One Watch Collection?

How many watches is enough?

I read an article by Zach Kazan on Worn & Wound, The Tudor Black Bay and the Myth of the One Watch Collection, October 9, 2025. In it he talked about the concept of having to choose just one of your watches if you could keep only one. It got me thinking about a whole lot of things. As I was writing this, Worn & Wound published a similar piece! It’s a topic that engages people.

I was a little confused about what Kazan was saying as to why he would choose his Black Bay as the one. To me, it sounded as if he was picking it for what it represented to the watch enthusiast world in general instead of what he liked about the watch itself.

This post will not so much be about specific watches, but, instead some thoughts about why we like watches an why we collect them. An impossible task to be sure. As with anything, there is no way to pigeon-hole the various reasons anyone buys or collects a watch. I think though I can talk about some reasons why we might like a watch as opposed to why we might collect a watch.

Another topic will be the “one watch collection” which, as he states, is a myth. In the first place, one watch does not a collection make. Also, to me, it is a ridiculous notion to try to find a watch that does everything? Everyone is unique. I cannot hope to determine the basis for every human-watch relationship, but, I can make generalities.

One Watch

I think it is a myth. I don’t see how anyone who loves watches can have only one watch? It’s a forced restriction based on something else. I would suspect that most people who do only have one watch don’t keep it for long? Buy, sell, repeat, to keep inventory low. Why do people not keep watches? Maybe that is what we should be asking? Not why we buy, but why we keep. Still, if someone does mostly use only one watch, they probably have at least one other in a drawer somewhere?

When I get off my high horse for a moment, I will concede some people can exist with only one watch, and they may love that watch dearly. I still say it is a big, daily compromise. Its also a bit of a contest with yourself, a declaration of independence, a person resisting conventions or trends to prove they can do anything with one watch. I could argue also they are really not interested in watches as much as making a stand.

I would say very few people buy one watch and wear it only, until it falls apart. People are complex and have many sides. We change; we drop some beliefs and add new beliefs. We are many different things that cannot be expressed by one watch. Design, style, materials, technology change, and watches respond to that. What does buying the same model, one after another as they fail, mean? You know, when you find a product you love and you keep buying it, the same thing, replacing a similar older model, over and over until you can’t get it anymore.

Most times, when asked to pick only one watch, most people try to pick the most versatile one they know. Get the most out of one watch even if we don’t love it. Why do we want to say a watch does everything? Why do we seek a go anywhere do anything watch? Do we say a watch is a GADA as an excuse to not spend more money? We don’t wear the same shoes for everything. We don’t wear the same clothes for everything. Well, some people try…Are we so lazy we can’t take off one watch, wind and set another? Maybe we just like the comfort of familiarity or reliability. It does what we need it to do, its just there like a part of our body. One less thing to worry about.

Each person has their own reasons for acquiring a certain watch and wearing it all or most of the time. Often the reason is money. We want the best we can afford, but can’t afford to buy our best work, dress, tool, vacation watches, so we try to combine all our needs into one watch. Some people who say they have one watch also have what they call a beater, but don’t consider it a real watch, so it doesn’t count. What do you gain by having only one watch? I still maintain that when 95 percent of people say they are a one watch person, they really mean most of the time.

If money were no object would we be one watch people? Why do we buy one expensive watch instead of several less expensive watches? We want watch status. We want to be seen with the “it” watch. Social media and trends often determine what we buy, especially in the watch world. Instead of buying what we really like, we buy what we think the community thinks we should buy. To me a GADA is a spec/value decision, a compromise in every category. You don’t love the watch, but it does the most things for you. I suppose that one could really love a watch for some reason that also happens to be a GADA for their lifestyle?

A GADA could be a watch at any price level. It could be a Timex, a Hamilton, a Blancpain, a Richard Mille. It doesn’t matter. It seems sad to burden any watch with that label. Its going to come up short at some time when its not all you want it to be. It is also sad because a one watch person is missing out experiencing other types of watches. I also think it is a bunch of crap when people say they can’t afford more than one or two watches. That just means they buy watches that cost too much. They want watches they can’t afford, like all of us, so they just don’t get any more.

