Hello my friend we meet again - it’s been a while, where should we begin?
Like all things of a former era, the 90s and early 00s, and specifically rock bands like Creed, are having a bit of a moment now; forgive me as I belt out - poorly - the oh-so-popular power ballads of my youth. Bonus points if you know where the first sentence’s lyric is from, and apologies if I’ve just gotten about 15 years worth of music that you’d forgotten about stuck in your head. Oops :)
Now that you’re maybe dusting off an old CD or playlist, let’s talk product inundation. I know, I know: what a seamless transition. But much like it, the watch world is a continuous about-face when it comes to production, brands, and the ever-growing list of options, trends, and ooo, what next?-isms. We live in an age where, often in a good way, information and options are available practically instantaneously; if there’s something we want to know, we can simply Google it, and we’ll receive millions of answers (or at least results) for your question and search. Information is so readily available that Google takes the time to dunk on and absolute flex on us every single time, showing us something like, “About 410,000,000 results (0.39 seconds).”
My dude, we get it. You’re good at what you do. No need to be a showoff.
But this does underscore just how much stuff is out there, and it can be entirely overwhelming. When it comes to watches, there’s a new release, a new brand, a new super-cool-looking-moody-ad-campaign-that-will-convince-you-that-you’re-just-one-watch-purchase-away-from-becoming-a-super-cool-looking-moody-adventurer—
*Ahem* sorry, sorry, not to interject, but you’re not actually one watch purchase away from being a super cool looking moody adventurer. It’s just a photo with the black point turned down to emphasize a targeted color scheme and give off moody film camera vibes. That’s how they get ya. Behold, the moody aesthetic:
And this is not to say that many of these releases aren’t actually super cool, because they are. But do we really need them? Do we really need any of these things?
The answer is, of course, no, but seated right behind the word need is the word want, and sometimes those two hold hands a bit more than we tend to expect.
Now, since everyone’s income bracket is different, I’m approaching this thought process from two spaces: affordability and fulfillment. For most people, the struggle of saying “no” to a particular watch is financial; we simply can’t afford to drop dime on everything we see, even if it’s an “affordable” option, since affordable options quickly become unaffordable when compounded together. On the other hand, some people out there, if they get an itch for a watch, can afford to buy just about anything they want. And that’s great, congratulations, you made it! Your bigger issue is then the issue of personal fulfillment; you got the watch, or watches, that you wanted, but do they all really make you happy? Are they each really able to, as Marie Kondo would say, “spark joy?”
As someone who has shed quite a significant chunk of my watch collection over the last 5-6 months, I’ve been thinking about the balance between a) having an itch to scratch and b) what will ultimately scratch that itch. When it comes to watches, I think that the itch is often simply a desire for newness or change; this is what the ad campaigns deliberately play into and underscore. The idea of a new look, lifestyle, or interest is one that can frequently persuade someone to part with some money here and there, and eventually, what happens? The charm and newness of the watch may wear off, and it’s off to eBay or a seller’s forum to try and get some of that money back.
Mike, you may be thinking, I get it, we all, you know, get it, but where are you going with this?
Well, I’m glad you asked, because here’s your solution to falling into every ad campaign or cool Instagram photo:
Watch straps.
Just get a new watch strap. Or two. Or three. Whatever you need. But before diving into another watch purchase, especially if it’s that fleeting, accessibility-fueled lust-type buy, consider taking a watch you already own and putting a new pair of shoes on it. For the vast majority of scratch-that-itch instances, at least in my experience, a new strap is quite the cure. For itches that last longer, you might want to check-in with your doctor…
So, a good strap. There are a ton of strap varieties, and many watch people will tell you that there’s a drawer or a bin just full of straps lying around their home or office somewhere; everyone’s taste is a little bit different, and that’s one of the joys of having a bundle of straps around. If you have 5 watches, and 10 straps, you could potentially have 50 or so different looks coming out of your watch collection. The cost of having 50 actual watches? Much, much more than 5 watches and 10 straps. Here’s an example of my favorite strap - a moss green leather strap from the Windup Watch Shop that I’ve had for close to 4 years - and how it gives a bunch of different watches a bunch of different looks:
This is the same strap, but on wildly different watches. We’ve got dress watches, vintage watches, sport watches, chronographs…and these are just the ones I’ve actually remembered to photograph. All the times where I’ve seen a particular look or mood for a new watch, I’ve moved towards asking myself, “can I create that feeling with something I already have?” Most of the time, the answer has been yes, and this versatile strap has been an excellent money-saver. A watch-monster, as opposed to a strap-monster, if you will. And for the times where that question’s answer has been “eh, not so much,” snapping up a new strap to give some flavor to an existing watch has been the move. On more than a handful of occasions, I’ve even found it to reignite the initial spark I may have felt with a watch that’s fallen down the pecking order or sat in the box for a while. Case in point with my Breitling Chronomat, a watch I’ve had for years that, whenever I feel the urge to look in the direction of another chronograph, I slap on a new strap and get that new watch feeling all over again:
Moral of the story: before jumping into that next watch purchase, take a look at what you have and see if, maybe, all you really need is a change of aesthetic instead of a full-on change of inventory. Your watches - and your wallet - will thank you!
As always, wherever you are, and wherever you’re going, many thanks for stopping by.