What Watches All Beginning Watch Collectors Should Own #269

Often beginning watch collectors get stuck in a rut. Here are a variety of types of watches that might help get out of the rut and check a lot of boxes in a beginner's collection.

[kaekayyy]

That side note about India having a half hour offset is something that more watchmakers need to take into consideration 😔 glad you noticed it.

[TimG--]

Spot on Bill! We are thinking alike! Nice video mate.

My three watches I own are:
> Rolex Daytona Ceramic\steel 🐼 Panda (sport)
>Patek 5136 in white gold (dress)
> VC 1956 Complete Calendar in Rose Gold is my dAily wearer and I do use a nato if it’s summer. The watch has perfect proportions - 40mm, 20mm lugs, display case-back.

Tried to get a variety but limit to three! Took me some time (30 years) to figure it out and a lot of other watches I got rid of.

Love your stuff. Keep em
coming!!!

[blueshirtbuddah]

Great video as always Bill. Having owned or still own three of the watches you have chosen to highlight reinforces why I love and enjoy your channel so much. Great minds think alike! Thanks again Bill.

[smashexentertainment]

GMT I'd say Sky Dweller. Fits as dress, office, casual, vacation and can be used as a beater if you will. With 100m WR, 72h power reserve, the most complicated Rolex movement it's hard to beat ;)

[davidwanstall]

Very helpful for beginners, but an important point is that one watch can fit into more than one category and collectors should not feel the need to necessarily have 5+ watches (although that is likely to happen quite naturally)

[russellalfonso]

My dear friend C is a retired TWA pilot. He used his 1957 Omega chronograph on takeoffs and landings. He's close to 90 today and uses his Chrono to time his boiled eggs.

[russellalfonso]

What came up in passing was a mention of the concept of "watch snob, " that's interesting, I like to know people's opinion of what constitutes a watch snob

[ffa]

Thank you Bill for another thoughtful video. While it is important to know and appreciate the different watch types and categories, I doubt you mean owning one of each is a right of passage. On the one hand, the boundaries between the five categories are quite difficult to delineate. For example a chronograph is often also a sports watch. On the other hand, why stop at five types? Why not include other complications in the list? The point is our hobby can quickly turn into a frustrating box checking activity. From my point of view, a watch collection is special because it is a reflection of its owner's style and personal story and not because it covers a wide range of watch categories.

[enriqueali]

The only date complications I'd consider would be ones that could be considered special feature, like the panorama/ big date you find on an A. Lange & Soehne or a Glashutte Original

[AbdulRWatches]

Awesome video Bill, I really think that every watch collector should have a nice dress watch/ office, maybe a Nomos on the affordable side or an A. Lange & Söhne on the less affordable side.
I also think that everyone needs a sports watch, and a beater watch, some can combine them into one but I think have both of them would be better as it would mean getting maybe a G-shock or a SKX or a Seiko 5 as a beater watch, and maybe a Rolex Submariner or a Tudor 58 BB. I think the best GMT to get is the Rolex GMT and the deal GMT would be the Explorer II. I think a chronograph is overrated but I think you can't go wrong with a Sinn 356 Flieger Chronograph or a vintage Tudor Tiger Chronograph. Have a great weekend Bill, Best, Abdul

[russellalfonso]

I agree with the two basic categories of dress and sports watch.

[accidentallygood]

This is great. Thanks so much for sending me to this video

[albertoruiz]

Loved how you presented all of these time pieces. Keep it up.

[nrs]

Have to keep my finances in tow when looking at watches. Great selection. Tudor is a good choice. Thank you.

[gilbertombp]

Great picks, and great classifications for watches used.
What a coincidence, Bill. I was thinking (again!) of a 4-piece collection of watches I've been obsessed about for some time. I think each piece happens to fit into each of your categories:
Omega Deville Tresor SS - Office/GMT
Ulysse Nardin Classico Enamel Dial - Dress
Piaget Polo S - Sports
Breitling Premier B01 Chronograph - Chronograph

[russellalfonso]

I like the look of watches on the wrists of yesterday's Hollywood celebrities. Generally case sizes around 34 mm. I saw an old photo of Clark Gable wearing a Rolex. It looked like a little toy on his large wrist.

[philbunt]

Lovely watches, one day maybe... have to stick to my inexpensives for now though, keep up the great work Bill!

[apangurra]

The Morgan M3W Three-wheeler would suit you I think, skip the next watch purchase and go out and enjoy the summer.

[brianhaffner]

Fantastic video! Can't wait for the video for the intermediate and advanced collector.

[Chimney]

For beginner, classification into five classes makes all sense, however start price range in presentation was bit steep to begin with, as often so many start watch collecting with some Orient Kamasu (Japanese quality with in-house F6922 automatic movement) $250 steel sports dive watch as first ladder of watch collecting. And often for beginner watch collector a watch like Tudor Black Bay GMT is kind of "Crown jewel of the collection" ..being the most expensive watch in the collection... I have a reasonable size watch collection which includes Audemars Piguet pocket watch (in vault) Vacheron Constantin Patrimony (in vault) one very old H.Moser (in vault) 4 Seiko's, 4 Casio's, 2 Citizen watches, one Orient Star (a dress watch) and Orient Ray II ..and plan to get Tudor Black Bay GMT one day as an addition to my collection. So, price range of my watches goes from excessive Audemars Piguet to very modest sub-$30 (Casio "Royale" AE-1200WH World Time with four pre-set time zones, using it as my travel watch, and it has proven useful watch regardless of its cheap price) ... And I like all my watches, regardless are they manual wind, automatic, Eco-Drive (solar), Kinetic, Kinetic Direct Drive, Spring Drive ..or just simple cheap battery quartz with LCD displays such as "Casio Royale" ... They all have their own purpose. I don't care about resale value of my watches as I ain't that poor that I would ever need to think about selling any of my collections... Twice I have sold a watch to a persistent buyer, second time happened in 1994... I sold then my Seiko Automatic Generating System (pre-Kinetic) dress watch.., "a poster watch" of Seiko Ad's of those days... And later that exact model became a collectors item... Sellers remorse...