One cold morning at the turn of this year, I was looking at my two watches – a Rolex OP date and a Tag 6000 chrono – and wondering if I really needed them both. My girlfriend walked into the bedroom whilst I was musing and said that it was about time I sold the Tag, which she didn’t like at all, and just stuck to one watch. I mean, who needed two anyway?

Now, I hadn’t discovered the little corner of the Interweb that’s home to the various watch forums I now frequent, so – in my state of blissful ignorance – I decided that a change was as good as a rest. By April, I’d made up my mind that I wanted a Sub, and just a Sub and I proceeded to track one down, barely used, and to pay an inordinate sum to get it on my wrist. I was in heaven, looking at it dozens of times a day but almost always without having a clue as to what time it was. My brief flirtation with high-end watch buying had come to a swift and expensive end.

Well, that’s what I assumed. However, from the point of “forum enlightenment” onwards (say, late May/early June) I think it’s fair to say that things didn’t go quite according to plan. I’d never even dreamt of seeing so many gorgeous and diverse watches, all in one place and all available. I wanted them all, and I proceeded to act like a kid in a sweetshop with said girlfriend looking on all the while in total bemusement and wondering what the hell I was thinking of.

All in all, it’s been something of a horological journey, condensed into what seems like a nanosecond of time. And as I can be a little self-indulgent (bearing in mind that write the posts on here) I thought I may as well document that journey by way of a few photographs (oh, and I’ve ignored the dozen or so that were flipped before they had a chance to leave any kind of impression on my wrist. But the good news is that I think I’m now pretty focussed, in that I’d just like (one day) to pick up a nice new or minty Grand Seiko and to add one or two more vintage pieces (probably Omega and/or Heuer, or perhaps a nice GMT) to the collection. At the moment, though, I’m pretty happy.

And I also have my G, of course, for those occasions when only a G will do!

PS I think my photos are getting a little better too.

May

July

September

October

Errr, still October

November