Certain You Tube 'watch gurus' love to tell you 'Don't waste your money buying cheap watches', which on the face of it seems like reasonable advice. After all, a few 'cheap' (ie sub £1000) watches will soon add up to a reasonable sum of money which could be spent on something more 'desirable'. But, while this advice is fair, I do think it propagates the idea that only 'expensive' watches are worthwhile and that is something I simply can't condone.
For a start, not everyone is comfortable wearing an expensive watch all the time, or maybe it's not appropriate to wear a 45mm Carrera Heuer 02 tourbillon to your workplace. There can be many reasons for this, not least that in some industries customers can get upset if they notice you are wearing a £10,000 watch on your wrist. I know first hand of a guy who bought himself an Aston Martin and used it for work and this gave his main customer pause for thought... to the extent that they started looking at his prices, subsequently blew him out and he went bust! It sucks for him and in a perfect world you shouldn't have to worry about things like that, but sometimes you just have to think smart.
Or maybe it's just too much stress for you to wear something that costs several months wages on your wrist in an environment where you might damage your watch. This is me to a tee, even though I work in an office, we still have metal racking, filing cabinets and other potential hazards. So while I love my automatic watches, I tend to save them for going out (which is a problem right now since there is no 'going out'), I know it means I don't get to wear them so much - but I can live with that if the alternative is permanent stress and a scratched up Heuer 01!
So yes, by all means think it through - maybe don't buy six or seven microbrand watches at £500 each at the expense of buying a Carrera, but keep in mind there is a world of great pre-owned watches out there which can be had at very attractive prices. For example, I bought my Carrera Heuer 01 Skeleton new when it was £4000 (admittedly I didn't pay that, but that's what it should have cost), I've had it four nearly five years and I'm guessing I've probably worn it maybe 40 times maximum, which means it's cost me about £100 each time so far.... which is a fairly terrifying thought!
By contrast, if I look at my own collection (just picking at random), for about the same money I bought a Pilot chronograph, a 4000 Series, a classic Formula 1, a plum dial Kirium chrono, a blue dial Kirium chrono, a Microtimer, a red dial S/EL, a blue dial 2000 Exclusive, a 2000 Series Multigraph and a black dial S/EL chronograph, all of which (with the exception of the plum dial Kirium which is a recent purchase) have been worn time and time again.
(Okay, maybe not the Microtimer... but only because it's very shiny and scratches easily. I could easily substitute that with my Link Searacer, which actually cost less...)
Sure, these watches are all quartz and they don't have the pedigree of the Heuer 01 Carrera, but ten watches for the price of one? I am in the fortunate position of being able to own both, but if I wasn't I very much doubt I would swap all these watches for the Carrera, especially given my hesitance to wear it as a matter of course.
The point is, yes maybe you shouldn't 'waste' money on cheap watches if you are really aspiring to a £5000 piece, but at the same time you should buy what you like, what suits your lifestyle and your pocket. I've come to realise that there is a point above which I do not feel comfortable and while I would love a carbon Carrera or a Monaco 24, if I'm too stressed to ever wear it, what is the point of owning it?
Maybe there's a golden formula for working out the most you can reasonably spend on a watch and still feel comfortable wearing it? I would suggest three months take home pay, but others I'm sure will disagree.
And while we are on the subject of money, the other great thing about buying pre-owned watches of course is that they usually hold their value better (unless you can pick up a brand new steel Rolex at list of course!). If we look at the Heuer 01, the pre-owned price for that is probably £3000 for a truly minty one like mine, so it's lost a grand in 5 years, by contrast I would guess that those ten watches are probably worth about the same as when I bought them, if not slightly more given that prices on eBay seem to have risen a little lately.
Not that it matters to me because I have no intention of selling, but even so... it's something to consider in case you change your mind later.
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