My most treasured watch is one I never wear.

It’s an old Eddie Bauer field watch. Brand new, it couldn’t have been more than $50.

The leather strap is cracked and probably has just a handful of wears in it before it snaps for good. Fixing it would take five minutes and ten dollars, but I still haven’t done it.

My dad bought it for me on a business trip to Chicago, way back when I was in high school.

I wore that watch for years, then lost it sometime in my twenties when I was moving around a lot.

Years later I was killing time on eBay and found the exact same model. Without thinking twice, I bought it.

It’s not worth much. But it means more to me than almost anything else I own.

The Secret Nobody Tells You

That’s the little secret nobody tells you when you start collecting watches.

So much of the online conversation is movements, complications, and resale value.

But despite what others might have you think, taste doesn’t have an entry fee.

Most days I’ll have something on my wrist that cost me less than $500. Some days, less than $100. Some days, less than $50.

But every watch I own has a story. The one my wife got me for my first Father’s Day. The one I got for a trip halfway around the world. The one I got for our 25th anniversary.

Where the Value Actually Is

The Eddie Bauer is worthless on paper.

But I know exactly where it came from, who gave it to me, and what it took to track down the same one twice. That’s where the value is in that watch.

To me, that’s the whole point.

A watch means something because it was there for something — a job, an anniversary, a graduation, a decade of Tuesdays — not because of what it cost.

Ask a guy about a watch he really loves and he won’t start with the specs. He’ll tell you where he was when he got it.

Buy the One You’ll Actually Wear

If you’re building a collection, or just thinking about buying your first watch worth talking about: buy the one you’ll actually wear.

Don’t worry about whether it’s impressive enough to justify the price. The watch that’s actually part of your life will beat the one sitting in a box every time, no matter what either one cost.

As for my old Eddie Bauer, for now it just sits in my watch box with a cracked strap, but I see it every day when I get dressed.

And that works for me.