Feeling Lost - Potentially Distraught

[Stefanaf]

Truly a first world problem thread title... lamenting over a watch purchase, but I digress...

Background: 3 years ago, within a month, I got married, started my own consulting firm, got sued by my ex boss, and turned 30. My wife and I sacrificed everything financially, physically, and emotionally throughout my startup. Moving in with the parents, eating canned meat, and working a second job at night for a year was all worth it as I beat the lawsuit, stayed married, and the business has become a tremendous success. (Unfortunately I didn't stay 30).

I suppose I've given this detailed background because while my wife and I are now able to live a substantially greater lifestyle, I'm still very much in touch with how we got here. I don't have to shop on price anymore, but I have always, and still do, shop on value. I make very deliberate buying decisions for the long term - buy once cry once. On top of this I'm a very sentimental person, so it is unlikely that I would ever sell or trade something special that a loved one has given me.

If you're still reading this, I promise there's a point in here.

Next month is my 33rd birthday, and my wife has expressed that as her gift to me, she would like to purchase my first luxury watch. There are many watches I like, however it's fair to say that after having tried on the 15202 OR in the Paris boutique last year, I am infatuated with the AP Royal Oak.

Today I went into our local AP retailer in Dallas, and first tried on the 15450 knowing that I don't have massive (but also not tiny) wrists. It was too small, and I really didn't want it to be, but it was nonetheless. I next tried on the 15400 with the black face. It was MUCH better in terms of size, but I just had this lingering feeling that it was too large. I've read quite a bit about how large it wears, and I feel like it's so close to being perfect, and maybe it is and I'm just not used to wearing a large watch yet, but I still felt unsettled. Unsettled because if my wife buys such a special item for me, for such a special occasion, I would never want to feel self conscious because of its size, and therefore not wear it as often.

If I were buying this for myself, and ended up not caring for the watch, I would simply sell it, but with my wife giving it to me as a gift, in this situation, I couldn't bring myself to sell it.

Now, I know that there is a supposed Goldilocks, the 15202, but I've never tried one on in stainless. The gentleman working at the Dallas retailer told me, in the politest way possible, with regards to finding one, to dream on. In addition, the 15202 comes at a substantial premium, so when, where, and how much start to become factors.

I'm afraid I've begun to look at this like an algorithm, an emotional algorithm. I keep looking for a solution where I plug in a variety of factors and determine what watch would be best given my taste, wrist size, and it's availability and value. I've considered opening myself up to buying a different brand, but nothing else seems to quite turn my crank like the AP Royal Oak. I've even considered asking my wife to just postpone any sort of purchase until I feel more comfortable with a decision, but I know she really wants to give this gift to me.

I'll be trying the 15400 on again, and I'll take some pictures as well as bring others whose opinion I trust. However, as a long time reader on the forum, I'm very interested to hear what feedback and suggestions the community has.

If you read this whole thing, I hope I haven't come off as self absorbed through my historical recount. I simply wanted to set the scene to the best of my ability, and capitalize on the sage advice I so frequently encounter from this special group.