating to the latest on-line platform and that appears to be reddit.
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I've also thought about selling the Orange Monster, but it was a gift from my wife and with these being discontinued and going up in price, I think I'd rather keep it. It would be hard to replace if I regret selling. It doesn't get worn much since orange doesn't really go with what I wear very often, but I guess that's OK.
My dilemma with my Gen 2 Orange Monster as well. I don't ever wear it but it was the first automatic watch I bought when I first started this journey seven years ago. It has more sentimental value as a milestone than anything else. Logically, I should just sell the thing and move on, but every time I consider doing so, a little voice in my head says don't do it. So it sits around as a reminder of a more innocent time.
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I'll continue building this year, but truly hope to keep the buying to a minimum.
Let's hope that WPAC can give you some strength in that department. Welcome aboard!
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I should point out that I've got a hard limit of $300 per watch, and prefer to keep them under $200.
As per my earlier post, I found that dabbling in the inexpensive end of the Affordables pool can be quite dangerous and a crutch to lean on when giving into one's impulses. "It's only 200 dollars!" often ends up in one having twenty or more $200 watches lying around. I'm all for variety in a collection, but sometimes that becomes an overwhelming proposition with none of the watches getting the attention that they may deserve.
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Basically by having a structure I want to avoid random purchases.
Most excellent! :)
Master of your own domain? Bought a watch already in 2022? :oops:
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This abstinence is more than just not spending money for watches, it's more like me trying to learn to appreciate what I have.
Well done, you! Welcome aboard!
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Welcome to WPAC, Miles! I know we can give you some sage advice so stick around for the witty banter that will ensue.
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Am I Mike? Don't worry I've been a lurker for a few years, but now I'm here to party. 😃
Yeah sorry —autocorrect changed it and I didn’t proofread before posting. I’ll edit the original.
Goals of 2022:
  • Get rid of all of my unworn watches, which are mostly affordables, and most of them will be given away to my brother, who has a growing interest in horology, and could benefit from selling any he doesn’t like.
  • Reduce my consumption of watch media and participation in watch forums: Spend more free time in the gym, learning a new language, learning about investing or having quality time with my family.
  • Really enjoy and bond with the watches that I do have, go to more places, do more things wearing my current collection.
  • one in / one out rule (after getting rid of unworn watches), really try to keep my core stable at 6 watches (not including a few heirloom pieces and the A).
Welcome to WPAC, BH. These are very laudable goals.
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It's obvious you're fond of divers-like bezels and of lumed non numerals indexes as well (hence the Tudor and Omega preference ? ;)
Thanks, Trias. Yes, divers do form the majority of my collection and Tudor and Omega figure prominently after years of flipping and moving up the price ladder. It's been interesting seeing the SOTC posts of new members who profess a desire to obtain watch from one of those brands as well. Very little talk about the Crown or higher-tier brands.

Watch Analog watch Azure Watch accessory Font
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....never felt like I was invading, just usually like to apologise for self-indulgent navel gazing! As you can probably imagine it helps me by "vocalising" my thoughts and getting the feedback of the WPAC brethren, a sounding board if like.
To me, this is the greatest strength of WPAC: discussing our hopes and our fears with others as we struggle to break free of the whirlpool of watch researching, buying, wearing, falling out of love, and flipping -- all to be repeated over and over again.

Zero need to apologize. This is why we're here.
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What has always motivated me in the pursuit of this hobby is curiosity. "I wonder what it would be like to own a Breitling?" or "Maybe the Submariner really is the greatest watch ever made?", and so forth. Combined with the fact that watches can be sold off relatively easily with a minimal financial loss made it too easy for me to keep exploring that innate curiosity I have about the hobby. It led to a couple of dozen Seikos, three dozen micro-brand watches (NTH, Borealis, Karlskrona, Deep Blue, Armida, Heitis, Steinhart, Scurfa, others), and a smattering of entry-level Swiss (Certina, Hamilton, Oris) that ultimately satisfied that curiosity through ownership. But because access to watches is so easily achieved it makes one reject a watch for relatively minuscule reasons: too big/small, not enough lume, not accurate enough, lousy bracelet, don't like the hands, etc. Before I knew about watches, I would have simply lived with these minor issues. In fact I did, owning just one watch at a time for over forty years, replacing them only when one quit working.

There is no perfect watch. We all have to live with some kind of compromise. The question is, can we resist letting those compromises become justification to flip the watch and repeat the cycle?
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This is hard for me to believe, and I had to go back and double-check to be sure, but, while I'm an alum of the class of 2017's WPAC thread, I haven't purchased a watch, actually, since 2015…
Congratulations, Brew! You are probably the finest example of what WPAC can allow one to achieve.
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