The Choice

The one thing I like most about Kazan’s article is what he said about having to choose only one watch from your collection if you could only have one. It makes you reconsider each watch and why you liked it. When it comes to crunch time some attribute rises to the top. Which watch is You? I think it is important to distinguish between what the watch can do for you and what you like about it.

For me, a bunch of things flash through my mind when I consider which one I would choose. Sentimental value, monetary value, rarity, experiences with the watch, what you went through to get it, how it looks, how it makes you feel, what it does for you. I think for most people they would make different choices at different times. For example, if I asked you today to choose just one, would it be the same in a year from now?

If you are like me you have several watches that are similar to each other. You have sub groups like Field, Tool, Dress, Beater, Party, whatever you need, with several watches in each sub group. Its easier to pare down to one in each sub group. You can rate them against each other for that sub group. After that it gets harder. When you have to choose between a dress watch and a tool watch, what do you do? Also there are those watches that are just unique and are a group of one.

By forcing yourself to get rid of some watches you start to realize what is important to you about watches. When you have to sell a watch to get another you are forced to determine your priorities at that time. Some priorities will change over time. Every time you do a purge, you use different criteria.

Having to choose just one is an interesting exercise, but I can’t see a situation when that would ever happen? Why one watch? Why not five, or twenty, or fifty? I think every watch fan knows the feeling of owning a watch and wondering at some later date why you got it in the first place? Maybe it had a shallow, temporary appeal? Now it is expendable.

The Collection

There are watch owners, watch enthusiasts and there are watch collectors. Watch owners are watch users but have only a limited commitment tho their watches. They may have different types of watches but treat them more as accessories or tools. Enthusiasts are deeply committed to their watch choices and like to experience more aspects of the history, performance, specifications and design of their watches. The types of watches they have may vary. They are keen to monitor trends in the watch world. Enthusiasts may also be collectors, but they tend to have limited size collections. Often known to state they are not collectors, many enthusiasts have limited size collections that continuously churn over. A typical enthusiast has a few keepers, but most of their watches are options for resale or trade whenever something new pops up.

The collector tends to have a more permanent or semi-permanent collection of watches. They usually have larger collections focused on one or multiple specific types of watches. They curate by themes such as brand, model, type, era. Collectors can be the most intense watch enthusiast because they compare and contrast every detail shared among the watches in a chosen sub group. Collectors can be some of the most knowledgeable experts on their specific specialty of watch.

Collecting, however, can be hazardous where watches are concerned. Addiction symptoms, as in gambling, can become apparent. Watch collecting can be expensive, too. Its not like collecting beach glass or bottle caps or even salt shakers, though I suppose hard-core salt shaker collectors could show me some five-figure shakers? Watches need maintenance. They are machines. The older they are the more expensive they become to maintain. When collecting it can be hard to put limits on a collection. Depending on the criteria for the collection, the possible acquisitions can be endless. How do we as enthusiasts or collectors determine how many watches is enough?

As an example of how a collection obviates the one-watch idea, I have a collection of watches sold under licenses, through Eddie Bauer stores from approximately late 1980s to early 2000s. With this collection comes variety. Almost all are individual styles or models. A few are variants of one model. So some more sporty, some dressier, some more field watch, some more fashion accessory, some tool-like. Almost all are quartz. I can think of only one automatic. The point is they are collected firstly because they are from Eddie Bauer stores. Everything after that is secondary. They are not chosen by specifications, complications, value, materials, movement, or manufacturer(several). The stress of picking the right watch is gone. The draw of each watch increases with the addition of another to the collection because each watch is considered in how it relates to every other one.

The whole idea of this collection is to highlight the variety under one brand name. Each watch can stand on its own, but they are a collection based on how they are different from each other while still having Eddie Bauer on the dial. Each watch was collected because it is a Eddie Bauer watch first, and then because I find it desirable for other features. I do not buy every Eddie Bauer watch I see just because it is one I don’t have. There has to be something about each one that I like. The price has to be right. The condition has to be right.

