7 Things I Wish I Knew About Watches When I Started

now my journey into watches is a bit unorthodox just given what i do and really what has just happened over the last three to four years of posting videos but if i had to look back and i constantly just look back i learned new things almost every single day doing this and i think we all do just given the depth of watches and watchmaking it's interesting to look back at where you were at the beginning and just almost thinking to yourself wow i wish i knew that when i first started and today we're going to be doing exactly that looking kind of back and now understanding the things that i know now basically things that i wish i knew when i was first getting started in collecting watches so i have seven things listed out here of course we can mention a lot more so please leave comments for other people that might be coming across this video and can see some other things maybe to consider as they're getting farther into this also we are going to be doing another giveaway we just announced the 1500 giveaway so let's just add another hundred dollars on that same setup pick out three watches up to sixteen hundred dollars for the value of each watch and then you get to pick one of those if you do win so fill out the form down below you guys seem to really appreciate the giveaways and i am happy to continue doing them as well because i really do appreciate all the support uh so definitely just follow the instructions pick out three watches from teddybaldestar.com and you'll be good to go and we will keep you updated uh probably we'll keep this open for a month and we'll just try to do this every single month and uh keep trying to make it exciting and different so definitely participate in this one as well all right so now for point number one and that is the concept of more is not better now i've mentioned quite a bit that watch collecting is not a sprint and i think that is very true but just to add on top of this idea and i think outside of just the speed itself is just the idea of quality versus quantity and how i just came to grips with this idea was i had a watch box and i remember i felt like the need like i needed a watch box to hold all of my watches and my collection and then there's 12 slots in there so i almost felt the need to fill up each one of those slots that created two things for me one is it made me think about my collecting a bit different i didn't have a philosophy other than just filling a void maybe when the void wasn't even needed to be filled and that was a very just counterproductive activity for me and maybe moving into some certain watches i probably wasn't maybe meaning to move into so i think it's important to consider this idea both from the quality versus quantity perspective i do think it's really healthy to just buy things and sell things at times if you're just getting started but control it understand that more is not always better you want to be calculated with your purchases be thoughtful about your purchases and i know there's going to be a process where i think it was very helpful for me to kind of go through watches experience them and then sell them but that shouldn't go really at a blistering pace it should be done at a more natural pace as you continue to learn and understanding that just because you have a more filled watch box that might not be the objective you should be going for you really should be going for the objective of what do i truly love and how can i make those watches happen for myself so for number two this was a huge one for me as i went down this path quite a bit and that is the idea that vintage watches are more involved than you think and are simply not for everybody now as i was getting into watches i was certainly gravitating towards a lot of vintage pieces i like the just distinct nature the uniqueness of many of the timepieces that were from like the vintage archives of brands and i really fell in love with that but two things allowed me to fall kind of out of love with vintage watches and not maybe look as much in that direction as i did in the past one of those was just from a perspective of i think people underestimate how far watches have progressed in terms of their construction if you go ahead and try to take a vintage watch of the paces i think many people are going to be a little bit underwhelmed by what the watch is truly going to be capable of whether we're talking about water resistance where you're not going to want to get these things wet at all the materials chosen even with the crystals the case material things of that sort it is a huge departure from even an entry level affordable watch from a modern perspective compared to even a luxury vintage watch you have to know what you're getting into in that regard but probably the number one reason why i went away from it was just simply the idea that you can't really trust what you hear sometimes there's a lot of misinformation in the space sellers and buying the right seller is so important but even in those instances things can fall through the cracks no matter what you have service history to worry about and you also have a lot of things to authenticate and understand also about the movements is this all original do you have a service history of this thing are we dealing with a service dial service hands uh is the movement all intact a lot of things to factor in when going into the route of vintage that i think when you're first getting into it don't dive head first into it it's not worth getting into at the beginning i think once you buy some other things define your taste that's when it makes more sense to dive into this there's just so many other factors to take into consideration that i wish i was just a little more aware of and understanding what i was getting into when i did start going into the vintage world so now point number three is going to be the fact that nobody cares about your watch now when you get consumed into the world of just watches and like enthusiast circles maybe you're on youtube in forums facebook groups wherever your ads instagram doesn't really matter you really think that the world of watches is a little bit bigger than it actually is this is a small world most people have no idea what's going on and no idea what really constitutes a nice watch and once you get really far into the wormhole that is this enthusiast just kind of world you almost start falling into this trap where you