Don’t worry, I have already identified that I am incredibly stupid for feeling this way, but I am always a little stressed when thinking about building my collection. I want a watch for each outfit look and occasion; and they have to showcase an interesting facet of the watch world (history, design, mechanism). And I have a low budget and 12 slots in my box so I feel like each watch has to be very carefully chosen (and often weighed against knowledgeable collectors’ opinions). Perhaps this is a curse for us collectors trammelled by a low budget. Does this resonate with anyone else or are you a more impulsive purchaser? How do I relax more?
I generally see a watch I think is cool, research it to see if it’s something I’ll actually like/will wear …and then I make myself wait 2 weeks to a month. I look at other watches similar to that one. I walk away and look at completely different sorts of watches, and then come back a few days later to see if I still love it. Then when I buy it, if I put it on and I don’t like it as much as I thought I would, I send it right back. My Orient Bambino went back to Amazon the same day just because it looked dressier on my wrist than I thought it would and I knew I’d never wear it.
So like, I’ll see a watch and go ‘yess I want’ in the first minute of looking at it, but I make myself wait a bit. That said, I still fall out of love with watches, or just don’t end up wearing them much because I like other things better. When that happens, move the watch along to someone else and boom, there’s an open spot in the watch box.
This is a most mature approach and I will take it all on board, thanks.