On January 1, 2016, I made four resolutions focused on my watch hobby and glibly promised to regroup at year’s end to see how I’d done. Honestly, folks, I don’t know what I was thinking. Did I really expect to report my roaring success? The only New Year’s resolution I’ve ever kept was in 2010 when I vowed to drink more wine. Then again, I didn’t completely blow them off, and that does give me a glimmer of hope for next year. So without further ado, let’s take stock of 2016 and see what we can do about improving 2017.
1. I will only buy a watch if I love it.
I did pretty well on this one. The problem is, I just have too much love. A few weeks ago, someone asked me how many watches I had. I guessed 65, which is crazy. Nobody needs 65 watches. Then I went back and actually counted them. To my horror, I discovered I owned 95 watches and had 3 more on the way. Ninety-fricken-seven watches. In my defense, I got some awesome pieces like the NTH Amphion Vintage, and this sweet Sinn 103, but when your collection approaches three digits you have crossed the line from hobby to mania. Since then, I’ve been culling the herd so that I won’t end up with my own chapter in the DSM-5, but it ain’t easy. I’m going to keep working on this in 2017.
2. I will only store watches where I can see them.
Nailed it! My Ikea watch cabinet project was brilliant if I do say so myself. A place for everything and everything in its place. The downside is that it offers a ton of storage, and the more storage I have, the more I can fill.
3. I will wear every watch I own, at least once this year.
Major fail. I don’t keep any official record of the watches I wear, but my Instagram feed is a pretty reliable approximation. The Reverie Sea Spirit made it to my wrist quite often, as did the Zelos Abyss and Manchester Tatoskok. I’m guessing like I wore more than half of the total, but I can think of a couple dozen or so that never saw the light of day, and that is a damn shame.
4. I will let go of the watches I do not wear.
Last year I said, “In 2016, I vow to cast a critical eye on every watch in my collection and unload the bench-warmers.” Yeah… not so much. See failures 1 and 3. I’ve sold a few in the past two months, but that is just the beginning. The fashion quartz I bought back before I was a watch nerd? Sell it! The dive watch that looks just like three other dive watches and never leaves the drawer? Sell it! The Techné Merlin 280 that I bought because it reminded me of a Sinn? Sold it, but only because I finally got the Sinn.
Ok, so one out of four isn’t great, but it’s not a total failure either. I prefer to think of it as an “incomplete success.” I’m going to make my goal for 2017 simple: fewer watches in, more watches out. I promise to give it a shot, and while I’m at it, I’m going to renew that vow to drink more wine. ◆