think that just a regular person on the street is going to care about what you have and i think this is an important thing to recognize that literally 99 of the people that you're going to walk into on a day-to-day basis they don't give a damn they just don't give a damn about what you have on your wrist and why this is important as when you are buying watches making big purchases it's important to recognize who you're buying that watch for and who you're not buying that watch for i would never allow a watch to be dictated and why getting one be dictated by what somebody else cares about or thinking that there are more people that are going to you know maybe ask questions or appreciate something outside of myself make sure you're buying watches for the right reason for yourself recognize that the 99 of people that you're gonna walk into on a day-to-day basis don't care at all about what you have on your wrist and just go about your life have the right enthusiasm and just do this for you at the end of the day i think that is so important i think sometimes people get consumed so much in this world of watches people that they maybe interact with on the internet they don't even see in real life and thinking that oh if i buy this watch i would be more accepted or something of that sort total nonsense don't care about it just proceed for what you like and what you enjoy having on the wrist now number four is no watch purchase or the next watch purchase does not complete you have you ever been in this moment where you're thinking about okay hey if i just get this one watch you know i'll be maybe be done or you know my collection will be complete i will tell you right now that pursuit is a fleeting pursuit there is no such thing and if you think that there's going to be one watch that is going the next watch is going to be the one that's going to complete things off for you you're so mistaken it does not happen what i have found that actually provides the most completeness in collecting and there was a time where i was first you know kind of you know investing into you know teddyballstar.com getting everything in order that my collection really did shrink down i kept things really refined really simple and i did that just for kind of security i didn't want to be investing a ton of watches because i was really taking a big leap from my life that i recognize in that period of not buying watches incredibly quickly like i was when i was first starting that you almost have to program your mind around what you see as complete when i look at my collection now i don't think about really what's the next stage what's going to allow it to be complete i don't know if there ever is that kind of exit position but the important thing to do here instead is to really think about how can i just find appreciation with what i currently have and don't even fall victim to the idea that that next watch is going to give you that satisfaction i think this is where people confuse maybe an enthusiasm with a love for just consumerism that is a big thing to determine and i think identify for yourself you need to find completeness for what you have and try to enjoy those things in order to go ahead and then chase the next thing do not let the next thing always be the thing you're chasing find appreciation for what you have enjoy those things and i promise your collection journey will be that much better so that when you do decide to buy something next it's going to be for the right reasons and it's just for the fact that you enjoy this and you want to go buy something new number five is something i don't believe many people consider but could i sell this watch if i wanted to now i'm talking more from a practical standpoint if you buy a watch and you maybe say fall out of love with it could you have the means or way of going about and selling it and why i just bring this up for people is you fall out of love with watches it happens quite frequently i have love watches for some time falling out of love i think a lot of people probably just based on some of my old collection videos probably assume i have taste that i no longer do and that's just natural progression into watches this is going to change and why i think it's important to ask yourself this question of uh could i move on from this watch is you at least we'll start thinking about pathways and setting yourself up so that you can just be part of uh ways in which you can sell your timepieces when i bring things up like this you know talking about like forums maybe being active on a forum where you can you know buy sell trade and have a little bit maybe reputation around your profile so that you could maybe trade or sell and kind of move on and experience watches a little bit more freely maybe it's setting up an account for some of these just marketplace just selling options maybe like an ebay for example to sell a watch just having some just confidence that hey if i need to move on from this could i sell it that i think is very good and then also thinking about brand equity whenever i talk about micro brands i think microbrands are a great way to get something different a new experience but also you have to think about what is the brand equity at play if i just get any just micro brand out there that's not well known and i try to sell it you're going to perhaps have a tough time finding the right buyer compared to say if you buy a hamilton for the same amount of money just given that there is an expected marketplace that are always just going to be in the market for those timepieces also like an example like zen zen watches on the pre-owned market do pretty well all things considered compared to a lot of watches in their price category and that's something you kind of almost want to think about at times or maybe just be aware of as you're starting to really refine your taste once you're a bit more of a season collector i think this becomes less of an issue but when you're in that kind of process of fine tuning what you like i think being able to have a pathway to get out of watches is a healthy and good thing to think about now for number six this kind of goes hand in hand with the last one but kind of playing a little bit of devil's advocate if you do decide to either buy a watch or sell a watch will you regret it in the future you almost have to forecast and think about how you're going to proceed with either buying something or selling something and this really just