intro
2025 has been a big year both personally and in watches, especially following last year’s new life updates and watch acquisitions. In that SOTC, we covered the gains and losses of 2024 as well as the first quarter of 2025, showcasing some of the newest additions such as the vintage Casio BP100 all the way through the PAULiN pick up at Wind Up San Francisco back in May. In 2025, I purchased thirteen watches, sold eight, and was gifted one so a lot has moved around and changed hands, but the core of the collection has remained the same. The aforementioned Casio is long gone, a quick affair with the Citizen Tsuyosa came and went, and even a Seiko left the collection. So as we begin this new state of the collection, I’ll be focusing more on the new additions, the emotions attached, and how my mindset on the hobby has evolved during 2025.
What Remains – The Daily Digitals
As holographical hobbyists, we are all no stranger to the god tier of digital watches – Casio’s and G-Shock’s. And through the ever evolving landscapes of our collections we begin to start going on side-quests: having a sub-collection within the overall main collection. And one of those that is a little more loose is my digital watch collection compiled of four G-Shocks and one Casio. With two Casi-Oaks, a 6900 series, my ten plus year old GD-100 and a Casio F91W, I have created a pretty sweet collection of some of my favorites picks of the brand. To round them off, I have my eyes on G-Shock’s next limited edition collab watch – whatever that might be. If you want more info on each of these watches, head on over to my 2025 State of the Collection.
The Wind Ups
One of my favorite things about being into watches is the amazing opportunity to attend Wind Up Watch Fair in San Francisco as we all talk and geek out together, and get to meet the founders and designers of so many watch brands. You get to interact with the men and women behind the watches, be inspired by them, and truly get behind the products they sell and see – it’s more than just a watch.
The best example of this has been with William Wood and meeting the founder Jonny Garrett as each time seeing him feels like meeting up with a long lost friend. You can read the article of my whole experience here, but in the end I picked up the Green Valiant with the Sellita SW200 which was limited to 250 pieces and has been sold out now for some time. This watch marked my first visit to Wind Up SF, my first Swiss movement, and the watch I wore when I proposed to my wife.
My most recent Wind Up purchase was the PAULiN Zapata Night Edition, which I didn’t think much of when it was first released as I saw the product photos pop-up online. But wow when I saw it in person, learning more about the brand and talking with Katie from PAULiN who helped design the watch – I had to have it. Even if my wife says it gives her a headache when she looks at it 🤷🏻♀️.
SEIKO SILLY
Okay, I’m just going to say it. I have eight Seiko’s now – but it’s not what you think! Back in early 2025, I sold my Seiko 5 & Evisen Skateboards LE collaboration watch so I could open the collection to a new Seiko. I had my grandfather’s 1988 Seiko Quartz, my Seiko 5 Pepsi from Portugal, my Seiko SPB143 that was my wedding gift, and the 1974 Automatic 7O06-8059.
With Seiko’s immense catalog of watches, the possibilities were endless with expanding my Seiko collection. But as I’ve mentioned to my wife too many times by now, brand new Seiko’s are just not worth the higher prices that the brand has been asking for recently. Don’t get me wrong, they are releasing some gorgeous pieces like the new line of Speedtimers, whether it’s the Datsun branded or standard versions.
But then I went down the never ending rabbit hole that is vintage Seiko watches, spending a non-exaggerated 2-3 hours per day over who knows how long of a period researching the different odds and ends that made up the category. Exploring Reddit, posting on Watch Crunch, getting all the information I could get my hands on to learn as much as I could until I fully committed to creating a sub-collection of vintage Seiko’s. The great thing was I already had two pieces to start with as I mentioned earlier, so the next move was to explore my local antique and vintage shops to sort out any vintage pieces.
The vast majority of shops in town had the same Disney character watches, Michael Kors, Guess, etc. so I went to the next town over to a 7000 square foot, two story antique mall to find one of my favorite vintage pick ups – a 1985 Seiko Quartz SQ 5H23-8000 for $47. In full working order just in need of a cleaning, at 35mm it wears extremely comfortable and thankfully not a hair puller.
The fire of vintage Seiko’s was burning hotter than ever as my fingers tapped the Buy Now and Send Offer buttons on eBay and three watches suddenly arrived on my door stop within a month. The first was another quartz offering from 1985 but all blacked out with a subtle red seconds hand, but came so dirty that the crown couldn’t be pulled and reset properly. And only paying $70 I decided to take the time to learn how to remove the stem and crown from the watch but instead it became a long, hair pulling process that ended up breaking the hand set and breaking the date wheel, and messing up the movement. You live and learn.
Some of Seiko’s coolest and unique models have to be their square and TV shaped watches like this Seiko 5 Automatic from 1983, with an immaculate bracelet for under $100 – albeit the crystal needs to be replaced in the future.
The last of the vintage line-up is easily my favorite featuring an integrated bracelet, 36mm case, Kanji date wheel, and screen down that is part of the Silver Wave line. The 7433-6010 aka the Seiko Impact hits all 80s looks, so unique, and pretty rare from what I could research online.
NEZUMI CORBEAU CHRONOGRAPH
Before we get into the last additions to the collection, I can’t forget to mention that the Nezumi Corbeau remains in the collection after four years of mecha-quartz perfection. It is the chronograph that all other chronos are measured against, especially under $400, this guy isn’t going anywhere.
MILESTONES
One of the first big milestones as a watch collector, or maybe an excuse to get a watch is when you get married and I was able to cross that off the bucket list back in 2024. And as our collections evolve, so do our lives and my wife and I found out that we were pregnant with a baby girl. So what better way to celebrate the birth of my first child than with a watch! I went back and forth debating over something more elegant and dressy, to more of a GADA watch that could be worn for each of her life events, to passing it down to her in the future. But what I wanted most was something that I could engrave with her name and date of birth, and would be happy to wear no matter the occasion. So after many hours of deliberation and asking my wife for advice, I ordered the watch and waited patiently.
Fast forward to a few weeks later, the day was October ninth, my birthday, and my parents had just come back from a three week vacation in Europe. And for the past three and a half years I had been looking for a new job with little to no luck. But on this day, I had my third interview scheduled for the afternoon and my new watch had been delivered to our house. So as I drove to my interview, I just had to stop at home and pick up the new watch and opened it as I went on my way. Ever since my first Wind Up Watch Fair, I knew I wanted a Nivada Grenchen as I enjoyed meeting the team and loved the design language they use for their watches and thus I purchased their new Chronoking Racing chronograph with the interchangeable bezels. It came in 5 different color waves, but I opted for their standard black and silver model with the carbon dial that pictures will never do justice.
A few hours later, I was offered the job and I quickly drove to my parents house where my wife and stepson were also waiting for me and was met with a double dose of celebration. As dinner and dessert quickly finished, the time for opening gifts came and my parents gifted me a Raymond Weil Maestro Moonphase they picked up in Portugal. Gorgeous dial, roman numerals, rose gold plated, and I’m just a sucker for a moonphase.
These last two watches serve as multi-faceted sentimental pieces in the collection. One celebrating the birth of our daughter, both birthday watches, and coincidentally commemorating a new job.
2025 has had many additions to the collection but what I have learned throughout this year is to focus on the meaning, the emotions, and the sentiment behind the watches that I currently have in the collection. Earlier in the journey I think I was so focused on getting my hands on what was cool and eye catching, experimenting with various sizes and complications, and selling watches that I hadn’t worn in a couple months. Instead of slowing down, taking the time to look at my watches and ask why – why do I like wearing it, why did I buy it, why does this watch have meaning. And having that change of mind has made my collection and new purchases mean so much more than they did before.
-Cristian
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