As discussed before, by sub-dividing an collection it is easier to pick one watch from a sub group. If I was asked to pick one Eddie Bauer watch versus one watch from all my watches, it would probably be a very different watch. Every watch exists in how it is similar or different to every other watch. Every person’s scope is different. They choose from what they know. But, when everybody gets the same social media threads all the time, their one watch starts to look like a lot of other people’s one watch.

A collector, by definition, cannot be a one-watch person. A collection is a group of things curated according to specific characteristics, a comparison of multiple things. So, a collector has to have several or many watches. This makes it hard to be a one watch person. I suppose you could separate the collections from the personally worn watch? For the collection(s), how many is enough? It is different for every person. How many exotic cars should Ralph Lauren have? How much baseball memorabilia should Geddy Lee have? Could Mike Woods have just one Rolex? Its a moving target.

I am a collector of many things. Over my lifetime I have collected various things, stopping and starting. Watch collecting has been the most addictive of my collecting experiences. I also got into estate sales with my wife many years ago, so I see what happens to lots of peoples’ collections. I am also old enough to see the end and know all collections come to an end, one way or another. A collector/enthusiast, usually, just knows when enough is enough; when its time to thin-out the collection(s). Almost every watch owner eventually gets tired of certain watches, at some point and wants to move them. Some people cannot stop collecting whatever it is they collect, and will continue doing so until the day they die. They have almost no filters. Almost anything to do with the collection is accepted. You never know when you might need X… They find space for it.

You have to admit, when you come across a person’s giant collection of anything, it is a cool experience; like being in a museum. Some can be weird to you, others fascinating. To see the similarities and the differences of many objects is thought provoking. You’re just glad you don’t have to maintain it!

The reason some enthusiasts declare they are not collectors could be because they feel guilty or wasteful having watches they don’t wear regularly. They think if they are not wearing them they must be collecting them. They don’t like that feeling so they don’t want to be considered collectors. They think it is hoarding watches that someone else could be using. Some enthusiasts hate collectors because they have the watches that they want — they are not on the market, but just sitting in a collection!

We are all familiar with the comment from most watch sellers, “It’s not getting any wrist time…”. People sell watches when they don’t wear them regularly. I have no problem with having a watch I don’t wear regularly. I have lots of watches in various collections that I don’t wear much. You see, that is a collector thing; watches are something to have as much as to use. I still love some watches that I don’t wear very much. It’s great to reacquaint yourself with a watch, remembering what it was that you loved. Lots of collectors have watches they never wear. Like many things we own; cars, RVs, boats, many proclaim things are meant to be used, not just held and protected. Well, yes, but isn’t it nice to find a vintage watch you want, or a sports car you want in great condition? Well, consider that it would not be in that condition if it had been beaten every day.

That’s the thing with watches, be they mechanical or quartz, they need to be working so moving parts keep moving and lubricants keep lubricating. To me, wearing one watch for everything shortens its life. The more you use it, the more chance there is for damage or wear. The advantage of multiple watches is they don’t get beat up as much. The wear gets spread out over multiple watches, allowing you to potentially keep each one longer. I agree it’s better to see a watch in action, than sitting in a box. Its even better to see five in action.

Final Thoughts

We get many things from our watches and each of us gets something different. We also get whatever it is with different numbers of watches. Some people put all their emotional and financial resources into one or a few watches while others spread it out over tens, or hundreds of watches.

Watch exhaustion, mental overload fed by social media and financial stress, occasionally pushes watch fans to the breaking point. At this point they purge their collection or fantasize about not having to decide what watch to wear or maintain. Reset. They just start grabbing the same watch everyday. Hence, the one watch theme.

This, too, shall pass. Saddle up and get out there and find a new watch thrill. If someone asks you to pick one watch, precede your answer with, “at this moment…”, then pick a watch you like, not one you think will do the most things at the best value.

Forget the stress of finding the one watch, the best watch for the money, the GADA. Pick watches you like, pick for yourself and pick many of them.