Why the first watch that captures you isn’t always the one you end up wearing
Before the watch you choose, there’s usually another one.
The one that got there first.
For me, it was a diver I saw in a Bond movie.
Specifically the Rolex Submariner.
I didn’t know the reference number.
I didn’t understand movements.
I didn’t care about steel versus gold.
I just knew it looked like something a man could rely on. It’s the kind of watch a man who gets things done wears.
Who got things done better than James Bond?
That image stays with you.
Years later, when you’re in a position to actually buy watches, that first impression shows up again.
Not as a need—but as a memory.
And that’s where people get confused.
They assume the first watch they wanted is the one they’re supposed to own.
But time changes you.
Experience changes you.
Responsibility changes you.
The watch that fits you now may not be the one that first caught your attention.
For me, the watch that aligns today is simpler.
Less capability.
Less noise.
More clarity.
That watch is the Longines HydroConquest.
That doesn’t make the Submariner watch wrong for me.
In fact, as you can see, the HydroConquest looks very much like the Submariner.
I love the “elegantly basic” design of the Submariner that made its way into the design of the HydroConquest and many other dive watches.
At a retail price of $11,350 for the Submariner, as opposed to $2000 for the HydroConquest, it made better fiscal sense to buy the watch that gives me 90% of the look for 18% of the price.
Of course, there’s nothing wrong with keeping something in your life as a possibility instead of a plan.
I will eventually acquire a Submariner. When the time is right.
However, not everything needs to be acquired.
Some things just need to be understood.
So I keep that first watch where it belongs:
Not on my wrist (for now).
But in my story.
Because the goal isn’t to own every watch that ever meant something to you.
The goal is to recognize which one still does.
-The Rational Ram
The Rational Ram 