Long term readers will probably recall that at one time I had a pretty mighty collection of the classic 'plastic' 35mm Formula 1 watches. In fact at one point I had fifteen of the little buggers and was gradually closing in on a complete set of the standard models (beyond that there's lots of Japanese limited editions with all sorts printed on the dial and there are others too like the '
Van Halen 5150' one that I wrote about previously, but that's a rabbit hole I had no intention of falling down). IIRC I needed the resin cream/navy blue one, a red/black one with a steel case and most notably of all the multi-coloured 'Ukyo Katayama' with the 'signed' glass.
I remember finding a few of the navy/cream on eBay but they were always either battered or expensive, and some times battered AND expensive, but I kept looking. The red/black steel was basically the same as one I already owned with the resin case so I was never in a hurry to pick that one up (and again, usually battered and expensive for some reason) and the Katayama I could only find for sale in Japan, usually mint but way more expensive than I wanted to pay.
But still, I had a very solid collection and they were all in great condition. I replaced countless straps (while they were still available from TAG Heuer at £32, not any more apparently - now it's £90 a piece on eBay which is ludicrous!), interestingly there seemed to be three kinds of these. First there were the very thick 'rubbery' ones that always seemed to come on anything I imported from Japan. Then there was the thinner, less rubbery ones that seemed to be the norm, and later some very thin and crappy ones that deteriorated extraordinarily quickly. In particular the dark green one which looked absolutely knackered after just a few days on the wrist.
So while my collection wasn't quite 'complete' it was in very good order. In fact I even bought a couple of watches twice to get a really good one.
Let's take a look at all the watches I owned...
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