gets into the idea of get yourself out of positions where impulse becomes an issue when you're talking about a buying perspective what i always do is i never buy a watch unless i kind of sleep on it one night at least or i just try to make sure that my love is not lust right you want to make sure that i really want to make this watch happen you know i've been thinking about it for a while and now i've just come to grips i've thought about it for some time i get into my logical brain i'm not thinking about this in pulse uh in an impulsive manner i i really want this watch and that is a healthy thing to do but also on the other end you also have selling watches and i've been in the position many times i sell a watch and i have maybe a little bit of regret i haven't had a horror story like some people maybe selling like a vintage like speedmaster or say like a vintage rolex and then selling it for like three four thousand bucks and now it's trading like twenty five thousand dollars there are people out there but i do think there is a lot to keep in mind here when you are selling something will you miss it in the future is it worth the exchange that you are going to get for it for say like that short term benefit and then will you maybe miss it in the future you almost have to forecast both of those things why regret buying it well i regret moving on from it having that ability to forecast it's a little bit difficult at the beginning but i think you need to have those conversations with yourself and not think in a short-sighted manner when you're going about proceeding on both sides of the aisle here now for point seven here we have just simply service costs now if you're just getting into watches there's probably not much understanding of what this means and even people that have been into watches for just you know a few years might have not been confronted with this if they are buying just brand new watches which is great but if you have ever purchased a pre-owned watch or like myself maybe buying a vintage watch and you just see the price tag just as the price tag alone everything looks good seller looks okay and you have some coverage but you know you just want to pull the trigger because it is significantly cheaper than maybe some other options out there and maybe you don't do the uh your due diligence here and you ask about maybe service history and then you get the watch everything's good and then say a few just maybe months in or maybe a year in the thing just completely tanks out on you you're not under any warranty or protection and you have to pay that bill this is a huge huge thing that i think people overlook just given that servicing watch can be expensive this is why i am a huge advocate and i will not take any slander when it comes to etta salida calibers the upside of having a service cost in you know the low hundreds compared to high hundreds and thousands of dollars to me is well worth it i don't mind owning a third party movement if it gives me that upside and just kind of peace of mind where i can go to any watchmaker to get those parts get it serviced that is huge for me but then you have you know this whole thing of in-house and you have vintage watches as well where parts are difficult to find just finding sometimes parts is cost as much as an entire service for certain parts of movement then you also have just you know movements that are very complex even like chronographs for an example i think people would really overestimate or underestimate how just intricate chronograph movements are to service you know some of them you know costing talk about in-house you know send in your speed master for a service no warranty you know you're going to be wishing that you probably did have one so this is something people just grossly underestimate when it comes to service costs i'm not trying to scare people because in most cases i think a lot of just watch brands and you know people in the industry overestimate how much you actually have to get your watch service i don't think you should be so reactive in sending something in for service but usually they will last for a long time from a proper manufacturer but things can go wrong and when they do it can cost a good amount of money so you just have to know what you're getting into on all sides understand what it costs for your watch when you actually own it and have the right questions aligned if you say you're going into pre-owned or vintage but alright guys those are seven things that i wish i knew when i first started collecting watches i probably could do a part two of this but these are just some of the things that came to mind for me when thinking about this but leave comments down below please tell me what else you think people should know as they're progressing into this world also if you enjoyed this video thumbs up subscribe and hit the bell icon really would appreciate that in addition to that definitely take part in our giveaway uh going to keep this open for a couple weeks here but definitely get in while you still can also be sure to follow uh on instagram just hit a hundred thousand followers there in the last few weeks so really do appreciate that taking some amazing photos of watches so great way to stay up to it uh to date with the content see some cool photos of watches and different things kind of behind the scenes and then finally definitely check out teddybalthisto.com full authorized dealer of over 25 brands full factory warranty dedicated customer support quick and fast fulfillment also offer price match so if you see one of our watches for cheaper another authorized dealer just fill out the form and give you a call and then finally nine out of every ten dollars that we generate goes right back into this content that we're creating but guys thank you guys so much for watching be well and i'll see you all very soon

Channel: Teddy Baldassarre

Views: 280,583

Rating: 4.960084 out of 5

Keywords: teddy watch, teddy baldassarre watch, teddy watch reviews, watch collecting, watch collecting guide, watch guide, best affordable watches, watch collecting advice, bark and jack, hodinkee, talking watches, things I wish I knew about watches, watch education, watch advice, best watch under 500, best watch under 300, best watch under 100, best watch under 1000, affordable watches, luxury watches, best luxury watches, luxury watch advice

Id: IKjyixLMqN0

Length: 15min 56sec (956 seconds)

Published: Sat May 29 2021