Echi
3826
I suppose yes if viewed from a personal aim of completing something. In my case, a summation of the watches that I love that might take a gander at shedding light on a facet of my personality. In the grander scheme of things, part of many touchstones...
That may give a person an idea of who I am. When I moved to a small condo a few years ago, I decided that the place should give somebody an idea of who I am. If I pass away and my daughter walks into my little cave, I’d expect her to say something like, “yeah, this is dad” .. so that runs the gamut of photographs that I took that hang on my walls, a gaggle of watches, a well worn leather couch, an ipad screen with a 5% battery life showing my unfinished post on watchprosite, a couple of empty beer cans and a few dead potted plants :p
So i think that in order for anything to be a collection, there needs to be a conscious pursuit to understand and acquire these puzzle pieces to form what we would loosely call a theme. In my case, that theme would be “me” 
Do you have a watch collection?
In an interview posted in an online journal with a well-known watch collector, he maintained that in order to have a watch collection it needed to represent a range of brands and complications. As my tastes are purely aesthetic and tend toward one brand, ...
Today I've just 2 nice watches
Bulgari finissimo titanium Bulgari finissimo steel black dial. In the last 15 years I've bought and sold Rolex explorer 1 Rolex explorer 2 AP RO 14790 AP RO 15202 (white, blue, grey dial) AP RO 14802 VC Royal Eagle Breguet marine BP 50 fathoms Lange 1 RM ...
Wow! Two Bulgari Octo Finissimos! You must really like this watch!
Wait, I recall one of the WatchProSite members said he might want to own EIGHT Octo-Finissimos. Was that you? I can't wait to get my titanium one on my wrist!
I don’t know the answer but...
In my opinion if you have 2 watches or +100 you have a collection. Doesn’t matter if it’s one brand or one complication in my opinion. As long as you enjoy the passion of collecting your a collector 😏
I don't think there are any rules
A lot of people collect a single brand, or even a single watch model. However, I'm generally in favor of adding diversity through different brands and complications. I'm currently in the minority here with only one watch, and I do think having only one wa...
This is a perennial question
I have found a temporary answer: each time I look at a new watch, I convince myself that my mini collection covers all bases and that I do not need another one - Audemars Jules chrono (dress day to day) - Rolex OP 39 (more sporty, at ease both swimming in...
I guess I am not a collector too many of the same. LOL
Enjoy what you like. No rules. ...
Bill, You win the internet today, my friend!😁👍
The way you have these arranged reminds me of the old Star Trek episode “The Trouble With Tribbles”. Your watches appear to be spontaneously reproducing! What a wonderful and impressive collection!!👍
wow !
never knew...so basically your rolex posts were mere diversion ;-) love those Doxa !
Better that they do it behind your back than on your wrist!
Imagine if you're on an airplane and watches start multiplying... That Customs agent is going to wonder what is going on!
Wow Bill... I didn't know your collection was so extensive.
And I know you like wine and cars too... Your wine cellar is already tremendous... The garage is overflowing with passion too.
There is a similar thread on
TRF, asking how many watches one needs to earn the right to call oneself a collector... Well, I supported a forum member who suggested: one, provided it has been curated with some level of sophistication, ha ha ha. I suggested one needed to also put toget...
Some people have a collection - others have an amassment
If there is an explainable logic in what you buy it will become a collection. And then there are perfect collections (i.e. every edition of one model / all editions and models of one brand / all tourbs available)...
If that's the narrow criterion...
...then only wealthy people have collections...the rest of us have watches : )
The Louvre is a museum with displays from several artists . . .
. . . genres, and eras. The displays taken together are known as its collection. An Arthur Sarnoff Gallery would display works created solely by Arthur Sarnoff. The displays at the Sarnoff (if there is such a Gallery) would also be termed a collection. ...
I have an accumu-llection
They selected me as their keeper for awhile. Most are loved; some tolerated; some on my sh** list. Who cares about these silly definitions? This is my Seiko shelf. The other watches are on separate shelves above or below. Cazalea ...
ok, i'm signing off for a week now !
& btw i've all reason to show this pic to my wife - i'm still to buy a lot of timepieces isn't it ?! Best, mahesh.,
That´s an interesting point which can bring many thoughts and points of views. I have been involved in collecting different objects along more than 40 years...
... and my personal feel is that there are no rules (thanks God!) regarding how to collect but there is a difference between a collection and a simple accumulation of objects of the same type no matter the quantity or quality of objects gathered. That is,...
Abel, You make a good point, my friend.
I have dozens of ties, but they are certainly an accumulation, not a collection. I can’t imagine ever bothering to be aware of Armani’s latest tie releases, but I excitedly anticipate a new release from FP Journe or Patek, or to learn about a new horologi...
I like your definition of collector.
But that makes me a collector of ties... Can I talk to you about seven-fold ties, eleven-fold ties, how they're constructed, etc.?
Thank you so much Patrick for your comments. I feel that if you can talk about all these whereabouts of ties and you are passionate about them most probably you own a collection of ties and ...
... you are a collector of ties. I would love to read a post about ties in our Time Out section. Look forward to that! Best, Abel
Hmm... But I don't feel that I'm a true expert in ties. I've never been to a tie factory. I did watch a video of how Kiton makes their ties though.
