YouTube has been a curse and mostly an inspiration. The various channels obviously have turned me on to so many brands I had no idea about, and has certainly “influenced” my recent purchase of at least 20 watches. I have determined that my personal tastes and brand are mostly about researching microbrands for creative concepts and designs that mirror my sense of humor and passion for graphic and industrial design.
Maybe someday I will own a Rolex or a Tudor, but not anytime soon. I like the idea of owning a German watch from the Glashütte region including a NOMOS or a Mühle Glashütte or Moritz Grosman watches in addition to A. Lange & Söhne. For now, as I allocate time to shoot images and videos of my current acquisitions, you will notice a new large collection from Ali Express to include Pagani Design, Tandorio. Pablo Raez, Seestern, and AddiesDive watches.
Quickly I have learned that even tho no one should even care about my watch collection, you learn to defend your Chinese acquisitions and even watches that have a quartz movement versus an automatic or manual wind movement. But, it is almost impossible to ignore the value and styles that Timex and Seiko are offering, along with Casio and many other mainstays that have built the foundations for many of the higher end watchmakers.
I have a super cool Nordsø Meteorite on order and the Mr. Jones watches absolutely match my sense of humor, regardless if I would ever wear my Number cruncher. Without influence from YouTube over the years I have acquired pieces from Mazzucato, Breil, Dan Henry, Phoibos Voyager and others and even a benign Vince Camuto Chrono I bought from Costco. I see these less expensive pieces as a way to really taste the styles and movements in advance so when I am ready to invest in a more expensive watch, I will feel confident and secure that when I drop $2500USD+ on a watch, this is a watch I really want.
Similar to my first efforts in Photoshop 4.0 back in 1996. The only way to sort of learn Photoshop back then was via listerv messages, and it was way more complex than I could even imagine. At that time a similar software from a company Ulead offered a much less expensive version with a bunch of preset creative effects that Photoshop would certainly do better but when you don’t know, you don’t know. It probably took me five years to finally wean myself off of the Ulead PhotoImpact software and achieve the results I want solely in Photoshop. You understand the parallel, right?
Normally I would be satisfied with “ignorance is bliss..” but, now that I am really getting into horology, it is fascinating! I have a growing collection of over 100 watches I want to add here, but it will take some time. So, come back for a visit sometime!