My Biggest Watch Regrets

well hello there and you join us here today to talk about some of the watch purchases and experiences we've had in our lives that we deeply regret these are our biggest watch regrets whether you're looking to buy sell or trade a pre-owned watch visit watchfinder decom please do click the link in the description below it really helps Tom as always I think it's always good to share the wealth and when it comes to talking about some of the deepest and most hurtful impacts we've had in our lives when it comes to watches I think it's worth bringing someone else into that Brit Pierce how are you doing welcome back hey I'm happy to be here happy to be here longtime listener second time caller absolutely yeah and I'm very very pleased to see you in a more mobile State than I have seen you in the past how has life been for you this year never mind watch regrets how has this year been for you well I've been describing this year as simultaneously the best and the worst year of my life so some of the worst things have happened to me this year if you don't know me as well if you guys don't follow me but I was hit by a car in March but on the bright side I've almost fully recovered so Life's good that glass is very half full for you uh and I'm very pleased to see you um feeling positive out the other side uh thank you so much for joining us as you say this is the second time you've been here the first time we talked about happy things to do with watches and today I thought we'd talk about sad things to do with watches the these are our biggest regrets um I I think sharing in misery is is a very British Pastime as well so we're very grateful to have you joining us to kind of rep patrioti you into the British culture of of sharing misery so why don't we get straight into it let you go first why don't you share your first watch regret with us yeah so I've not been collecting as long as some other people have so I only started watch collecting in 2018 I kind of got the bug got got into it so I haven't had as many years to have big big watch regrets as maybe some other people watching this have my biggest one is a a very recent watch regret I was recently in Germany and we went window shopping looking at watches which always leads to trying them on and we were outside of a secondary uh watch shop and I tried on I'm going to try to say it the right way German Watchers and listeners I tried on they're gonna hate it Al longa and Zona 1815 from the year 2000 fell in love with it it looked perfect on my wrist it was meant to be in everyway but I had to pass it up I was so close to buying it I was so close I have the money I have the money but it would have just made the next few months a little bit too tight financially we were I was just on the fence but I can't stop thinking about it it still feels like the one that got away I was in Germany I found this amazing German watch everything felt right but then sensible responsible grown-up Britney spoke up and she said I don't I don't think we should do this I don't think this is how we should spend our money today yeah and now sensible Brit is looking back and going do know what if we had purchased that it would be worth more now oh that's a shame well yeah but and then there's also party rocker Brit party rocker Britney's always like let's go let's buy it and she's just an inner child all the time yeah yeah I know that one they're like sits on your shoulder and goes buy it what is it Tom um again narrowing this just down to watch regrets I know you've had a lot of regrets in your life um why don't you share one of your watch regrets yeah well I'm I'm quite similar to Brit actually in the fact that I've I've not been ingratiated in the watch buying League uh for very long um so I think my first purchase first bought a Seiko in like 2018 or something and I just sort of impulse bought it on Amazon I didn't really even think about it I didn't even check the size I didn't know the rules of the game Andrew and I just bought a watch I like it's blue it's shiny and it's got look you can see the spinning round bit through the glass in the back and um and and then I did that like two more times before even thinking about what I was doing like so my biggest regret and I think this is like something that you know you can heed my lesson dear uh watch enjoyer and uh don't impulse by watches because you end up with like a draw full of um suboptimal hitters should we say or S hitters um yeah and and then and it kind of get lumbered with them cuz timex's don't really trade in as well as like some Swiss Lu luy watches so but there was one where I got I I was feeling a bit flush it was coming towards the end of the month coming nearing payday and I had some money left over that I haven't hadn't you know spanked on harryo or what have you I was like I'm going to get a G-Shock there was this new G-Shock and it really like tickled me so I was like yeah so I bought this G-Shock just later that day I don't know why but I just suddenly decided to check my tires on my car and realized they were all bald and needed changes I was like oh crap I shouldn't have bought that G-Shock I need new tires um so