Hey fourth dimension viewers, thanks for tuning in again. Quick wrist watch check. I'm wearing my lunchines, hydro conquest, full disclosure. I got this watch for free for doing some photography for lunchines. Today I just wanted to share a bit about my watch collecting journey. I've been doing this for a number of years. I started off with a tag warrior when I was like in elementary school. You know I've gone through a ton of different watches. Here's a bunch of them. A lot of people have asked me like how do I get into it? What should be my first watch? I've had people ask me like is this watch real? And you know I just wanted to put this video together to kind of share my thoughts. These are the things that I wish I knew when I first got into watch collecting. So I hope I can help you out with this. So number one buy what you want and not what somebody else tells you to. I think when you're first starting out it's really easy to buy into the hype and get into you know the that you must have this watch in your collection. But let me tell you having owned a lot of those watches and having played with them hands on these watches that I thought were grill watches of mine turned out to not be for me. You know maybe it was too dressy or just too flingy and they were just weren't for me. And so I've had to find out you know through this journey of buying watches and meeting with people who own them and really figuring out what I want. And just think about it. If I were to have bought a watch and I was going to review it there'd be a confirmation bias right like I'm just trying to justify to myself why I spent all this money maybe I need to justify to other people as well. So you know just take it with a grain of salt whenever somebody's reviewing a watch that's theirs or maybe it's gifted to them it's for them it's not necessarily for you. So you got to try it out go to the A.Ds and try stuff on. Number two avoid the hype and the investment aspect of the zombie. When you're first starting out it's actually you know not a bad idea to think about you know the resale value the value retention the value prospect of these things because when you're first starting out you might get it wrong and you probably will. But when you get more honed in on what you really like it doesn't really matter if you're if you're going to keep the watch for you know the rest of your life maybe you're going to pass it down to the next generation it doesn't really matter if it goes up or down in value. So try to get over that eventually. When you're first starting out of course it's it's a thing but I think the value retention thing is a little too strong in the in the watch community and it's something to grow out of. Number three collect memories not quick satisfaction. For myself when I look at my watches I like to look back at the good times I've had with it the travels you know going through hard jobs that I've had to you know really struggle through and I look down and I've had that watch with me the whole time or you know taking these watches on hikes the hydro conquest I took up Dakota Paxi which was one of the hardest hikes I've ever done and that's something that is sentimental value that is going to last with me for a lot longer than maybe even the life of the watch. We have these fantasies about having a one-watch collection having a watch that we've gone through so many things within life and can carry those stories and maybe pass on to the next generation and if we're constantly trying to buy the next thing and move on and and you know sell whatever watch we have because it's gone up in value you never really get an opportunity to build those memories with the watch so my advice would be to try to wear what you have more and try to make more memories with the watches you already have. Number four tip for this hobby is expect to get it wrong but it's part of the journey. When you first start out you're gonna buy something that you think you like and you might realize soon after that it's not for you maybe it's too small maybe it's too big maybe it's just not your style but you won't know until you jump into it until you give it a try. I had the 55-13 for a while and I just didn't fall in love with it and I actually ended up trading it for my Austin Mini which is a crazy story in its own right but um that's for another day. Number five trust your gut but do a ton of research before you get started and then it's obby. There are so many fakes and so many scams out there that you really have to be careful. Sometimes it's hard to tell if it's real even if you take it to a watchmaker and have it checked out. If you're gonna buy privately make sure you meet at a banker police station. Let the seller know that you're gonna meet with them at the watchmaker get it authenticated and that'll usually get rid of a lot of scams. If you're not willing to do the research and really check and know what you're looking for I'd suggest just spending a bit more money and going to buy it from an AD. The peace of mind the risk is gonna be so much lower but there's been opportunities where I've had to go with my gut. I've been on the spot and I've had to make a quick decision. This one time a Submariner came up on Craigslist for a really low price and it was probably too good to be true but I ended up calling the seller and turned out he had been doing his research in USD and posted the price in Canadian and he actually honored his price for me so for the timing of it all I didn't have a chance to get it authenticated and you know of course these were alarm bells going off but I went with my gut I had played with enough Submariners to know what it felt like and thankfully everything checked out and it was an amazing watch that I got for a crazy good price that I'll never have again and that was one of those opportunities where I've had to just go with my gut and really just trust that. I've done my research everything's checking the box the seller looks and feels like he's honest and everything's you know we're meeting at a bank like I just had to go with it and I'm glad I did. Number six don't worry about the watch snobs they don't matter. I fallen into the trap where you know I would buy a watch because I thought it would you know gain me respect from my peers the 55-13 is probably one of them and I've you know spent so much money on watches that I thought other people would respect me for and of course I say that now and it sounds stupid but you know I think that's a very common thing that's in this hobby and recently I decided to sell my Polar Explorer 2 and I really missed that watch and I no longer had a GMT in my collection so I was looking at you know the 1655 which was you know the grail of all grails for me but looking at the prices and you know the way that I would like to wear my watches it just wasn't worth it and you know I would probably break it I'll probably get mugged and so you know I looked at Steinhart and I looked at an homage watch and I thought you know what are the watch snobs gonna think you know am I gonna lose respect at other of my peers for this and so you know I shared it with my watch friends after little while and people called it out for what it was it's an homage and you know it's not for everyone but some people were like that's cool like that's a nice watch and that's all that matters like I don't really care what some watch snobs or it's not be person thinks I'm not doing it for them I'm doing it for myself so that's another thing to kind of learn is you can even wear a fake watch if you want you know as long as you're doing it for yourself so just keep that in the back of your mind as long as you're not doing it for someone else I think that's fine number seven it won't make you happy this is a quote that Derek Sivers said on the Tim Ferriss podcast that I love essentially you know you want the thing you buy the thing you dream of the thing and you think it'll make you happy you think it'll make you you know successful but it won't make you happy down the road it won't it won't be something that's long lasting I've learned that you'll buy it and you'll probably soon after that honeymoon phase start looking for something else and what I find is even more helpful is remembering you know a year ago before I had the watch that I have now you know how I was excited about you know sourcing it and like you know researching it and eventually buying it sometimes I put my watch away in the safety deposit box for a couple weeks and take it out and it's like a new watch again I've got this new feeling that I had when I first got it and I think that's more rewarding than constantly trying to buy the next new thing I think that's the summary for this whole video for me is wearing what I already have and making memories with them and appreciating what I have that's not to say I'm not going to buy something new probably in a year I'm really grateful for the watches that I've had come and go and I have no regrets for selling any of the watches that I've ever sold so if any of this has helped please like and subscribe or share this video with another watch nerd I hope to do more of these I hope to do a state of collection and do some watch reviews down the road but keep these things in mind when you are doing research and looking for watches and just on social media because there's a lot of information out there there's a lot of temptation but stick to your guns stick to your plan and make sure it's fun thanks bye