SOTC, vol. 2

State of the Collector

I just got back from a watch collectors’ conclave, otherwise known as a “meetup.” About eight of us commandeered a long table at a local brewery taproom, settled in with pints of IPA and lager, and unfurled leather and canvas watch rolls. These gatherings are common among enthusiasts. They’re not unlike the “cars and coffee” parking lot takeovers that gearheads frequent (I’ve done those too). It’s the horological equivalent of the knitting circle, I suppose, except instead of making something, we’re celebrating the mechanical marvels that otherwise remain fairly invisible, these private pleasures of those of us who partake.

As I was driving to the meetup, I suddenly realized that I only had the one watch that was on my wrist. I’d not remembered to fill a watch roll with other options to share. I chalk it up to being out of practice with these things. In fact, all I did bring was a metric ton (I’m only slightly exaggerating—is sheer weight a sign of luxury?) of horological-themed books, and some caps, swag I’d accumulated over my years writing about watches and attending press events and trade shows. My aim was to shed this flotsam from my shelves at home, and I’m thankful that most of it moved on to some more appreciative people.

There are two things at work in my life now that have affected my watch enthusiasm. First, I’ll be moving to a different house for the first time in over 20 years, so I am in major purge mode with my belongings. Watches are small and portable, sure, but I’m simply finding joy in shedding stuff. It just feels lighter. Secondly, my interest in watches has been on a steady decline for the past few years. I hardly visit my own watch collection anymore and have been selling off pieces at a steady rate. I should clarify. I don’t dislike watches, and enjoy holding them, trying them on, and sharing the enthusiasm for them with others. It’s “Watches” with a capital “W” I have less interest in —accumulating more, taking photos of them, or reading about the latest dial color, or iteration of those coming out of Switzerland or Japan.

Back in the salad days of my early watch enthusiasm, when web forums were the place to see and and be seen, there was a common acronym, “SOTC”—“State Of The Collection.” People would post photos and describe the watches they owned, updates to their cache, since watch collecting is a fluid thing, never the same two months in a row. The SOTC posts always seemed a little showy to me, and I seldom participated. Local meetups feel different. It often becomes more about the people, the banter is more personal and diverges from watch talk fairly quickly. The watches are more the vehicles or stimuli for conversation than the focus, soon left ignored on the table or acting as fidget spinners, something to do with your hands if you’re not holding a beer.

Back in 2020, about a month into this Substack adventure, I wrote my first SOTC. Reading it now, I can see that even then I was reluctant to call myself a collector and was ambivalent towards my embarrassment of horological riches. Since my collection has been on a steady decline in numbers since then, I consider today’s SOTC more of a “State Of The Collector,” than of my collection.

Is it my age, or my years “in the business” that have affected my enthusiasm? Or is it a greater zeitgeist at work? I talked to a couple guys today who, if not of the same mindset as me, described a maturity in their own views on watches, a sobering in their desire to acquire more, and an appreciation for simpler, more versatile watches. Maybe it’s also fatigue with the state of watch media and marketing these days, which tends to be about the celebrities and influencers wearing them, ever increasing prices, and hyped up “drops.” The economy is not great, and a lot of the people with whom I came up in the hobby have gotten older, bought houses, had kids. Life has a way of resetting priorities.

Whatever is at play with my own changing interest, it isn’t about the watches themselves. I still feel the same buzz when I check the time on whatever I’m wearing, A watch is the one constant in my life, and has been since 1987, through moves, jobs, relationships, adventures, good times and bad. That won’t change. You’ll never catch me without a watch, and, as I’ve said before, if I had to flee the house in a fire, as long as I have any watch on my wrist, everything else can burn. That said, for all my stated admiration over the years for the mythical one watch” person, I realize I’ll never be that. My goal in winnowing down my collection is not with the goal of ending up with a single one. What is the magic number that feels right? I could say five optimistically, but more likely it’s 10 or less, leaving room in the box for those nostalgic special pieces I seldom wear.

I am nearing the point where I wear the same watch for days on end for everything (despite what my Instagram feed might show you), and then, when a mood or activity strikes, I might change it up. Full on adventure mode? Probably my Tudor Pelagos FXD. General daily sportiness? Vertex MP45 or a CWC. Feeling nostalgic? My old Rolex. Then there are a couple of special vintage watches that lack lume or water resistance and those I’m happy to let lie fallow for weeks or months. They’re more like works of art to be wound up and turned slowly in the hand to catch the light. Realistically, for this type of rotation, less than 10 watches feels about right—not so few that I get the itch for more variety, and not so many that I become stressed by choice or disgusted with my own gluttony. I think I’ll get there.

I realize that this confession, this “State of the Collector,” might contribute to further freelance watch writing career seppuku, since a certain level of enthusiasm about all that’s new and exciting is something of a prerequisite. That said, I’ve long believed that it is rarely about the watches themselves, and more about the things people do while wearing them. And that’s what I’ll keep writing about, and it’s also what happens at these watch meetups. So I’ll keep going to them. Next time I promise to bring more than one watch, and at least a few good stories.