The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Having just begun collecting Breitling watches, it struck me that people must collect watches for a variety of differing reasons and in a variety of ways (of course the over-aching thread is a love for watches). For example:

1. do you just keep buying pieces and build up a significant collection in terms of variety and numbers?

2. Do you maintain a number of watches and trade/sell/buy pieces so that you get to experience the variety?

3. Do you buy watches for a specific reason - children's birthdays, anniversaries etc.

I am really just curious to get others thoughts on the process of the buying and the reasons behind a collection. I have five Breitlings - one on my 18th birthday, one on the first Christmas my wife and i spent together, one from a charity auction that i supported, and two that i bought on the second birthday of my twins. The kids seem to think that since i have five that i bought one for each of the five of them...

It also seems to me that large collections 20+ pieces must have a high periodic maintenance charge to ensure all the pieces are kept if sound condition.

Anyone willing to share how they see collecting Breitlings (obviously a love of them is clear)......

Honestly, I just buy pieces I like and I don't sell. Hence, I have a collection. But everyone has their own reasons for buying pieces, you have to find yours. Maintaining those pieces just comes as part of the deal.

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Men are from Mars, women are from Hell.

I've never really analysed how or why indeed I've bought the watches I have......... and I've bought (and sold) quite a lot over the years! I've never had a problem with buying and then selling them - some I've had a long time before selling on, while others I've flipped pretty quickly. All I can say is that every watch that I've ever bought has drawn me to it in some way, but I was also quite happy to potentially move it on after a period of time if it felt right to do so.

The most I think I've ever owned at the same time is 10, and my collection is currently less than that now.

The on-going cost of servicing is something that most people (including myself) never really think about. If you have a collection of say 20, 30, 40 pieces, and you intend to service them at a main service centre, the costs could escalate quite rapidly.

What I can say now though is that my buying pattern has changed a little and my intention now is to only buy keepers and they will also be all in-house movements. I think I'm at a point now where I know EXACTLY what I want in a watch and as a result I'm not going in for impulse buys anymore. Who knows how big my collection will be in the end (probably not very big considering the current cost of living!), but I am definitely going for quality over quantity.

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Driver8

Site Moderator

I agree with the quality over quantity issue and the cost of service is not something i generally think about either. I always pick pieces i like but have never sold any as i never seem to want to part with any of them.

I've always just bought pieces that I liked and that added something different to my collection. I don't sell pieces and I am now finding that it is becoming harder to buy pieces that are unique enough to fill a void in my collection. That's inevitably driven me towards specialist pieces, and that generally means more upmarket (unfortunately).

A significant part of my collection is vintage and so I am learning watchmaking to be able to service those myself. I'll likely stay clear of working on the more valuable pieces, but it's a way to extend my watch passion. With the cost of equipment it likely won't save money, but it is a sense of accomplishment.

Interesting subject. My intent last December was to have but one nice watch - bought a Skyland, decided it was to big and traded it in on a SOC. That left me with a store CREDIT. Then another SOC, Steelfish. Before I knew it I had over 15 Breitlings. That is when the selling began. And that process was quite fun. I truly enjoy getting a perfect piece to a buyer, especially a first time buyer, that exceeds their expectations and ultimately removes their anxiety about purchasing a used watch. In the process there are often trades involved and that process brought me to some brands I hadn't really considered. Zenith, Chopard, and some others.

One sale was consumated when I agreed to take a Sklyand and cash. The same FIRST watch I thought too large. Turns out NOW it's a perfect fit. And in this entire process I've developed a collection that I really enjoy except one.(leaving the Xezo out of the eqution) In a couple weeks I'll be trading in my Zenith Chronomaster XXT at the AD for a 43MM chronomaster with day, date, month, and moon phase. They will give me full purchase credit for the XXT and the collection changes in a possitive direction.

Now let's be clear - from a pure fiscal standpoint, going on a buying binge to "discover" what you really like, then selling and trading to actually accomplish that end makes no sense at all. But that completely misses the mark. The point is I have developed a particular passion and hobby that I didn't have before. Really, how do you put a price on that??

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SHARKMAN

You know your right somtimes that joy that something brings someone is absolutely positively 100% priceless.

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