The Watch Appreciation Thread - Part two (Rolex, Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet, Jaeger LeCoultre,

[jischwar]

Question for the forum:

This may have been asked by someone, but ... how many watches does a guy NEED? I am considering consolidating my collection. Part of me wants to get out of the watch game altogether. It used to be fun. Hell, I’ve been in it for ten years. In my opinion, it all went to **** the moment some poor dude walked into an AD, asked for a sub, and was told to get on a list. It’s now more of a toxic one-up-game played by phonies on social media.

Having said that, I’m planning on keeping three (3) watches:

1) Patek Calatrava
2) Pepsi GMT
3) JLC Reverso.

These three fit my lifestyle the best and I adore absolutely everything about them. Enough to never part with them. What do you think? I’d love to hear from seasoned collectors that have been at this for a while.

I think 3 is the perfect number, at least for me and having a desk job. Dress watch, sport watch/weekend watch and an everyday business casual watch

 

[Scuppers]

Question for the forum:

This may have been asked by someone, but ... how many watches does a guy NEED? I am considering consolidating my collection. Part of me wants to get out of the watch game altogether. It used to be fun. Hell, I’ve been in it for ten years. In my opinion, it all went to **** the moment some poor dude walked into an AD, asked for a sub, and was told to get on a list. It’s now more of a toxic one-up-game played by phonies on social media.

Having said that, I’m planning on keeping three (3) watches:

1) Patek Calatrava
2) Pepsi GMT
3) JLC Reverso.

These three fit my lifestyle the best and I adore absolutely everything about them. Enough to never part with them. What do you think? I’d love to hear from seasoned collectors that have been at this for a while.

I’ve also been considering consolidating. 3 is the number I want to work with, but seems unlikely I could achieve such a disciplined stance. Even 5 may be difficult.

My aim is to keep 2 complications; 1 two or three hand dress watch; 1 knock-about (screw down crown); and my grandfathers watch. This may sound easy enough, but it feels like playing musical chairs*, one always misses out and will that be the one you regret not including.

*This has been going on for 6 months and is not helped by the addition of a watch since then.

 

[Neville Southall]

I’ve also been considering consolidating. 3 is the number I want to work with, but seems unlikely I could achieve such a disciplined stance. Even 5 may be difficult.

My aim is to keep 2 complications; 1 two or three hand dress watch; 1 knock-about (screw down crown); and my grandfathers watch. This may sound easy enough, but it feels like playing musical chairs*, one always misses out and will that be the one you regret not including.

*This has been going on for 6 months and is not helped by the addition of a watch since then.

We’re all in this struggle, huh? I’ll tell you what. I bet that if we all woke up one day and owner three watches, we’d get used to it.

 

[LA Guy]

Question for the forum:

This may have been asked by someone, but ... how many watches does a guy NEED? I am considering consolidating my collection. Part of me wants to get out of the watch game altogether. It used to be fun. Hell, I’ve been in it for ten years. In my opinion, it all went to **** the moment some poor dude walked into an AD, asked for a sub, and was told to get on a list. It’s now more of a toxic one-up-game played by phonies on social media.

Having said that, I’m planning on keeping three (3) watches:

1) Patek Calatrava
2) Pepsi GMT
3) JLC Reverso.

These three fit my lifestyle the best and I adore absolutely everything about them. Enough to never part with them. What do you think? I’d love to hear from seasoned collectors that have been at this for a while.

Zero, which is why they are fun. You can be completely unbounded in your imagination by any practicalities other than what you can afford.

 

[Thin White Duke]

Question for the forum:

This may have been asked by someone, but ... how many watches does a guy NEED? I am considering consolidating my collection. Part of me wants to get out of the watch game altogether. It used to be fun. Hell, I’ve been in it for ten years. In my opinion, it all went to **** the moment some poor dude walked into an AD, asked for a sub, and was told to get on a list. It’s now more of a toxic one-up-game played by phonies on social media.

Having said that, I’m planning on keeping three (3) watches:

1) Patek Calatrava
2) Pepsi GMT
3) JLC Reverso.

These three fit my lifestyle the best and I adore absolutely everything about them. Enough to never part with them. What do you think? I’d love to hear from seasoned collectors that have been at this for a while.

There could be as many answers to this question as there are watch enthusiasts out there.

For some, the magic formula is N+1 where N = the number of watches you currently own.

I’ve shared my own personal philosophy before on this subject, which I use as a safety net to prevent me falling down a rabbit hole.
I like sports watches. I decided my needs could be met for ...
High days and holy days - Platimun Yachtmaster
Daily when suited and booted - SS Sub customised smurf blue
Weekends - white face daytona
Travel - Heuer Autavia with 12 hour second time zone bezel. This may be flipped if I ever rise to the top of the wait list for a Pepsi
I have a few other quartzes which are rarely worn, (Seiko PADI solar for actual diving, Victorinox Maverick chrono for the gym etc) and inherited my Dad’s wafer thin Pulsar that looks good with black tie.

The other thing about my main 4 above which satisfies my OCD is that they cover the four main sub groups of sports watches - yachting, diving, driving and flying, and the dials are all different coloured - grey, blue, white and black.

One other thing that keeps me from splashing out further is that the more watches you own, the more $$ you have sitting in a drawer gathering dust. Keeping it to three or four means they all see the light of day with some frequency. Good luck!