I better brush up on my tie knowledge before I make any posts. I still remember when Thomas, Anthony, and Bill read my wine review and told me that I needed to reacquaint myself with the normal terms magazines use to describe wine. I'm now in a wine study...
Hello dear Patrick! I enjoyed so much reading your answer. You made me laugh with your story about your wine review. It is not easy to reach a definition about what is a collection and a collector and...
... a simple gatherer or a gathering of objects. I feel it is not necessarily to be an expert about the object to be considered a collector but it is the passion (and sometimes obsession) a person develops around the object he chooses, be it pictures, sta...
Thank you Abel! If you ever come up to California, please let me know!
It's definitely not easy to define "collector" and "collection" very easily. The study of a collector's mentality and behavior is definitely one for anthropologists to consider with great depth. These anthropologists would have a lot to learn about the be...
Of course I will Patrick!! I definitively need to visit some nice friends in California and I wish Covid will let us do it soon. May be we can arrange a small GTG some day. It will be such a nice...
... and pleasurable experience indeed. Regarding collectors, agree with you: I feel historians and anthropologist have been doing researches about this matter as well as psychologists studying collectors. It is such a fascinating subject. Agree with you t...
Great question
for me a collection does not need to have a theme but you do need to think of the individual watch in relationship to the whole or it is more of an accumulation. I would be hard pressed to name a simple "theme" but the group is interdependent to the degre...
That´s a good observation Andreas. No need of a Theme but a connection among the pieces which form our collection. The collection is a whole and each piece as an special meaning to ...
... that whole and each fills a place in it. Cheers! Abel
I like this observation a lot.
An accumulation would be like a set in set theory--it's simply defined by its constituent members. No more than that. A collection, by contrast, requires *some* internal logic, even if it isn't very clear or precise what that logic is. And we can recogniz...
Buying what I like is what matters most
Perfect is, if the movement has got an in-house balance spring! I often think that this would be a good theme ...
I don't collect things. I'm an enthusiast. I have around 12 watches of different brands which change at various times.
Besides I really don't care what 'a collector" says anyways. We have 3 cars. I don't collect cars either. If I collected stamps or coins or other passive objects I might heed his advice on variety. Or not.
I always thought myself as a collector in a very obvious way, but as a general approach to life, I'm more of a fan of concepts rather than definitions/names/categories/etc...so no big problem either way! ;-)
Let's just collect (or gather, or any other verb) whichever watches we love -- that's the secret to a healthy and happy hobby! Cheers.
This will different for every one i guess ,
I collect watches ,i buy what i like and sometimes its a dial color , case shape , complication etc etc . As long as the watch puts a smile on my face it belongs in my collection
I buy watches I like.
To me it's most important that I really want to wear the watch. I do not by a watch just to own it, but not wear it. I get my pleasure when using the objects. It doesn't matter if it is a car, a watch or something else. I enjoy my watches wearing them, so...
I suppose yes if viewed from a personal aim of completing something. In my case, a summation of the watches that I love that might take a gander at shedding light on a facet of my personality. In the grander scheme of things, part of many touchstones...
That may give a person an idea of who I am. When I moved to a small condo a few years ago, I decided that the place should give somebody an idea of who I am. If I pass away and my daughter walks into my little cave, I’d expect her to say something like, “...
Thank you so much Echi. Nice to know. Collecting of several objects has been a passion for me during many decades and this gave me the privilege of meeting many collectors along the journey...
... and it was very interesting to talk and discover their feelings about collecting and the motives which move us to gather things and keep doing it. It has always interested me so much to know that. Best cordial regards, Abel.
I consider the Van Gogh Museum and the Rembrandtshuis to be museums.
Also the Calder Garden at LACMA and the Rodin garden at Stanford. If what you have feels like a collection to you, you have a collection, and nobody should be able to convince you otherwise.
It's still a collection
I like it is the best descriptor for what you should have Cheers JML
Can one item comprise a collection?
But to OP’s point, I understand where it’s coming from. Personally though, two or more is a collection for me. There must be something that unifies the two. If anything else, the quirks of the wearer.
Very limiting definition.
We here on WatchProSite accept any and all members. With a collection of zero pieces to hundreds. I still remember the amazing community and how accepting they were when I first joined as a green grasshopper.
Internal vs external motives
My watch collection consists of whatever I want. For some that may focus on a brand, a type of watch, recognizable icons. Personally, I want a limited number of pieces that I thoroughly enjoy. Excess pieces just to fill out some sense of scope or diversit...
I've really enjoyed reading everyone's insightful comments in this thread!
I define "collecting" pretty broadly. It requires a combination of a state of mind and physical acts. The state of mind is any sort of passion or interest. That passion or interest might be aesthetic, it might be technical, it might be historic, etc. It d...
I share your sense of the semantic limitation.
You can obviously be an *enthusiast* of something while owning just one of them--in fact, you can just as obviously be an enthusiast of something without owning any of them! But to be a collector requires possessing a collection, and a collection means a ...
A perennial question.
Sometimes I wish for more focus, like you mention around a specific theme or even brand. But it’s never been like that for me, I acquire what I like and what I will wear and that range is very very broad. I disagree that a collection needs to represent a ...
