I like Swiss watches. I really can’t afford to collect them the way I would like to (I only have 3 now), and I feel guilty with each new acquisition.
They are very impractical.
Today I called the nice fellow at the Omega factory service center to inquire on the progress of my repairs.
I sent in my Omega Speedmaster Professional in mid October since it no longer was keeping time and one of the links in the bracelet was broken.
I received a quote at the end of October for $750 in repairs :eek:, which I dutifully signed and provided a credit card number for.
The darned thing still isn’t ready.
It was almost done at the beginning of January, but the QC department failed it and sent it back for yet another part replacement.
The new part has been ordered from Switzerland and will be in some day. I might actually get my watch back in February.
My point is, these things are horribly impractical. A two-dollar cereal-box watch keeps better time than the finest Swiss movement. You need to send them in for servicing every 3-5 years, at great cost.
But I still buy them.
After a much-delayed promotion last month I purchased another classic timepiece, a lightly-used Rolex Submariner. It’s on my wrist now and I love it. None of my fellow computer geeks at work wear anything more expensive than a Casio G-Shock, so I do feel somewhat out of place, but I absolutely must have a small well-made machine ticking away on my wrist at all times.
On the other hand, I split my driving between a 9-year-old car and a 16-year-old pickup, with no desire to have anything fancier. Maybe that’s why my wife doesn’t complain about the watches.
So, what do you blow wads of cash on and feel guilty about?
Shopping, shopping, shopping! I have so much _________(fill in the blank) that I don’t need. Nothing in particular clothes maybe but since I have too much as it is! Lots O’ catalogs come and it’s oohhhhh!!! must have! websites are even worse. :smack:
I fly airplanes, and have developed a taste for aerobatics and warbirds. Mucho expensive.
I’m an instructor on the side, so my earnings usually pay for my joyrides. But I do have moments when I shudder at how much money I’ve spent on this hobby.
On the other hand, I treasure my experiences, and never get tired of dropping into conversations how I once flew a MiG-15.
Hairtoys! Ficcares and hair sticks and hair forks and barrettes…I absolutely hate spending money on clothes (my workplace provides a uniform and I wear ratty old jeans and t-shirts the rest of the time) but I can’t resist pretty hairtoys.
For some reason, I feel no guilt about spending money on the actual hunting, after all, it’s my main reason for living for about four months out of the year. And that money flies away in little drifts.
But I took a trophy bear this year, and I’m having him done really nicely. Blowing a wad like that all at once when I have many more mundane bills to pay lays on loads of guilt.
I have a stable of really nice guitars that is WAY out of proportion to my playing ability. And I’m building another one. And I can’t bring myself to sell the ones I don’t use.
I just started, sigh, golf. I can’t think of any other hobby where you could spend so very much money relative to the actual requirements of the thing. What I need - a set of clubs, tees, balls, shoes, a glove. Some lessons. Greens fees. I have already bought two of the cutest golf skorts ever. I’m not even allowed to swing the club yet.
Well, anyone like Mach Tuck who messes around with high-performance military aircraft pretty much wins by default, but I’ve got several grand worth of H0-scale model railroad equipment stacked up in my closet, if that counts. I keep telling myself that I’ll start hauling it out whenever I buy my own place, but we’ll see.
Tools. I have a workshop that is out of control. I have a huge list in my head of home improvement projects that I’ll get to sooner or later. Later more than sooner, but by God I have the tools to do it all with.
In my case (target shooting and handgun classes), it’s that I can’t pursue my hobby to nearly the level I would like to because of the expense. I’m currently an office temp and have no job security; I simply can’t justify buying a $700 annual range membership that would let me shoot every weekend like I’d like to.
It’s not as expensive as some hobbies listed here, but I easily spend over $1000 a year on cards. Just little pieces of cardboard. I’d have just as much fun if I played online for free or played Bridge, but I play Magic.
I take flying lessons, play PC flight simulators with the right controllers, buy airplane books, and subscribe to three flying magazines (I buy the rest at the bookstore). It is a very expensive hobby but luckily I just screw around with lessons so those are only about $100 an hour. If you get into more complex and exotic planes like Mach Tuck suggests, the cost goes way up with no ceiling in sight. People that own their own planes can really burn through some unwanted money fast.
Anime. Especially my Ghost in the Shell collection. I really, really do not want to think about how much that cost me (to give you an idea, I have the entire 14-disc series in special editions. Plus of course both movies, though in regular editions). Even getting lucky with much of the pricing it cost me way too much. Do I regret it? Not one bit.
And I’m not done either. There’s still one more movie (not yet avaliable), two graphic novels, if I can ever justify the expense I’d like the two log books that go with the series, a wall scroll would be nice, and I’ll probably get a Tachikoma plushie next month.
(Can we say “rabid fan-girl”?)
Let’s not forget all the other titles I’d like to buy once I finish this off. I’m sure this will all get worse once I’m out of school and actually working (and thus have more money to spend).
I collect records and CDs, over 16,000 at last count. I don’t do it compulsively, or go without food so I can buy that expensive record (anymore), so I don’t really feel guilty about it. I worked hard to get to a place in my life where I could afford to really get into my hobby. I usually never spend over $40 on a purchase, and hardly ever spend that much at once. Ultimately, it’s a waste (isn’t everything?), but you have to do something while you’re here.
Cycling, and I’m in the process of making the leap from cross bike ($300) to road bike ($1000 and way up) and I do feel a little guilty about the expense despite the fact that we can handle it with no real sweat.
It kind of helps that there’s been a recent TV series in which the main character is a Rainman-type adult fixated on buying a particular bicycle. The price (over $6000) comes up constantly, so when I mentioned to my wife that the bike and kit I was looking at was about $1800, she was amazed at how cheap it was.
Lots O’ catalogs come and it’s oohhhhh!!! must have! websites are even worse. :smack: