SOTC and a polite request for advice

[Archduke]

About 30 watches have passed through my hands in the last 2 – 3 years, including no date Subs, an Explorer II, several Seamaster Profs, a DeVille, a Moonwatch, various Seikos including Orange Monsters, SKX007, Seiko 5s, Pulsars, Casios, and a CWC.

While there are still many more watches I’d like to try, I’ve realized that my preference is for a small set of watches - each with a specific purpose - rather than a larger collection. I’ve settled for now on the 3 below as my dressy watch, my smart casual watch, and my beater, and I think 3 is my realistic maximum.

First up is my dress / office watch, the 36mm Rolex DateJust 116234 with silver stick dial. This is my favourite watch and for sentimental reasons is a keeper. It is my most comfortable watch, and versatile enough to wear with a suit or with jeans and t-shirt. If I had to go down to one watch, this would be the one.



Second is the ceramic Submariner Date 116610LN. This was my everyday watch before the DateJust arrived, but is now my designated casual or weekend watch.



Third up is my beater, the Casio G-SHOCK GW-M5610-1ER. Solar and atomic so always works and always accurate, practical to wear during exercise (and I have used it to time laps) and on holiday, but cheap and ugly enough that I don’t really care if it gets scraped or damaged.



I find that I am not wearing the Submariner much now. As I don’t have a winder (and don’t think I want one) the Submariner is wound down when the weekend comes, so I just wear the DateJust. When I don’t wear the DateJust I tend to jump straight to the G-SHOCK. The Submariner is a lot of money to hardly ever wear, and when I do wear it - having got used to the DateJust - I now find it sits high on the wrist and if I am honest the case and lugs have always been a little too large for my liking.

My thoughts now revolve around the following options:

1. Go down to 2 watches - sell the Submariner and keep the DateJust and G-SHOCK;
2. Go down to 2 watches - sell the Submariner and G-SHOCK, keep the DateJust, and buy a nicer / more versatile quartz ‘beater’ like an Aerospace or AquaRacer or SMPQ.
3. Change the 3 watches - keep the DateJust and G-SHOCK, but get a different (and slightly smaller) weekend watch with date – maybe a vintage GMT-Master.
4. Change the 3 watches - keep the DateJust and G-SHOCK - but get a no date casual watch for the weekend – e.g. a Moonwatch or Explorer 1 or Sub 14060M.

I don’t think I’d be happy with just a DateJust and a G-SHOCK – I’d like a ‘spare’ nice watch for when the DateJust goes to the spa. I’ve had a Moonwatch before and found that like the ceramic Sub it is just a bit too big for me and the absence of date bothered me. I prefer the smooth sweep of an automatic but like the convenience of quartz.