Over the past few months my collection has gone through a lot of changes, and I thought it was time for a self-indulgent SOTC post ( 
). If you would have asked me a few months ago what direction I thought my collection was moving in, I would have said towards vintage watches. It was around that time that I picked up a very nice vintage Speedmaster MkII, and that was suppossed to be the first in a string of vintage purchases. Things would soon change as I got into the leather strap business, which was inspired by Panerai watches. I don't remember why I decided to start looking at Panerai, but I did, and I quickly saw the greatness of leather straps. I realized that I did now have a watch to wear leather on, so I had to have a Panerai. Now that I have accomplished that goal, I seem to be a point of stasis in my collection. Sure, a second PAM would be nice, but that's very unlikely to happen any time soon, so I don't think my collection will be seeing any changes too soon.
I think of my collection in similar terms to a museum: I have a permanent collection, and visiting exhibitions. First let's have a look at the backbone of my collection, the Permanent Collection:
The Speedmaster was my first mechanical watch, and we'll reach our 3rd anniversary next month. Before this watch, I wore a Tag F1 chrono for several years, and that was my first "high-end" watch after years of wearing Swiss Army, ESQ, and before that, Swatch. From what I remember, I spent months deciding between the Speedy and a Tag Carrera chrono (and possibly a Breilting SO Chrono), and I thank the great spagetti monster in the sky that I made the right choice. This was also the first watch I bought after discovering watch forums (first TZ, then WUS), so I learned a ton of stuff during the buying process. I still think that if you want a chrono, there really aren't many better options at any price point than a Speedy, and this is a watch that I'm sure will always have a place in my permanent collection. I can also see myself with the blue dialed Gemini Speedy, as well as a white dial Speedy (and nothing but a Speedy Pro is acceptable).
The second watch that holds a permanet spot in my collection is the Sea Dweller. This watch was a gift to mark an important occassion, so I had to choose wisely since it would be a piece that I could never sell. I thought about a lot of watches ranging from IWC to JLC, but when you want a watch that is truly "timeless", a Rolex is one of the best choices. The black dial black bezel Rolex sport watch is a true classic that never goes out of style, and I narrowed the choices down to the SD, Sub LV, and GMT II. The Sub and GMT tempted me with the option to swap bezels to give the watch a little color when desired, but I did not want a cyclops. The Sea Dweller felt like the bad-boy of the Rolex lineup- it is thick, lacks a cyclops, was never too popular among non-WIS, and has a great diving history. It was a tough choice, but I know I made the right one, and the Sea Dweller is a watch that I'm sure I'll enjoy for decades.
Visiting Exhibitions:
The Zero is only a few weeks old, so I can't give it a spot in the permanent collection yet, but it is certainly a contender. I'm fairly sure some Panerai will make it into the permanent collection, but I don't want to promise at this point that it will be the Zero, even though the odds are looking pretty good. It was a tough choice deciding which PAM to get, but a base was the right choice, as was SS, so it was either the 000 or the 112. If Panerai ever comes out with a 112 with a logo, I'd flip the 000 for it, but until then, I'm happy with the 000. A 243 would be a welcome addition to the collection, but that's not in the cards right now, so the Zero shall remain my sole Panerai for the foreseeable future. (P.S. Zero is hero, base is ace)
The Seal has only been with me for a couple months, and is a piece whose future is unsure now that I have a Panerai. I bought the Seal in an attempt to hold off the larger purchase of the PAM, and while I like it a lot, I don't much like the idea of micro-brands, and if I could swing a 243, the Seal would definitely be sold to fund the that. In the meantime, the Seal is my deep-diving leather strap watch, and I'll probably keep it until the time comes when I need to build up a war chest for my next purchase.
Now we come to the 2254. This is a watch that I've always kind of liked, and added it to the collection solely because I got it for an outrageously low price. This is also my only watch that I split with bshap, so it's only in my collection 50% of the time. There are some thing I like about it and some things I don't, and it seems to be just sticking around while we decide what to do with it. I like the dial and hands a lot, but the bezel kind of sucks, and it's pretty thin. I also don't love the Speedy-style bracelet on it, and there aren't any other particularly good strap option IMO. It may be cool to own in 20 years if it becomes a desirable classic, so maybe it will stick around, but maybe it won't. Only time will tell.
Last up is the Frogman, another recent addition. Not much to say about this one other than I wanted a G-Shock that I would actually enjoy wearing, the the big, bright, yellow Froggy fits that criteria. Some days you just want to wear something differnet and crazy, and that's what a good G shock is for.
Now let's take a quick look at what has left. In this pic you'll see a Doxa 750T Pro, Sinn 757S, Steinhart Nav-B Uhr, and Precista PRS-14, all of which have left me, but stayed in the family (in two cases, literally). Not pictured is the vintage Omega Speedmaster MkII, which lasted a few month, and is the most missed out of all of them. These were mostly impulse buys, and I have learned that impulse buying is not the best way to handle my collection. I still like all of these watches, but I found that each one wasn't right for me, and there were better options out there. I have also realized that I don't much care for a large collection, and these 5 watches funded the Panerai and Seal. The yellow dialed watch is just a Trias beater.
So what's next? Probably nothing major in 2011, and if I due get a new watch, it will probably send the Seal on its merry way, and possibly the 2254. It's hard to say right now what I will be looking for in my next watch, but as of now, here's what I'm interested in:
Panerai 243
Vintage Rolex GMT (pepsi bezel)
Omega SM300
Roar's Omega Mk4.5 
And just in case I win the lottery, an APRO Diver, Rolex Daytona, Lange 1815 chrono, JLC Extreme World Alarm, Milgauus GV, and GO PanoMaticCounter.
In summary, I'm very happy with where my collection is now. I have a watch for almost every occasion- I'm missing a true dress watch- so at this point it's all about consolidating and moving up as time goes on. At this point in my life, about to leave school and enter the real world, it's impossible to tell where my life is going to go and what the future of my collection will be, but if I could never buy another watch, I'd still be quite happy, and extremely grateful, for the watches that I have today.
