The most manly watch I've ever seen, the most compelling watch I've ever seen, the most "This Watch Is Me When I'm Wearing It" I've ever seen is the Seiko SBDB009 Prospex Spring Drive Marine Master. At a hair under 3K, it's not cheap. On the other hand, I could sell 6 or 7 watches to pay for one. Should I put my money where my mouth is? Should I undergo the labor and anxiety of selling 7 watches to get my Grail, which entails the anxiety of possible failed expectations? Would this Grail cure me once and for all? It happens. Jonny acquired a couple of Omegas, and he hasn't purchased a watch in nearly 5 months.
Watch obsessives struggle with these decisions all the time. I think they enjoy the drama.
That's an amazing watch. $3K is a lot of money, though. Maybe something to think about in the future - see how your currently collection pans out.
Posted by: jonnybardo | September 21, 2014 at 06:10 PM
Two years would have to pass and two-thirds of the expense would have to be covered by the sale of watches.
Posted by: herculodge | September 21, 2014 at 06:12 PM
It's impossible to know for sure how this would play out (if you sold off half a dozen watches and bought this one). I suspect----might be wrong, but I suspect----that after the purchase, you'd go through a longer than usual period of not buying watches. But I also suspect that little by little, you'd start to buy again, even lower priced watches, to fill niches in your collection. Sometimes I think there is an ideal number in a collection and if you try to force that number up or down----especially down----it rises again, like water refilling a lake even though an outlet is letting water out. There's a "level" that you want in numbers and you will reach that level at some point.
Posted by: Angelo | September 22, 2014 at 04:38 AM
I can relate to some degree, Angelo, although for me the "level" has less to do with numbers but more a combination of the way the collection is configured ("internal composition") as well as a feeling of newness. In other words, it isn't about getting to and maintaining a certain quantity of watches, but rather configuring a collection composition, a palette if you will, and then gradually adjusting--buying and selling--to change things up a bit.
Jeff, I don't want to discourage you from getting that grail because, in some ways, it might prove that there is no ultimate grail, and that might take away some of the incessant need to find the next grail and help you better appreciate what you have. On the other hand, I can tell you that five months from my "Omega satiation," I do have twinges of curiosity about new watches - but it is just that, wanting a new watch to wear, a feeling of fun and newness.
But you're right: the Omegas DID calm a certain hunger, and I don't feel the need to go out and buy a new watch every few weeks. I think this is more the result of a forced abstinence. After I bought my Omegas and Zixen I realized I had to stop, especially when I found that all of the watches I wanted were $2K+.
Going forward I could see selling off 4-5 of my 13, and maybe buying an all-black watch - like the Deep Blue Daynight. But I don't foresee any huge expenditures in the near or mid-term future.
Posted by: jonnybardo | September 22, 2014 at 06:59 AM
There is no Grail in watch. We are greedy in fact.
Posted by: No Grail | March 03, 2015 at 07:37 PM