The Grail Versus The Shopping List Versus Gotta Have It Approach to Buying

[Ray916MN]

In about a decade of collecting it strikes me that people tend to approach this hobby in three different ways when it comes to acquisitions, they either fixate on a grail and focus on acquiring it, or they maintain a list of watches they want to own someday and they acquire as the opportunity to acquire something on the list presents itself, or they see a watch somewhere and think gotta have it and they buy it.

Which way describes your watch acquisition approach and why do you use the approach you use?

[Bwana]

Yes to all of the above,,,,I don't have a system, just an itch to scratch

[RayMac]

Not so much a list as a couple of themes. I like windups from the 1930s to the 1950s, and pre WW1 pocket watches in 18S and 16S sizes. My preference is for American brands.
These have a loose connection to the type of watch my grandfather and father would have used and appreciated.

[Der Amf]

Can we have a Slowly Groping In The Dark option, please?

[Strange]

For me (and I suspect others as well) several but not all of those choices apply. Personally, I don't relate to the 'grail' phenomenon. However, my MO is a hybrid of maintaining a list of wants and gotta have it now.

I haven't been at this long enough to have a well defined motif in my collecting, and if you look at what I currently own there's precious little stylistic or thematic consistency amongst the horde. I don't know that I'll ever get to the point of defining a specific type of watch to focus on, because my tastes are far too eclectic for that. So the combination of having a general list of pieces I'd like to own while allowing myself the spontaneity to grab some random thing that catches my eye is what works for me at this point.

[Ray916MN]

I'm a list guy I pretty much exclusive buy used and mostly buy vintage. Since the number of watches I'd like to own someday far exceeds the available funds I'm always looking for bargains. Always sniping low on Ebay auctions or waiting till watches listed on Watchrecon get close to bargain prices so a low offer will more likely be accepted.

Particularly sweet getting watches that have been on the list for years, sometimes for much less than I was willing to pay. Patience is a virtue.

[ilitig8]

My real grails are essentially unobtainable at least without liquidating a huge chunk of my collection for even one of them and at least one grail would require multiple times what my collection would fetch. While I could do it I don't think a Rolex 6263 or 6541 or Patek 2499 would actually get much wrist time, I would wear them but but there would be a lot of stress.

I have a pretty set buying process. I keep a list of watches I am pretty sure I want to buy the, list is long enough that the watches usually stay on this list for 6 months to a year. Each time I consider adding a new watch I consider the list and sometimes remove a watch or decide not to add the "new" one. Normally, if a watch makes it through the full time period without being taken off it usually ends up being something I really love when I get it. Last week I took a watch off the list that had been there a couple of months, it was just too expensive AND too similar to another watch I owned, in fact it was more or less the same watch just in a different case material and with different accent colors on the dial. What replaced it was significantly cheaper.

[Jazzmaster]

My approach to buying is more related to "I know it when I see it."

[Seriously]

why do you use the approach you use?

If I knew that I'd have a chance of stopping

I don't have a system, just an itch to scratch

My approach to buying is more related to "I know it when I see it."

^ These ^

[mlcor]

My system is pretty much the same as ilitig8's. However, if I see something and say "gotta have it," it goes on the list. And it needs to stay there a while before I act (whether I have the funds set aside for it or not).

In fact, just today, I struck one off the list...because it's here. Separate post with pics to come...