State of the watch collection 2019

I got two watches in 2019.

A Mondaine Official Swiss Railways stop2go in September – which was an awesome birthday present from Nadia (thank you!):

And a Boldr Expedition Everest that arrived earlier today (30 December 2019) – with a hat tip to T3 for bringing Boldr to my attention a few months ago:

Achievement unlocked!

The coolest thing in 2019 was that I completed this Mondaine trifecta that I’ve been trying to pull together for several years:

A Mondaine wristwatch, desk clock, and wall clock.

I adore Hans Hilfiker’s Swiss Railway clock design and, thanks to Nadia who got me that wall clock in 2018 and this wrist watch in 2019, I get to see this design all the time.

#MyWifeIsAwesome

State of the collection

So, at the end of 2019 I own seventeen timepieces: fifteen wristwatches and two clocks.

Of those fifteen watches only twelve are in rotation – which is convenient, since that’s the size of my watch box.

(The other three are older Casio quartz watches that I bought when I couldn’t afford much else. Those have since been superseded and boxed away.)

A box full of watches.

The timepieces I have might not be super expensive, but seventeen is still a big number. I am privileged that I’ve been able to afford this many items that I don’t strictly need.

I am also privileged to have friends and family who’ve bought or contributed to four of those timepieces. Thanks, folks!

A theory of watch classification

A photo of watches in a box is a standard ‘state of the collection’ fare (#SoTC). But you know me: I like to take things a step further :)

In my head I organise watches in two ways: I either group them by activity (eg watches I’ll wear to work) or I plot them along the complexity-robustness axis that I think works best to broadly classify a diverse group of watches.

Here’s what that looks like in graphical form:

State of the watch collection 2019: all watches

In case that doesn’t make sense…

As you go from left to right along the x-axis, robustness increases. That’s why my vintage 1950s Wittnauer is on the extreme left and my carbon-fibre strap G-Shock is on the extreme right.

As you go from bottom to top along the y-axis, complexity and functionality increase. That’s why time-only and time-and-date watches are along the bottom and watches with rotating bezels, chronographs, alarms, timers, and so on are along the top.

And generally speaking:

  • the watches along the left are what I’d wear if I was to dress formally,

  • the watches along the right are what I’d wear if I was doing any physical activity (everything from mowing the lawn and walking the dog to swimming and bushwalking), and

  • the watches in the middle are everyday watches, ie what I’d wear to work or on weekends – depending on style and functionality requirements.

Slicing and dicing by watch type

It’s also useful to look at a watch collection by watch type.

So, these are my dress and casual watches:

State of the watch collection: dress, casual watches

State of the watch collection: pilot, military watches

State of the watch collection: field, dive watches

2019 wrist time

The watches that got the most wrist time this year were my Stowa Flieger, Seiko Alpinist, and Mondaine stop2go. These I wore on rotation to work every day and also on weekends. On weekends I wore those or my Casio G-Shock and Techné Goshawk.

The rest of my watches I wore far less regularly.

I expect the Boldr Expedition will feature heavily on my wrist particularly in the next few months.

Where to from here?

I don’t have 20/20 vision so I have no idea which watches (if any) I’m going to get this coming year. And, now that I’ve got the Boldr Expedition, I don’t have a hole in my collection that I want to fill either.

There are still lots tool watches I’d love to get, of course – so I might get something from Seiko, Sinn, or Hamilton. I’d probably want to start with the gorgeous Hamilton Intra-Matic chrono. Or maybe I’ll get something dressier from Oris or Nomos.

I’m also hoping to afford an actual (second-hand) luxury watch in the next few years. I’d love to get something from Cartier, Grand Seiko, or Omega. Though, if I am stepping up to that tier, I might as well go all-in and get my grail watch: the Omega Speedmaster Moonwatch Professional.

Or maybe I’ll scratch that long-time space/moon watch itch with a Bulova Lunar Pilot, Fortis Cosmonaut, or Dan Henry 1962. Who knows? I guess it’ll depend on what my year-end bonus is :)

In the meantime, I have a fantastic bunch of watches and I plan to wear the hell out of them in 2020. So here’s to another fantastic year in horology!