Vintage Watches and Collecting in General

[marc2828]

I grew up with a father that loved collecting stuff...just not stuff that really interested me. He collected porcelain birds and other animal statues (which were bad for ball playing in the house), abstract art from this one weird artist (which currently hangs in multiple rooms in my home), and lots of coins. The coins are cool but sit in a box/safe. The coin dealers always grade them high when selling and low when buying...very subjective market.

I tried the wine collecting route...have a cellar, learned a bit, and now have a bunch of wine "aging". Red wine sort of gives me a bad hangover, especially drinking the full bottle. Next hobby was classic trucks/cars. Worked on them in my garage, tried to get my sons interested in working on them, but video games were more fun. Fun to drive when they start, annoying when they leak, and sitting at car shows got old real fast.

Brings me to vintage watches, and possibly Rolex. I have had some vintage Breitlings and had trouble getting them repaired. Expensive and difficult to locate parts. Was toying with vintage Rolex, but I hear those are also difficult and costly to repair.

I personally like collecting hobbies that you can use/see the item. Buying items to sit in a safe seems silly. But, I really don't like maintenance and large carrying costs (i.e. insurance).

I really ask myself why I like an item...is it to impress others?...generate positive comments from family/strangers?, the rarity? or merely just the hunt. After some self introspection, I think it is the hunt.