Should You Just Buy One Good Watch?

I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve listed every watch I own on ebay, with the hopes of one day finally being able to purchase a watch with the crown logo. For me, it was never about the money. I didn’t get into watches because I wanted to show off my wealth, in fact for the most part, I’ve owned watches under $500. And truly the first time I unboxed the Seiko SKX009k, with its rattly jubilee bracelet, I was in awe. My $200 Tisell Flieger? Didn’t take it off for months. And even now when I pick up the gold Casio Databank that my wife got me when we were dating, I feel a sense of nostalgia and joy.

Whether they were gifts or impulse buys, watches are far more important to me than their purchase price. However, we are talking about money today, and its an important topic. Its far too easy to over indulge in affordable watches. They are at an accessible price point after all, which makes them easy to justify and overtime, really do add up. Three entry level Seiko’s can rack up to $1,000. Plus a few Casio’s and maybe a Steinhart or Squale?

So this month I finally did it. Aside from the watches gifted to me throughout the years, I sold my entire collection for the most part. To be honest it was quite liberating. In terms of watches I wear daily, I now own one: the Rolex Datejust 16220, cream dial with the engine turned bezel on a jubilee bracelet.

The size. The curves of the case. The cream lume plots. The subtle sunburst dial. The comfy bracelet. The crown logo. The full set, box and papers.

I love reading the service receipts and booklets that came with the watch. The 1991 / 92 Rolex calendar card makes me think of a business man getting ready to go to the office for the day, wearing his brand new Rolex Datejust and completing some much needed word processing on his Pentium PC. What an absolute legend. And here I am almost 18 years later, typing on my lame work issued Surface 7 Pro with likely 1000x the processing power and capability.

I love Seiko. I always will. And in the coming months I’ll likely cave in and buy one again. But its a great topic for debate. If you could do it again, would you go for just one ‘good’ watch? I think naturally people ‘climb the ladder’ so to speak and build up to purchasing watches of greater value. But after selling everything and just wearing the one watch, I think this will do me just fine for now.