The Buying Plan: As Explained to The Wife ;)

[Chadridv]

Last night I had a rather successful conversation with my wife about a watch buying plan/strategy/goal. I figured I would share with the group how it went down, and why I think it worked well.

First off all, she's already as cool as they come. She wears a 31mm OP, loves her Chanel, her shoes and other luxury items (that IMO will never have the same value as our Rolexes), so she has a decent understanding of this sickness. But we have a lot going on these days and coming home with a new $15k+ watch would not receive a fantastic reception. Especially since I just bought a brand new 116610LV in Jan.

So many months back (just after buying my new 116610LV) I start a thread about what should be my next purchase. I came up with a 3 tier purchase option. They basically went in order "cheapest-expensive" while coinciding with date obtained "near future-to distant future". See here. In other words the cheaper the watch, the sooner I will get it.

As most of us do I am constantly window shopping for my next piece. My ultimate goal would be to purchase a PM Daytona, or an AP Royal Oak as well as a few other's within that price range.

This is how I explained it to the wife...

If every 3-6 months I came home with a $2-3k watch, she won't be shocked. I would probably get a little bit of an eye roll and a joking "you're an idiot" comment. BUT at any point in time if I came home with a $15k-$20k watch I would definitely be sat down for "a talk".

Now my basic point was that I could continue on for the next 2 years buying half a dozen $2k-3k watches that would seemingly fly right under the radar. Knowing myself, I would probably end up selling, trading, flipping, regretting, etc. Would it be fun? Yeah, definitely, but ultimately I know I wouldn't be truly satisfied till I got the Daytona or AP RO. It would never end till I bought the right watch and in the end I would likely be sat down for "a talk" no matter what. I want to avoid "a talk" no matter what.

So what I present, was that if I hold off for now on the lower end watches, set goals and saved money, there should be no difference in perspective on the day I come home with my new Daytona or Royal Oak. Essentially, I just excavate the building site for buying a new watch, "coming 2017'! There should be no justification for "a talk" and everyone should be pleased with the outcome. I mean what is the difference if I saved the money and dropped a big lump sum, vs little by little spent the same amount of money over multiple purchase!?

I know this is all relative here. Some people save years to buy a $3k watch, and others will buy a PM Daytona like it was a cheeseburger, but the strategy can work! I think you just have to figure out what the ultimate goal is, find the price point that seems to be regularly acceptable within a certain time period, hold back on spending that, and wait it out.

anyway just thought I'd share. Let the waiting begin! I'm new to marriage so maybe I'm fooling myself here.