yeah but actually I got it and it's h it's my favorite watch I wear it all the time it's um you know wipe cleanable so that's really good um lot of watch a lot of Swiss luxury watches don't rate wipe cleaness um but it's actually a really good trait for a watch I I heard you get more grip when you have no tread on your tires at all so you know win-win o controversial I feel like this is the least helpful podcast yet because Tom's watch regret is that he impulse buys and mine is that I didn't impulse by yeah so this is not very helpful well okay well rule number one we can classify that as whatever you do don't ever ever okay so uh to to break that Trend ever so slightly uh my my regret the first regret that I'm going to share is not do you know what rtfm stands for read the read the flipping manual yeah that's what I was going to say um I I once uh early on in my my my watch Enthusiast career working for watch finder got my hands on a delicious IWC big pilot perpetual calendar now I think for those in the know that's already going to kind of generate some cringe because they can probably see what's happening here but one of the really great things about the IWC Perpetual calendars that a lot of the others don't have is the ability to set them with just the crown so if you get a protect perpetual calendar it's covered in those weird little kind of inverted nipples that you have to poke with a paperclip that you can find somewhere and each of the the dials changes uh independently of the others that makes it uh easier to set up if everything is out of whack but the IWC it goes no no no no no everything is always in whack I think that's an expression so you can just cycle forward and you go I'm going to cycle forward from one day to the next and everything changes with it which is really really good um and I realized that the the the watch that I had was a few days behind so I wanted to set it to today's date and I just wanted to see it all go around so I set it to today's date and cuz I was clumsy and excited I went one day too far doesn't sound like a big deal does it like would you do that with a date um you can either go backwards or you can just go round again so I tried to go backwards it didn't go backwards so I thought I thought I'd go um all the way around again except I realized yeah sort of a couple of months in that going all the way around again probably means like winding this thing forward several centuries and then coming back the other side and who knows I didn't actually get to that because that would have taken months of just sitting there winding this thing forward so you you know that that clip of Jordan Peele with the sweat just pouring down his face I was sat there like that thinking the more I wind forward the more I have to tell someone and and I I tapped out I went to someone and said do you know how to get this thing to go back and they said it doesn't go back yeah the only place it goes is back to the factory to be reset so this watch had to go off back to the factory um and I massively regret tinkering with a high complication and not having read the damn manual beforehand one Saving Grace in that story is that thankfully I'm not the only one in fact um I did it loads of times I heard through the Great Vine that IWC like everyone gets one everyone gets one and you can have a free reset because it is a bit problematic I feel like they have to make more room for human error with that that's that's not a lot of Wiggle space well you you can you can if you kind of go forward a few and then realize you can't go back you can go I'll leave it to rund down and in a week's time it will catch up not this guy not this guy I'm going to Brute Force so I was working in the uh product in the in the photography department for watchfinder um when I started and um so we used to take pictures of all the all the stock that would come in for the website and there was a a point where some bods came in and they were like don't set the time on Perpetual calendars right just leave them cuz obviously we you know set the times to 10 10 on the watches so it looks you know like a smiley face or whatever that reason is you know and and maybe adjust the date so that it's not between two date so it all looks nice for the for the images for the website but they were like if it's got a moon on it then don't fiddle with it I was like right and I think it's probably because of you Andrew that they came down on us and was just like don't touch these watches yeah by the third time i' done it I think they probably need to um put some rules in place well Brit the uh the wheel has spun round back to you again why don't you unload another regret all right so I'm not going to do another watch that I passed up on buying cuz I do have one of those to come this one we're going to do my one watch regret the one watch I sold and I regret it I still feel it in my soul it still bothers me so my first ever mechanical watch was the namos Tanta hinki limited edition the sport one it had the gray dial it was beautiful my husband got it for me as a Christmas present and I loved it so this was my watch that really pushed me into the deep end of loving