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Thread: Why collect watches?

  1. #21

    Why collect watches?

    It's a harmless (if potentially expensive) hobby. Hurts no one, gives us pleasure, has an interesting heritage, is portable, and is a celebration of craftsmanship in an age where artisans are increasingly vanishing. What's not to like?


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  2. #22
    Not only can I not afford, but I haven't even identified, my ideal watch, so instead I have a drawerful of approximations.

    And even if I had, there are always excellent reasons for having more than one.....

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  4. #23
    Watch Geek T Bone's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by mlcor View Post
    It's a harmless (if potentially expensive) hobby. Hurts no one, gives us pleasure, has an interesting heritage, is portable, and is a celebration of craftsmanship in an age where artisans are increasingly vanishing. What's not to like?


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    Sums it up nicely. To be even more brief, I could distill it down to "because it gives me pleasure". Any further, and we're into "If I have to explain, you wouldn't understand" territory (at least as pertains the unwashed masses).
    Last edited by T Bone; Nov 29, 2014 at 05:07 PM. Reason: Because capital letters are important.
    Regards, T Bone

    Even a broken watch shows correct time once or twice a day. I ought to know, I have a few!

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  6. #24
    Member Drop of a Hat's Avatar
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    Because they're such great investments.

    "He's just a witness"

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  8. #25
    Something clever... bu11itt's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Drop of a Hat View Post
    Because they're such great investments.

    "He's just a witness"
    He said ironically...
    Chris:

  9. #26
    Dinger of Hum Chronopolitano's Avatar
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    It just adds up, is all.

    I think 'collection' means something really different.
    I mean, there is a whole 'nother psychology for that, and is premised on a series. It is archival. It has a beginning, a middle, and an ending - when you "complete" the set. And the set is ONLY about completion itself, not performance, usability, etc.
    WHO does that with watches? Very few, I would think.

    Baudrillard has a wonderful section on this phenomenon of collecting in his System of Objects.
    He say it's mainly a male, middle-age thing, accompanied by that strange psychological crisis, either precipitated by, or as a prelude to, midlife crisis, in which a man feels the hollow Nothing that his existence essentially is.
    And so, completing something, like a collection, affords him a chance to satisfy this deep urge to leave a mark in the world.
    Etc.

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  11. #27
    I disagree that a collection has to have a completion state. Does a museum think they have everything they need, or are they always looking to fill in increasingly small corners of their collection taxonomy? A museum might start with a few representative examples of categories of work relevant to what they show. But within each of those categories are sub-categories, and those have variations, and so on. And then a museum might seek to build something really comprehensive in one certain area of specialization, so that an art museum might have an excellent overall collection, but the world's best collection of Raphaelites. They can thus serve a general museum audience, including the bulk of their donors, but still provide a place where important research can be done so that they end up being cited in the literature frequently. And that makes it possible for them to attract further bequests, and so on.

    A museum tries to outlive its first visionary curator, but that isn't the same thing as "leaving a mark" for an individual. After I kick off, my stuff will be sold off and the proceeds split, or hauled off to the landfill. But at that point, I won't care--I won't be here.

    As to mid-life crisis, phooey. I've always enjoyed expensive hobbies. I've just been able to afford to shift the definition of "expensive" as I've gotten older. And my (very female) wife loves it as much as I do, as does my mother, who collects a range of different "systems of objects".

    So, Baudrillard, if that's what he said, was projecting.

    And that's my answer to those who need justification: I'm just not happy unless I'm ruining my long-term financial stability by pursuing some expensive hobby or other. That leaves them no room to judge--the statement comes fully judged right out of the box. It also tells them that I don't really need their permission or even approval. Now, if I was asking them for money, they might have standing to comment. But I don't pursue expensive hobbies with grocery money, and I'm usually the one being asked.

    My justification for buying the next watch is, simply: I want it and I have the money.

    Rick "who doesn't love things so much that he worries about who will get them" Denney
    Last edited by Rdenney; Nov 30, 2014 at 09:03 PM.
    More than 500 characters worth of watches.

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  13. #28
    Timewaster jsw41's Avatar
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    If it's a collection you are talking about; that seems to be as futile as picking up stones on the beach, your collection will never be finished, and even if it were, what have you got, another beach?

    John
    If you come to a fork in the road; take it, and then put it down so someone else can use it.

  14. #29
    I've thought of the answer I really want to give, but I'm two days too late.

    May I say it anyway?

  15. #30
    Dinger of Hum Chronopolitano's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rdenney View Post
    I disagree that a collection has to have a completion state.
    Rick "who doesn't love things so much that he worries about who will get them" Denney
    I hear you, but the point I (by way of Baudrillard) was making was at the individual level, there is an element of psychology that preys upon ones (better) judgment, by forcing one to finish a set if its almost complete.

    And, in that case, watches don't make for a good example for this psychology, since nobody really "collects" entire series of a model from whatever year, the way people do with baseball cards, etc.

    I don't think this urge is anything abstract or unrelatable: If you happen to have 99 volumes out of a 100 (the complete collection) of Voltaire's Works, for example, you will be on the lookout for that missing volume even if you never intend to read it.

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