Just remember that watches are like currency and almost always can be sold for close to what you paid if you take care of it. I tend to buy and sell alot and I'm fortunate to even make some money doing it, it allows me to fuel my passion in a way that my wife can not criticize, as it makes money. Purses and shoes never make money. When times get tight or I feel guilty for tying up too much money (Steve aka Cuckoo4wacthes can attest to this) I will liquidate a few watches in a few days and put 3 or 4 grand back in the account and the wife has nothing to say. My watches are making better returns than any stock I own
They are only watches, just material things. You can always buy more when times get better or money is disposable again. I've learned not to get too attached to my watches anymore. There are only two in my collection that will never be sold... my Bentley Motors and my Doxa T-Graph, both for sentimental reasons.
If you ever feel lik ethe hunt is more fun than the kill... read this (I didn't write this, copied from another forum, but very appropriate for us too)...
Written by Gabe:
"I am new to watches, but not to collecting. I have collected modern and vintage fountain pens for years, focusing mainly on Sheaffers, Parkers, Pelikans, and Lamys. I prefer vintage pens, generally. I've acquired and sold MANY MANY pens.
In the process of collecting so many fountain pens, I at first grew curious about the psychology of collection. Once my own pen collection (and the concomitant craving for more pens) began to grow exponentially, I began to study the psychology of collection in the hopes of achieving some real, useful, lasting insight about why I was spending so much money, time, and thought on fountain pens.
Though the word has strong negative connotations, collection is akin to addiction: acquisition does not satisfy the craving. It appears to, but only briefly.
I began to realize that I was not collecting pens: I was collecting sensations of craving; I was collecting and trying to maintain certain mindstates: wonder, amazement, fascination, involvement, curiosity.
The problem however is that one confuses the mindstates with the objects. I realized that I don't love fountain pens per se; nor do I love watches per se. I love the wonder, amazement, fascination, involvement, and curiosity that is excited in my mind when I consider them, hold them, and use them.
That is why one grail is not enough: because it's not the object; it's the sensation associated with that object.
Realizing this allows me to approach watches with moderation, just as I have returned to fountain pens with moderation. That eternal and inevitable feeling of "lack" that can lead me to buy, to seek out, to wait for, to associate with an object (or heck, a woman, a book, a car, a bicycle, etc): that "lack" cannot be filled in any permanent way by an object. What I am after is not an object, ultimately, but a sense of wonderment. And I must find other ways to cultivate that sense of wonder, fascination, amazement, involvement, enchantment, and curiosity. The root of the issue is not the object, but the sensation. My collective impulse is not about what I collect. It's not about grails. Or fountain pens. Or watches. It's about my sense of connection to the day, to my life, and to an underlying feeling of lack, dissatisfaction – and, heck, maybe even fear about the passing of time.
This insight has saved me thousands upon thousands of dollars. It has in fact helped me feel content in the midst of all manner of discontent (not getting this or that outcome professionally, personally, intellectually, emotionally, etc).
That is why this forum for me isn't just about watches. It's about wonder, curiosity, joy, and the enriching of life through the disciplined appreciation of these shining and small machines. I’m new to Seikos – about five months into this thing – and because of the above insights, I have purposefully kept my "collection" at two Seikos. Instead of acquiring more, I have chosen (for once) to discipline my approach into this new hobby, and I do so by, well, musing about watches. I purposefully stopped and chose to use my fascination in Seikos and automatics in order to stop, pause, and study. I’m now trying to understand the technical and commercial history of watches, the changing conceptions of time throughout history, etc. I expect one day I may begin tinkering in their guts, like a lot of you have.
In the meantime, I’m trying to be very careful about cultivating a sense of craving for more watches. Because I know, from a past collection passion, that such craving is a bucket that cannot be filled. No grail will satisfy me. Wonder cannot be bought. I must find other ways to cultivate a mindstate of contentment and curiosity:
If I consider a watch or a pen to be the source and end of my wonder, I’m making a perceptual error.
The BM on my wrist as I type this is, frankly, awesome. But it’s awesome because it’s an *idea*, not an object.
I don’t confuse the two any more. And I’ve more money because of it!
Gabe"
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