Worn & Wound
The Tudor Black Bay and the Myth of the One Watch Collection
The idea of a “one watch collection” has been a fascination of mine as I’ve gotten deeper into the hobby. Part of the reason, I’m sure, is the growing anxiety I feel when I look down at my similarly growing watch collection and realize that many of these things are simply not getting worn as much as I’d like them to be. This, I’ve learned, is an extremely common sentiment among those with our affliction, and it’s perhaps what leads to every “for sale” post on the various enthusiast forums where we try desperately to thin the herd. So a one watch collection, which is admittedly not really a collection at all, feels a bit like a utopic fantasy for someone with a herd of watches spiraling slowly, and then quickly, out of control. “Fantasy” here is the key word. I’ll point out right up front that I have no real intention of selling everything off, or limiting myself to one watch in any way, shape or form. The variety that has always been part of this hobby is what draws me in deeper and deeper, and I’ve come to accept to a degree that I’ll always have a number of watches at my disposal, even if I can’t quite come to a decision on what that number should actually be. And yet, as a thought experiment, the one watch collection persists. We discussed it on a podcast recently and we got so much feedback I wanted to expand my thoughts a little on my own choice for this hypothetical one watch collection, and pretty soon you’ll see our contributors ...