watches my first mechanical watch it's a manual wind um and it was my little bit more sporty watch loved it and I sold it it's my one and only watch that I've sold and I regret it completely so I sold it to actually start my YouTube channel to buy a camera and some lights and those other things I thought oh you know I'm going to back my own I really believe in this YouTube channel let's go let's do it so I sold that watch and it wasn't getting as much wear time I was wearing my black Bay 58 a lot at the time but now as some time has passed I miss that watch I truly truly regret selling it and I I guess I could buy another one back but I want that one there is just something really special about that one and I I truly regret it and I haven't sold a watch since because I've been so full of regret and I think if I sell another one I'll be full of this regret again cuz there's lots of watches I don't wear and I probably should sell along and then as soon as I take it out to maybe start taking pictures put it up for sale I think nah I I can't do it that's the same as mine Brit and I are on the same trajectory but mine's not a nomos mine's a Kahuna I don't know if you ever heard of this watch brand right I've not is that like big caho bger is that the same thing yeah it's like a '90s Surfers wet dream right so yeah that was the first watch I ever so aside from the Casio um f91 W that I was issued um it was the first watch I actually saved up and and bought I think um a friend of mine had one at school and I was like wow that's the coolest thing ever it's like this uh like it's it's sort of like a dive watch but it's got this really like 90 sort of skater dial and chunky bezel and then a velcro strap with like this kind of Hawaiian surf Motif on it and um I bought it from Surf Shack I think it cost me £30 and I I I think I bought it cuz I wanted to look like drazic from heartbreak High I don't know if that means anything to anyone why do I always get flashbacks to my childhood whenever I talk to you Tom I'm stuck in the past like the Swiss Watch industry so the box for this Kahuna watch as well it looks like the title from say by the Bell It's amazing And then I uh I don't know if everyone um I think at some point in your life uh you're like beckoned back to your parents' house um to go through your crap in The Loft um uh cuz they don't want to look after your cherished possessions anymore so um yeah I had a bit of a clear out in the Loft uh some stuff went on eBay that watch went on eBay and and then like you know many years later started getting into watches and thinking damn I wish I had that very first watch that I bought just for sentimental reasons um and same as you Brit like I could just get another one off eBay but it's not the same you're right Brit this is totally unhelpful podcast CU this totally goes against the don't fill up a drawer with crap watches um which is my first regret um and now my second regret is I wish I had another crap watch that I used to own uh so yeah maybe just don't get into watch collecting cuz there will only be regrets yeah whether you sell buy keep you will only have regrets it's a ludicrous Pastime um my my next regret Tom and Brit is one that happened quite recently and uh it came around about a year ago when I first really properly discovered Christopher Ward and anyone who knows me thinks I go on about Christopher Ward way too much I do I apologize but I'm here for it there was a point at which they were making all of these watches and I was like yeah Christopher Ward I'm aware of them they they make these watches they kind of look like other watches that's fine but then I was introduced to the belcanto and so I'm a huge fan of watches like um mbn f or deune just the the kind of the crazy stuff especially the lm101 the Legacy machine with the the balance that hovers over the top for me that is that's the exit watch if I get that no one can beat it see you later and the Bell Kanto looked like that but for a price that was incredibly reasonable and so it was about a week before the launch when I got introduced to this thing and we put a video together and I was really excited to see it and see that it really held up to all of the expectation in person prepared the video put the video out really pleased with myself and then I realized I'd completely forgotten to actually order one and they were all gone and I really really wanted the blue dial one because the blue dial one was the one that introduced me to it they they had the green dial I didn't really want the green dial then they did the series on it's just I I wanted the blue one and it was it was too late my own stupidity and EXC I do this all the time I'm so forgetful um but in this particular one I was like yeah this is this is the watch this is such a cool Taste of the high life you know it's like prco to champagne and yeah I forgot to order it like an idiot so there you go um BR why don't you jump into your third and final regret my third and final regret it's another watch that I was offered twice last year in 2022 I was offered the same Watch twice cuz my name was down for it I made it shamelessly known that I really wanted one and