I’ve started frequenting a watch collector’s message board: Timezone. I was wondering if any dopers lurk there or are otherwise into watch collecting. And, if so, what timepieces do you presently have?
My collection only made it to two (nice ones, that is) – then the money ran out.
I currently am wearing a Omega Seamaster Pro Chrono that I bought when I graduated from college in the 90s. I have at home a Omega Speedmaster Pro (“The First Watch On The Moon”, IMO the best looking timepiece out there 
).
I wish I had the $$$ to support such a hobby, but I really don’t. I would feel terribly guilty dropping 1-2K on a new watch when I have more important stuff to be fixing around the house (today’s $1100 repair bill at the VW dealer springs to mind).
I also found that there is a cost of ownership as well: my Seamaster Pro cost >$400 when I sent it off to Omega for standard servicing last year.
I wear a Breitling Bentley that is considered a collectors to some. It was a gift to myself.
Damn. I wish I would have known about your site when Uncle Joey was alive. He was a collector of museum-quality pieces. Beautiful stuff with all sorts of lovely embellishment. They were all pocket watches. When he died, I think the family dumped the collection hither and thither for cash.
My everyday watch is a Rolex GMT Master II with a Jubilee bracelet. Here’s a mock-up I made before I got the Jubilee bracelet.
Other watches in the collection are:
[ul][li]Rolex Submariner (late-1970s)[/li][li]My dad’s Seiko Bell-Matic (April, 1974)[/li][li]Two more Seiko Bell-Matics like dad’s (one with a similar band, but with more rounded edges on the links)[/li][li]Hamilton Ventura (like Elvis wore in Blue Hawaii and the Men In Black wore in that film)[/li][li]Timex automatic, with date (my first watch)[/li][li]A Russian pocketwatch[/li][li]Dad’s stainless steel Vulcain Cricket (c. early-1960s, on Twist-O-Flex bracelet)[/li][li]Dad’s gold Zodiac (c. 1953 – mom gave it to him when my sister was born – on Twist-O-Flex bracelet)[/ul][/li]I used to hang out a little at Timezone.
Nice collection Johnny, I’ve been eyeing a Hamilton for a while now; the handwound Khaki. Right now I have three watches. A stainless steel Tag
SEL quartz I got for my bar mitzvah. A gold Longines Prestige on a leather band I inherited from my grandfather who bought it when he was overseas during WWII. And I just bought a used IWC Filegerchronograph, which I couldn’t really afford, but couldn’t resist either.
Oh, yeah. I have a Stocker & Yale stem-wound G.I.-issue watch like this one (large pic, no bezel), only mine is olive drab and doesn’t have the civilian nomenclature on the dial. Note the nuclear trefoil. 
I used to wear it JetSkiing, because it’s expendable. Now it’s back in its original box and packed away somewhere. I’ve been using the Sub for watersports.
When I was ten my dad asked me what I wanted for Christmas. I said, ‘I wanta watch!’ So he let me.
rimshot
That’s the next watch on my list. I agree that it’s one of the best looking timepieces out there. It also has a lot of history behind it. I wanted a Submariner becaus James Bond and Chuck Yeager wore them. I wanted the GMT Master II because I wanted zulu time at a glance. (And Rolexes are so un-hip they’re anti-hip.) Having been born during the Space Age, I must get the Speedy for its connection to the Space programme. That, and because it looks so nice. Before I started collecting watches, I bought a Seiko Sports 100 Chronograph in 1986. (Still have it somewhere. Forgot to put it on the list.) Unbeknownst to me, it looks very like the Speedy Pro.