The Watch Collector's Matrix 2.0
When Passion Meets Hard Data
Note: You’ll need to access this on a PC to download and use the Excel tool.
Christmas is over, bellies are full, and the gift wrapping from Boxing Day has found its way in to the recycling bin. Now we’re into that weird limbo-period between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, where nobody knows what day it is… So perhaps you might find yourself with time to contemplate the important questions in life - like whether you really needed that enormous double-helping of dessert, or perhaps more importantly, how to make better watch collecting decisions in 2025.
Back in 2021, I introduced the Watch Collector’s Matrix, a framework for making more thoughtful purchase decisions. Today, we will look at the same concept, but in slightly more technical detail.
If you’d like to read the old post before we proceed, find it here:
Estimated reading time: ~6 minutes (but longer if you play around with the downloadable Excel tool.)
Quick Refresher
For the lazy ones who can’t be bothered to read the post, don’t fret. The original matrix was pretty straightforward - you plot your potential purchases on two axes and let the quadrants guide you:
Top right: Buy or pursue exclusively
Top left: Wait to buy
Bottom right: Consider carefully, whether to move up, to the left, or both
Bottom left: Run away (but keep it on the chart as a reminder of what you’ve successfully avoided)
Simple enough in theory, but if you’ve ever sat staring at your watch wish list trying to decide between a Patek World Timer and a Journe CB, you’ll know collecting decisions are rarely that straightforward.
The Evolution
I’d say the original matrix is still useful, but one major shortcoming is that it oversimplifies the ‘desire’ component. If you’re trying to be honest with yourself, can you cohesively and accurately explain what makes you want one watch more than another? Is it the finishing? The brand prestige? The fact that your mate Dave wouldn’t shut up about the time he saw the watch at his last meetup with watch pals in New York?
Think about it - when you’re lusting after that Dufour Simplicity, is it purely about the finishing, or about what it represents in independent watchmaking history? Or is it the status it gives you at watch gatherings? You sly old fox! Oh, and when you’re considering buying a Royal Oak, how much of your desire is about the shiny integrated bracelet versus the impact of Genta’s design on your childhood mind over 2 decades ago because your favourite uncle wore the very same watch?
This is where our story takes an interesting turn, courtesy of a nerdy SDC subscriber named David; he’s created something fairly simple, but quite special.