What is the biggest mistake you have made in this hobby?

Maybe it was buying a T.V. brand. Maybe it was selling something you now regret.

For me, it was putting too much money into vintage watch restoration than the finished product is worth, followed by being to afraid to wear the watch, that even restored, would break if I stared at too hard.

My second biggest, walking away from a decent condition vintage Breitling Navitimer that was selling for $1500 at a local estate jeweler. I didn't know what the market value was, and it was immediately snapped up from under me.

At the height of my 'Geek Period,' I laid out $1200 for an Invicta 'Venom' with the Valgranges movement, complete with the cheesy yellow three-slot 'diver case' and extra straps. When I received it and discovered that one of the pushers wouldn't unscrew, I 'helped it along' with a crescent wrench which, well, complicated things, shall we say. I ended up pretty much wrecking the pusher, though not the movement. I wanted to send it back as defective, but just couldn't bring myself to do it, being the honorable retired naval officer, and all.

Ultimately, I ended up selling it for $400 to a watchmaker friend of mine who wanted to see if he could salvage the movement. It was an $800 mistake that abruptly ended my geekhood once and for all. So I guess it was ultimately worth it...

...and I have no idea what happened to the Valgranges movement, if indeed it was a Valgranges.

Buying a safe queen could have been the biggest mistake I made since my geekdom days. Just remember to follow the rules, I forgot Rules
11) The journey can be more fun than the destination.
Shortly after a purchase you may experience a let down. Let it pass, it's normal.

22) Wear it.
If it has been two months since you wore it, you don't really like it. Get something you want to wear.

24) You don't have to justify to anyone except yourself.
Someone will someday say, "you paid that much for a watch!!!" You are not obligated to explain, and they won't understand anyway. Tell that to the wife,when she asks

My biggest blunder was the Chopard knockoff I bought from Sea-Gull USA. I was fortunate that their customer service dept. refunded my money without any complaint.

Overall, I wish I had focused less on having more watches and more on getting some watches I really really want. I love my Seikos, but it is possible I own too many.

Finally, while I love Deep Blue's designs, they are just too big for me and I lost a lot of money when I sold the two I owned.

Anthony

My mistakes were buying this (gave away)



and this (gave away)



a Swiss Legend Neptune (no pic, gave away)

a Stührling Original Sportsman Eagle (no pic, gave away)

this (gave away)



this (still have but too damn big to wear)



and this (still have but too damn big to wear).



That's it. That's EVERY skeleton in my closet. Anything not posted here I still wear. I'm sure there are some of you who would consider a few in my watchbox a mistake like my Armitron, Commander and Wildebeast. But that's OK, I like em'.

Outstandamundo, DB! I had two of that first Android, one the same as yours (silvertone) and a purple one...yeah, I know. (Gave away both.)

Watch winders, what a waste of money.

OK, they still act as viewable watch boxes.

I've had nothing but regrets about the big, multi-slotted winders I've bought over the years; within weeks of buying my eight-slot, rather on the expensive side winder, two of the doggoned motors had ceased working...ditto the no-name six-place winder I got next, though to be fair, I had put some of my heaviest watches on it, right from the start. At any rate, and FWIW, I find that even the least expensive (i.e. 'cheese-ball') winders work very well if the watch in question has a top-of-the-line automatic movement.

Case-in-point, my Philip Wisdom 'GMT' (or, if you prefer, 'World Timer'), with the amazing Swiss ETA 2893 automatic movement. Since setting it for the first time toward the end of Augest (~25th or 26th), I have not had to reset it in the two weeks since. Not a ton of time, I admit, but what makes this out of the ordinary is the fact that the winder I've been using is the anonymous little single-slot version given to me with a $99 Magico auto three-hand watch I bought three or four years ago at the height of my geek daze.

This is true. Winders suck donkey dick. I have one, too!

Winders do suck. I have had a nice 8 slut winder and watch box in the bedroom when my home was robbed, nice of us to put our watches in one place to get taken isn't it? This also goes for jewelry boxes had those too, now if it's worth more than a couple hundred its in the safe.

Come to think of it this is and was my biggest mistake!

One other thought on this mistake is you might have home owners but do yourself a favor buy a rider (another mistake I had made by not having one)

conjurer wrote:This is true. Winders suck donkey dick. I have one, too!

Which? A winder or a donkey dick...?

Mortuus wrote:

conjurer wrote:This is true. Winders suck donkey dick. I have one, too!

Which? A winder or a donkey dick...?

Well, both, actually.

Selling my Steinhart Ocean 44 to a guy who admins a page on Facebook that I frequented. I sold it to him for a steal and 2 days later he bans me from his FB page and blocks me.
Fuck him.

Stormchaser wrote:Selling my Steinhart Ocean 44 to a guy who admins a page on Facebook that I frequented. I sold it to him for a steal and 2 days later he bans me from his FB page and blocks me.
Fuck him.

OUCH...that's just plain vindicktive...

Indeed it was. It was one of those, "Hey, we're cool. I'll cut you a deal on it". Then BOOM, he was like "Fuck you".
BTW, his name is Rick Donahue aka "Fiddy". A real fuckhead, as I've learned.

Fuck facebook

Stormchaser wrote:Indeed it was. It was one of those, "Hey, we're cool. I'll cut you a deal on it". Then BOOM, he was like "Fuck you".
BTW, his name is Rick Donahue aka "Fiddy". A real fuckhead, as I've learned.

50mmandup. He's well known for being a used-douche bucket.

AJC wrote:50mmandup. He's well known for being a used-douche bucket.

Yeah, apparently I was meant to learn that the hard way.

Hater wrote:Fuck facebook

Nah, I disagree. Facebook is quite handy for many many things. I run a watch group (similar to this forum) and it's good times. People tend to be a little less asshole-ish due to the lack of anonymity. Rick Donahue was a good example of how that isn't always the case though.

Plus, it allows my family, in two different states, to keep up with what's going on with my kids. I think if I shut my facebook account down, the grandparents would all have a stroke.

I can't damn anyone for buying the occasional TV watch. Everybody needs beaters. No big whoop.

As for me, my regret is born of sheer stupidity.

I once dropped a bowling ball - hard - onto an Omega. Forgot I had stored the watch in a ball sling; pulverized it.

I mean, ow.

Biggest mistake? start collecting, way back in the 70's.....

eddiea wrote:Biggest mistake? start collecting, way back in the 70's.....

Back when this was new?

For me, it was buying a Nauticfish 2000m Grade-A...

My biggest mistake? I owned this monstrosity, complete with diamonds, i even think i left the house with it on once or twice.

And this...

"for those that know best" it is it is