then I I feel like on podcast we're getting a little bit too into the nitty-gritty of my finances because both times they came up it wasn't the right time to buy we had just bought other watches and it wasn't quite right and that's the Rolex Explorer so the newer Explorer the 36 MIM it's just perfect for me I love the taper on the bracelet I love the way it sits on my wrist I have a black dial Oyster Perpetual as well and they're pretty similar but I've Justified it in my head that they're different enough with the lacquer dial it's 369 Mercedes hands and my Oyster Perpetual is 34 mm so I in my messed up little brain have decided the these two millimeters are going to make all the difference it's going to make it a completely different watch uh so my name is still down for it even to this day but yes in 2022 I was offered the Rolex Explorer twice and I had to say no both times but my money's finally in an okay place that I've been going to the ad and saying if these come in like I'm ready let's lock it down but I'm worried that by the time the ad gets back to me I'll buy something else like that Alan Zona if I had bought that and then they call me because this is always what happens I'll just buy something else I'll be like you know what I'm never going to get the call it's never going to happen and then it's always like three weeks after I buy something else that the ad calls the watch is in but I'm not in the position anymore cuz I just bought something else it would be it was my understanding that if you were to decline that offer from the ad they would like just Blacklist you like no soup for you that's it how dare you decline this this generous offer of a watch that you've been waiting for I think different authorized dealers are seem to operate in different ways cuz I'll hear really horrible stories in my comment section and that won't be necessarily how I'm treated at my ad but I might go to different Rolex authorized dealers and I experience those same things where you get like ignored you feel you know about this big because they just make you feel so small um so fortunately with our authorized dealer they're really understanding that sometimes other things come up and because we've been with them for quite a while so my husband's been collecting watches since the 90s we clearly don't flip them we're really big enthusiasts so I think because we have that understanding and such a long purchase history with them but I do feel bad for newer collectors trying to get in at the ad if I wasn't married to my husband and I was trying to get in at the ad I would have these same stories I'm just very lucky that my husband's been collecting for a very very long time yeah it almost feels like that's what they want if you haven't been collecting since the '90s then sorry I guess that's your fault you were only born in 94 Tom I feel old and miserable now make me feel better by sharing some more of your regrets speaking about uh so I said earlier about how I used to work in the photography department at watchfinder um taking pictures of the stock for the website and um it used to be back in the day this was like uh when there was only about 30 people in the company it was very small um we were all sort of McKing in doing everything and that sort of vibe and uh after after a day of photographing watches uh we i' carry the watches back to the the safes um to be stored away and uh secured safely overnight and um it was quite a busy period I think purchasing were buying in a lot and lot of watches so we had quite a lot of work we were sort of churning through uh watches photographing them and um they were starting to pile up so at the end of the day I had like a tray full of watches that was sort of like almost a mountain of watches in this tray like all all sort of wrapped but they were in like kind of bags and stuff and um as I was as I got to the The Vault um I sort of had to cradle the tray with one arm and then like open the door and a kind salesman who was in the vicinity said would you like me to get that for you and uh this is my regret um I said no thanks I'm all right I can manage and then um just as I said that this watch tumbled off of the pile and out of the tray and hit the um the concrete floor and there was like a tinkle and a crunch and it sounded really bad and um it just so happened to be a rose gold Rolex like Daytona or something like gem set and it was about £200,000 or something I think like it was like ridiculous and so I like like sicked in my mouth a bit and like bit of we came out but yeah so yeah that was um that was a bad day at work well I'm going to share with you a regret that I've never told anyone before and it's one of those regrets that I usually only remember just before I fall asleep so that should give you a sense of the scale of of how embarrassing indeed this regret is so when I talk about getting into watches I usually talk about my first proper watch being a Submariner but I kind of dabbled before that and my first one was a ubo like my first mechanical watch that I purchased and I kind of regret buying that but at least it got me into the hobby so those are my those are my introduction to