As you climb the watch quality ladder, seeking finer and finer timepieces, you will reach a point, unless you have unlimited wealth, in which you realize you own nothing of value. In fact, you will see that your entire collection is a compromise based on budgetary contstraints.
I am one such collector. I own nothing I truly want. I've squandered close to 20K on watches over the last 8 years. Give me that money now and I'd have two timepieces, the 46mm Seiko Marine Master SBDB001, which is about $3,600 or so, and the 50mm Seiko Marine Master SBDB009, which is about $3,000. Include a beater, like a used $700 Seiko Tuna, and I'll take back that 20 grand I squandered, buy what I really want, and have a good 13K left over.
The watch gods look down at me mired my torment and enjoy a good belly laugh.
Jeff,
I have a feeling that after you had those two new grails for awhile, you'd feel no more satisfied with them than what you have now. You own some awesome watches. It's too bad you don't seem to enjoy them.
Posted by: Gary | November 23, 2014 at 07:45 PM
Sounds like you're at over-saturation and need to put the watch obsession aside for a time. I agree with Gary: you've got some great watches and need to find a way to re-appreciate them. The best way to do that is to focus on other things, NOT browse watches online, and just enjoy your collection.
That said, I don't disagree with what you're saying, but I just think that you have to go through stages A to J before getting to K. You're kind of saying a variant of "If I knew then what I know now..." Well, it just ain't possible. We have to go through the process.
So my thought would be to enjoy the collection you have AND gradually work towards those two amazing watches you mention. I mean there is something about jumping up a notch, but it also has a down-side - which for me could be called the Omega Effect (I might write a blog entry on this): experiencing something of higher quality and not being able to go back.
Posted by: jonnybardo | November 23, 2014 at 08:23 PM
Gary and Jonny, don't worry, I was being hyperbolic and somewhat tongue-in-cheek. I'm happy with my collection.
Posted by: herculodge | November 23, 2014 at 08:45 PM
Haha, good to hear.
Meanwhile I'm obsessing about Youtube videos of Omegas. I'm thinking of targeting the classic Bond Seamaster next. I'd love a Planet Ocean but they're just way out of my league.
Posted by: jonnybardo | November 23, 2014 at 09:09 PM
Hindsight is a wonderful and terrible thing. The journey is a learning process and it is made all the more difficult by the fact that tastes can change, making the target a moving one. You might regret spending all that money before realising what watch you really wanted, but it's an unavoidable process. Besides, money can be earned back. What I really regret sometimes taking for granted, is time itself.
Posted by: Ulysses | November 24, 2014 at 04:59 AM
I was going to write an inspired comment---but Ulysses basically said what I was going to say and probably said it better than I would have! But anyway----if you could get a do-over and get your money back and buy those few watches you mentioned----my guess is that after 15 minutes (okay, maybe after a few months) you'd be on the prowl again. This "hobby" doesn't lend itself well to standing pat.
Posted by: Angelo | November 24, 2014 at 06:41 AM
This is all textbook consumer behavior. Read any book on sociology or the psychology of consumers, and will recognize all the behaviors: buyer's remorse, the never satistified questor, the short-lived satisfaction after the object of affection is acquired, etc, the unquenchable thirst for more or better...
Happy Thanksgiving! Learn to want what you have.
Posted by: Ed S | November 24, 2014 at 11:08 AM