 

[Omega Male]

I've been through both the Pokemon phase (Gotta catch 'em all!) and the Highlander phase (There can be only one!). Current schema, just to keep it interesting, is no more than one watch from any manufacture and no more than one watch in any metal. This at least discourages random impulse purchases.

 

[am55]

For some strange reason I had thought they might be offical Rolex dials. I did a little reading and there seems to be consensus that they are all after-market dials.

If there is a time for Rolex to start offering Mickey dials it surely is right now...

 

[Omega Male]

If there is a time for Rolex to start offering Mickey dials it surely is right now...

Imagine the wait list.

 

[Scuppers]

If there is a time for Rolex to start offering Mickey dials it surely is right now...

As a final Baselworld hoorah, who knows!

 

[am55]

Question for the forum:

This may have been asked by someone, but ... how many watches does a guy NEED? I am considering consolidating my collection. Part of me wants to get out of the watch game altogether. It used to be fun. Hell, I’ve been in it for ten years. In my opinion, it all went to **** the moment some poor dude walked into an AD, asked for a sub, and was told to get on a list. It’s now more of a toxic one-up-game played by phonies on social media.

Having said that, I’m planning on keeping three (3) watches:

1) Patek Calatrava
2) Pepsi GMT
3) JLC Reverso.

These three fit my lifestyle the best and I adore absolutely everything about them. Enough to never part with them. What do you think? I’d love to hear from seasoned collectors that have been at this for a while.

It really depends but for me the minimum would be two, one dress watch for meeting clients and more dressed up social occasions; and one indestructible and/or cheap watch because I'm not going to check my phone whilst sailing or skiing or whatever. In fact this year was my first skiing with a smartwatch and it's life changing when in a resort with a minimalist approach to information for skiers and 100kph+ winds at altitude. Fathers of young children will also discover a need for a watch again

If the other extreme is the "collector" (buy art for its sake), I'd say the middle ground end state would be to have a collection that lets you be exactly happy with each wear. Current additions to the collection are basically reactive, I go out and feel a little dissatisfied with the watch I picked for the occasion, and so I do a bit of research and find something that better fits the niche and sometimes buy it if the occasion repeats itself often enough. Might be years before I get round to it but there is always a small list of "I should get one of these" in my head.

 

[am55]

Imagine the wait list.

Unfortunately I don't speak mandarin or write it, it was interesting however to see all the pig-themed high end stuff last year and yet everything is low key this year (could have been my bubble) even though it's the start of a new cycle.

On the upside by the time you do get the watch it'll be the Year of the Rat again.

 

[ebayhtl]

Question for the forum: This may have been asked by someone, but ... how many watches does a guy NEED?

I have one (Rolex Hulk) for daily wear with anything - whether work (with a suit) or weekend wear - and one (Garmin Vivoactive) specifically for gym/sports.

As many have said, we don't need a watch which is why a question like this will get a wide range of responses. I suspect my numbers are on the low side for this forum, but a watch is like a wallet for me - I want a very nice watch/wallet for daily use, but I don't want to swap them around regularly - they're things that I want to grab in the morning and go without more thinking (before the Hulk, I had an IWC Pilot that I wore daily for 6-7 years). By contrast, I definitely have more than one bag / suit / blazer / pair of shoes...

 

[Andy57]

Question for the forum:

This may have been asked by someone, but ... how many watches does a guy NEED? I am considering consolidating my collection. Part of me wants to get out of the watch game altogether. It used to be fun. Hell, I’ve been in it for ten years. In my opinion, it all went to **** the moment some poor dude walked into an AD, asked for a sub, and was told to get on a list. It’s now more of a toxic one-up-game played by phonies on social media.

Having said that, I’m planning on keeping three (3) watches:

Speaking as a social media phony, own as many watches as you want, whether that's zero or more. I own eleven Rolexes and I'll acquire more, I have no doubt. Collecting watches is fun for me, but if it is not fun for you, don't do it. Simple as that.

 

[Scuppers]

I have one (Rolex Hulk) for daily wear with anything - whether work (with a suit) or weekend wear - and one (Garmin Vivoactive) specifically for gym/sports.

As many have said, we don't need a watch which is why a question like this will get a wide range of responses. I suspect my numbers are on the low side for this forum, but a watch is like a wallet for me - I want a very nice watch/wallet for daily use, but I don't want to swap them around regularly - they're things that I want to grab in the morning and go without more thinking (before the Hulk, I had an IWC Pilot that I wore daily for 6-7 years). By contrast, I definitely have more than one bag / suit / blazer / pair of shoes...

I’d liken watches to shoes - not wallets. However, I haven’t used a wallet for over 15 years — a little card case does me; 4 cards, no clutter.

 

[tchoy]

Oh no, I get it. But it’s also incredibly stupid. Why would he do that and make continuous “the dog ate my homework” type of excuses instead of simply passing off the bad watch immediately, is what is strange and difficult to understand.

The guy just doesn’t fit the mold of the conventional con man. He already had money in hand, the next part would be to seem as legit as possible. There’s no clear motive for his actions after the sale, unless he’s playing a very long game of “But then you would know that I know that you know that I would know that you know”, Princess Bride style It’s rather bizarre.

The news coming out now is he had a gambling addiction which all make sense. Some of my friends did have good dealings with him in the past but I presumed the gambling got to him robbing Peter to paid Paul. The watch community in Australia still can't get over how long he has been covering the tracks and until no one came out and spoken about it publicly.