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Help a Fella Out, Pick My Next Watch for Me
I've been seeing a number of comments--and sometimes posts--here lately ranting on unmet expectations with the site. Mostly, a vocal minority expresses discontent over posts that ask for recommendations (help me with my next watch purchase), showing SOTC (here's my SOTC, what do you think?), or showing the same watches over and over again. There're also the homage posts where we see a lot of eye-rolls (oh this again?).
Mind you, like I mentioned, vocal minority. Very few people. But enough that I notice.
I've said in the past that posts asking for recommendations are not nothing. Some people do genuinely want (if not need) advice and looking to the community for it shouldn't be seen as a bother.
I myself almost never comment on these posts. Sometimes I do but mostly I don't. But it's not because I don't like them or that I think I'm above it all. I just don't have anything meaningful to contribute. If you look at my posts and my watches, you will quickly realize that I don't do specs. What could I possibly contribute to discussions on the merits of "this watch" versus "that watch". So I skip.
But these posts are valid. They're not nothing. Where else can someone go for advice on watches if not on a social media site on watches?
The same goes with posts on homages and SOTC. There's an audience for them and people want to talk about them. I think the main complaint against SOTC posts is that they're looking for validation from the outside, which apparently is a cardinal sin for most watch enthusiasts.
But... but... not everyone is in the hobby for the same reasons as you and no one's reasons are deeper than others. They're just watches. You get from them what you want and what you need.
I think most of the complaints come from seasoned collectors. They've seen it all, are jaded, and, thus, the tendency to shun newbie concerns is them saying, "I can't be bothered. Figure your own shit out." They've also reached that zen state of collecting where "brand does not matter," "I don't care about what others think," and "it's an individual journey."
I hope I never get to this state. I want the hobby to be fun, for me. Part of the fun is sharing it with a like-minded community. Otherwise, why even participate at all? Why not just keep to yourself, get off social media, and collect in a vacuum?
Sometimes I want to flex, yes. Does that make me a shallower person than you? You don't know anything about my life, my struggles, my dreams, my hopes, so stop judging. You don't see me judging how much your anti-snobbery is your own brand of obnoxious flex. "I wear what I like and don't care about your first world problems." But you obviously care enough to comment, that's a flex.
Anyway, this is a long-ass post just expressing support for all you out there doing your own thing. Keep posting what you want to post. I'm sure you'll get the right response you're for.
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Sherwin
I've got a god-shaped hole in my life that I'm trying to fill in futility with watches.
Manila, Philippines
Member since
Last active: 12 min ago
23
watches
in collection
6.50”
/
16.51 cm
Almost exactly my thoughts.
Great sentiment. Lots of truths hit here
I hope like you - the hobby stays fun and interesting
Solid post, solid sentiment.
Well said! 💯
That being said, I think our @WatchCrunch community is already one of the warmer and less-judgemental ones out there. Reddit can be a war zone and other social media platforms are even more toxic.
What a wonderful post! I’ve always liked you here and your post cements my opinion.
Thank you so much. You’re one of the best reasons for coming to WatchCrunch!
Agreed. I figure that those who want to answer, will do so. If I am inclined I will. If I have something meaningful to contribute.
I just deleted a longer comment. It was starting to lack consistency and cohesion. I agree and disagree, and to complicate matters I am sure that for points where I disagree I have said something similar to what I disagree with in an old comment or post. I am having an internal "consistency is the hobgoblin of smalls minds" sort of problem.
This post is interesting to me because it provokes thought. The posts that you defend don't do so as frequently. But, like you I just let them pass by.
Absolutely genius post!!!
I'm a quartz SNOB ... Mic Drop ... PERIOD 😂🤣😆
It’s interesting that anyone would post pictures of their watches for strangers to look at and then claim not to care what others think. But here we are.
I’ll admit it gets boring looking at posts that seem to be duplicates of ones I’ve seen before. But as you point out, and we should all already know, new people often have the same questions and concerns, and how can you blame them? They haven’t been sitting around obsessing over watches as long as we have. Give them time, they’ll eventually be as all-knowing concerning watches as we are.
But while we’re waiting, as the OP said, help out of keep it moving. There’s no need to make anyone feel bad about knowing less than you. Find another flex.
Good point. Also, point for Lauren Cooper.
Wholeheartedly agree! Be nice, help a fellow collector.
