Have your tastes changed over the years???

[Clay]

I have noticed that over the many many years in this hobby my likes and dislikes have changed...
As an example there was a time when I cared not for Box & Paper watches...
But lately I have discovered a fascination with all of the bits and pieces that come (or came) with these watches...
What exactly came with this watch???
Is it original???
Is it proper???
Fascinating!
My basic love of these time pieces has never changed, but I find the direction of what I want to own has taken many roads over time...
The one thing that I find so wonderful is that if you get tired of owning something, you can simply sell it and move on...
Cheers...

[harry in montreal]

Not really!

i seem to gravitate to the same models as i did when i was just getting into Rolex and Tudor. i could never get myself interested in a Daytona. maybe with time...

[Beaumont Miller II]

Clay, great topic. A friend of mine once said that over time collections evolve, sometimes in different directions. In the past I might have passed on a particular piece if it had a few dings, nicks, swirls, and scuffs on the case. In my opinion that represents wear consistent with age without signs of abuse. However, at present those are the watches that spark my passion provided that the case is sharp with fat lugs and the original chamfers are present.

[swish77]

Tastes definitely change. I went toward the big-watch trend a couple of years ago, for example, but now I'm back at vintage sizes being the way to go. I don't want a hubcap on my wrist. Could be an age thing for this 40-something!

[eparisini]

Over the years maybe I'm changed year after year, always searching something beautiful, and year after year my tastes changed, always seraching something rarer and more collectible!

[Vincent65]

I've always loved vintage and antiques and 'old stuff' in general. Had a lot in my family, including vintage one-owner watches (Heuer, V&C), but until this last 2 or 3 years, I had only previously owned new Rolex (first one in 1997). Well and truly got the bug now though!
My tastes have therefore not really changed, fundamentally. Mostly love divers and sports models. Cheers, K.

[harry in montreal]

1. air king date. traded up
2. gmt (black) 16750. traded up
3. SD 16600 sold
3.5 DJ 1601/1603 and an airking winn dixie
4. flipped a few tudors,and a 1625 Tbird. nothing kept. wore then sold.
5. snowflake 7021
6. gmt 1675

full circle to a GMT over a 15 year period.

[joe100]

I used to think the Submariner and the GMT were the bees knees but as I go along I've realized the fixed bezels, ie the Expy 1 and 2, AK, OP are more my taste. I don't like fiddly moving parts.

[KZZN]

Hi,

A very interesting question, and one I've actually been thinking about these last few days. I've kind of gone almost full-circle, in terms of preferring steel, then two-tone, then all gold, then back to stainless steel again.

Before I got my first Rolex, I'd been wearing a stainless-steel Seiko all my adult life, and could never have imagined myself wearing a gold watch. I just thought of gold as too gaudy, too blingy, and not for me at all.

So, when I went to get my first Rolex in 2005, I was planning on an all stainless-steel Datejust, maybe with a white gold bezel at most, and that would be that. However, at that time the new case, bracelet and dial designs had only filtered down as far as the yellow Rolesor Datejust, and not the all-steel model. And I was so blown away by the difference in quality between the old and new bracelet, that I went for the yellow Rolesor without hesitation.

Then a year or so later, I got a call from a dealer I'd asked to keep an eye out for an Oysterquartz. I'd been thinking the all-steel Datejust model, but what the dealer got was a yellow gold Day-Date. A first I was very unsure, but I went for it. And I loved it. It became more or less my daily wearer for the next six years.

And then, just this week, I actually sold the Day-Date, and as part of the deal got a white Rolesor Oysterquartz Datejust. And I have to say that when I look at photos of the Day-Date on my wrist, and compare them with the Datejust, the white metal Datejust just looks so much better on me than the yellow gold Day-Date did.

So I've come full circle, it seems, back to preferring stainless steel (or white metal, at least). So who knows what the future holds?

[hatidua]

I've shifted toward simpler models over time. I've sold all of mine that had a date and only have one left with a bezel that rotates. My first was a Sub (30 years ago), whereas now I prefer wearing models that 99.9% of the population don't realize to be a Rolex.

[JohnBoy]

My horological horizons continue to broaden, but my taste in Rolex seems to remain about the same. I continue to collect them slowly, without flipping a single one - to date!

[janice&fred]

used to be we liked fresh sparkling watches even when old, but now we are much wiser and choosey. we prefer to keep our watches as found and much prefer a watch that has not been previously "restored" (butchered) by some well meaning collector or dealer. un polished and un altered is our focus now. we also prefer oldies and with it's originally issued bracelet. not so easy to find on the net and in the more developed western world where watches pass thru many hands and dealers, but these original virgin beauties do pop up in these tropical isolated south pacific islands quite often and when they do we snap them up :)

janice

cebu

[Frogman4me]

Still prefer vintage, still prefer the submariner :)

[Warnsboy]

My taste has changed to less gold and more stainless, but I love both modern and vintage looks. This one from 1980 is an exception..........





or maybe I've grown to love some gilt on the dial......to set off the stainless from 1965

[DrLindaPhD]

I started with vintage Rolex watches from WWII and still love them but now I collect 1930s-1960s. I am considering branching out to small men's Rolex watches of old. I don't know what I will be collecting a year from now. Who knows? That's part of the fun.

[Kiwinz]

Good post, Mate.

Yeap, my taste certainly changed too, from TT and YG to SS and found the love and passion for Vintage.
As for different brands, No...always crowns.

[Warnsboy]

Originally Posted by DrLindaPhD

I started with vintage Rolex watches from WWII and still love them but now I collect 1930s-1960s. I am considering branching out to small men's Rolex watches of old. I don't know what I will be collecting a year from now. Who knows? That's part of the fun.

Linda, you have been a breath of fresh air to the true vintage colector's movement

My wife's first taste was a 14K, diamond bracelet Gruen with Rolex movement from 1940's. My grandmother gave it to her in 1984 because she could wear the small size....3.5" wrist. She has been hooked since.......Now she wears this Tudor 75090 daily......

[andyboy39]

Originally Posted by swish77

tastes definitely change. I went toward the big-watch trend a couple of years ago, for example, but now i'm back at vintage sizes being the way to go. I don't want a hubcap on my wrist. Could be an age thing for this 40-something!

+1

[Mike1066]

Clay:

Great topic. I've always liked Dive watches, so that hasn't changed. However, my focus has begun to narrow on vintage (I don't even look at modern watches anymore), and that is all that I see myself getting in the future. It has also narrowed to a few watches - 5508, PloProf, Rail Dials, gilt Subs, etc. I also find myself liking banged up models much more than the pristine models, as the banged up ones (so long as they are original parts) show life and wear and tear, which is what I think these watches were intended for.

V/R

Mike