Mechanical watchmaking but they weren't my introduction to watch collecting so of course I had a CIO as a kid and all of that but there was a point at which I realized like my dad had this tag hoyya and he was very pleased with it it was just a quartz tag hoer but he he loved this thing and I knew that there were watches and then there were watches and this quartz tag Hoyer in my mind was those are watches and so I remember seeing advertised Al an auction and this auction was held at BR hatch racing circuit in their conference Hall there so I thought oh yeah this looks pretty cool I'll go along to that maybe there'll be a bargain they were listing things like um a bunch of different watches that I hadn't heard of and then tag hoyya so I went along to this auction um and the tago came out and they're like oh and I was like oh oh and it was sold and it sold for a really low price I was like oh I wasn't expecting this this pace this uh like the the frenetic backwards and forwards of an auction environment I thought okay but it went for really cheap this is this is awesome what's next and I looked through the catalog and they didn't have any more tag hoys but by that point I thought I want to get something and so they had this other watch brand it was something genev and I was like oh this is probably as good as a tago I I don't really know watch is enough to know that it is or It Isn't So I I I bid on that and I won this watch and I went home with it and I was kind of looking at it and I thought I'll do some research into it now just to check that this is all right and I was Googling it and people were like no no this is this is just like a Chinese watch that it's a nothing it's a nothing brand like this doesn't exist as any kind of interesting collectible it's not a tago it's nothing and the more I I dug into it the more I realized that the whole auction was basically a scam now this this place was filled there were hundreds of people there but what they do is they have one good product that everyone goes there for they stooge sell that at a really low price and then everyone else buys whatever else is left at the auction and so the rest of us idiots were there going oh yes I'll take your stupid we I mean this is this close to the Victorian lotions and Potions seller who rolls up with his truck folds the thing down sells all this crap and is gone before the police can turn up and that was that was the first watch of any kind of notable price I think it was like3 3400 but for me back then it was such a ridiculous amount to spend on a watch and the feeling of realizing and kind of picking apart the scam was so devastating that um like it still haunts me today to know that I fell for it like I was such an idiot to fall for this when you look at it very obvious scam well tradition I mean to be fair it was an auction traditionally it's like I I remember those back in the '90s and it was out the back of Lori and it was with like Electronics like a Super Nintendo and a Mega Drive and a VCR or whatever whatever and and then the Stooges in the crowd would get those for like10 and then it would just be a load of crap but they sort of whipped everyone into a frenzy that you just wanted something and you would just like bid on like bid on anything yeah it's exactly that and I thought it's being held in a place that is contained within bricks and morar this must be legitimate but no it absolutely wasn't terrible Brand's hatch that's why they'll never get the F1 gig yeah I feel like that'd be an easy one to fall into as well if you don't know watches as well which 95 96% of the world doesn't they see the tag Hoyer on there so it is it is kind of a good scam I see what they're doing there oh that I I I just feel like that's really that'd be a really easy one to fall into yeah it very much pays to do your research and I think learning that is what turned me from someone who might imp purchase something into someone who takes about 5 years to make a decision so there you go unhealthy at the other end so there you have it those are our regrets what are yours put them down in the comments below to make me feel a little bit better thank you so much Britney for joining us today please do go and click on all of the links to all of her stuff and uh support her great content thank you so much for joining us and D you're a listener thank you for joining us too go and visit watchfinder tocom because it means we can keep on making videos and what better reason do you need than that see you next time [Music] goodbye

Channel: Watchfinder & Co.

Views: 103,481

Keywords: watches, watch, watchmaking, watch review, review, rolex, asmr, satisfying, luxury, expensive, swiss, best, high end, men, mens, expert, reacts, gq, smart watch, apple watch, law owe pin, luxury watches, swiss watches, watchfinder, 10 Great Watches Under $100, best cheap watches, $100 watches, affordable watches, best watches under 100, cheap watches, watch collection, 10 Watches Under $100, watches under 100, best quality watch, high quality cheap watch, bargain rolex, kahuna, watch regrets

Id: AHZWpZxMbOk

Length: 27min 8sec (1628 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 09 2023