I think flexing is for the gym. I am guilty of posting the same picture of the same group of watches, but i don't know how to work the computer. First its trying to work the phone to take a picture. Then i gotta send it to the computer e-mail. Then how to get it from the email to the post is an all day affair, if i'm lucky. So nobody wants to see my watch. The picture is blurry and i really don't know if anyone is really interested anyway. I don't need help picking out my next watch because i have at least five that need service, parts and crystals, etc. Notice i did not tell what they are? Or put a picture? I would like to though, but its not gym day. Light weights and lots of reps. Now all this was said trying to be truthful but funny too. salamat.
You nailed it!
Bravo, sir. Let’s hope ‘they do better’… it’s only watches at the end of the day.
The posts that floor me the hardest are the ones where someone says, "I want to buy something... what should I buy?" And I think to myself, wow, watches are such a personal thing, are you really going to just take some random idea and run with it? Why? And further, what's this need to buy something, even when you don't know what you want?
For mine, that's a kind of unhealthy addiction; the need to consume, even though you have no desire for something specific. So to be perfectly frank, I feel really sorry for people making posts like that, because it feels they are having a compulsion to buy something, even though they have no actual desire or need for something specific at all.
In those cases, I don't weigh in with a suggestion, because I don't want to contribute to what I feel is actually a problem; an addiction issue - not just an innocent post.
Thanks Bruno for reminding me why I left Hodinkee and stopped (for the most part) watching a lot of YouTube. While I’m usually positive with my comments and mostly refrain from negativity, I do sometimes devolve into the person you described and I apologize for that.
I like to help someone out when I can and that is because I have watches from different brands, movements etc. I do have a watch case and that is because I didn't like laying my watches in a row on top of my dresser. Haven't done a SOTC yet. I actually have to read an STOC post to see how it's supposed to go. But mostly, I like to be around hard-core watch needs like myself that love to show off their watches and talk about them with like minded hard-core watch nerds 🤓 🤣
Every community strives to reach consensus and find its own way to penalize those who step out of the line, even if this line doesn't exist at all and is a product of the imagination of those who complain the most.
I get involved in posts and discussions that interest me and try to avoid those that don't. It sounds simple but surprisingly a lot of people simply can't let go and have to spread their negativity around.
To me WC is just a social club for watch enthusiasts,no different to a motorcycle club,fishing club etc etc. The problem I find with all “social” media platforms is that eventually they attract nasty people who feel the need to judge others harshly to feel good about themselves. It’s the reason I no longer go anywhere near Facebook anymore. Thankfully so far watch crunch seems to have almost no nasty members that I’ve seen, hopefully it Tahs that way.
Some content is substantive, and some is frivolous. Some is in seriousness, and some is in jest. All of it is as "valid" as the moderators will allow.
However, people don't want their "bubbles burst," so to speak. And when someone challenges them or points out an absurdity in a sub-culture (again, even in jest), then that's when posts like this one happen.
There's nothing inherently wrong with the sort of validation-seeking, communal approval in a hobby like ours. But that notion deserves to be questioned from time to time.
No need to spend a ton Citizen Forza
I think people reaching out for recommendations is kind of nice. In our crazy modern world we are raised on the strange cold dream of individuality- making our own decisions, finding our own way . Blah blah. But in truth we are group animals - we like to hear each others opinions, we like to receive each other’s approval - esp from those we identify as our community. Obviously, some of you out there will be genuine individuals. You will have chosen your religion and your haircut without any influence from anyone. You will also be permanently angry, and probably alone - with your ugly watches.
Yeah we're doing our own thing.
#1wc
Here here as the Brits say. I agree completely with you. I am not too cool to say I love showing like minded people my collection! Validation!? Emmm probably. I don’t have to have it but it’s great if I can get it. You know like a threesome or a foot massage or whatever. You used the right word…flex. Where else can we flex where people actually know what the hell they’re looking at!?
Holy shit that’s a wall of text. Casio Duro. Gang gang 🤙🏼
Sherwin, you just hit the nail on the head. Great post, sir. 👍
This is a visual hobby. I want to see what people are writing about. I want to see the SOTC that tells me where someone is in their collecting style or phase of their collection. This is not well expressed in a giant wall of text.
I’ve posted my SOTC. Not recently but not much has changed for me in quite a while. I hope that those pics would start a discussion and help me find like minded individuals who are in a similar place as me or have similar styles, goals and aspirations. It’s like a team building exercise.
I comment on SOTC posts when I find something unique or interesting about a watch, the process of selection, or the overall style of a collection. One SOTC can say more about someone’s style and path in the hobby than a whole wall of text. I think we could do with more photos in posts and replies as well as more SOTC posts.
YOU DAMNED KIDS GET OFF MY LAWN!
#gogc
Grumpy Old Guy Club
Can somebody suggest to me the best way to respond to this post?