I had always been a saver and not a spender—until I encountered watches. I had amassed a small fortune of around $750 from several years of birthdays, chores, and generally hoarding every single penny that came my way. I was prepared to spend it all. Going in, there were two things I knew I had to have: an automatic movement and a chronograph. Other than that, I had no idea. So I started a 14 Year Old Seeks Affordable Automatic Watch thread on Watchuseek’s Affordable forum and started scouring eBay.

A few weeks and many replies later, my family and I headed to London to see my uncle Jon and his family. Jon is that uncle I grew up idolizing, everything he did or said was cool and I wanted to be just like him. That’s when I noticed he wore a quartz Tag Heuer Aquaracer. When we got home from London, I started looking at Tags. After hours of scouring the website and eBay, I found everything that I wanted in a watch in the Tag Heuer Aquaracer Chronograph (ref. CAF2110.BA0809). It was an automatic watch with a chronograph just like my dad’s, and it had the same cool shield as uncle Jon’s watch. Perfect!

“So a lightly used Tag Heuer Aquaracer Chronograph was my first watch. . . . It’s a watch that I will treasure as long as I live.”

At that time, there were a fair amount of these watches in pretty decent condition on eBay and I started poking around. Most of them went for around $850, a far cry from their list price of $2,700, but still more than I had but I was hopeful. I started bidding. My first auction started at $500 and I entered my max bid of $750, every penny I had in the world. There were still three days left when I was leading at $635. It held steady until about 10:00 PM the last day of the auction, then it jumped up to $700, but I was still winning. $50 seemed like a large cushion and I went to bed with a smile on my face and imagining a Tag on my wrist.

When I got up the next day I went straight for my laptop. My stomach was churning with anticipation. It took a minute for my eyes to adjust to the bright light of my laptop screen and I stared at the little number on the right side of the screen. $765. Bidding has ended on this item. I was $15 short. My stomach fell and the disappointment set in. That loss hurt, but it by no means stopped me. I bid on three more examples of the same watch, and in every single case lost narrowly.

By that time it was nearing the end of May, I was in eighth grade so middle school graduation and high school lay just around the corner. Graduation at my school, a traditional all-boys school the next town over, was a big deal. Prize days, ceremonies, and celebrations soon overwhelmed me and my eBay adventures fell to the side. My birthday and graduation rolled around and I still didn’t have a watch on my wrist.

The morning of my graduation I woke up early, excited and nervous for the day. I had just finished brushing my teeth when my parents called me into their room. Sitting on their bed was a box.

So a lightly used Tag Heuer Aquaracer Chronograph was my first watch. Pretty amazing and I’ve loved it ever since. I wore it to my middle school graduation and my first-ever date. It’s a watch that I will treasure as long as I live.

Since then, my collection has grown. My tastes have changed, but I have mostly stuck with diver-style watches.When I was fifteen I bought myself a Seiko 5 SNZG15. Sixteen was a Halios Delfin. That’s when I ran out of money. The next watch I got was a Halios Tropik B for my eighteenth birthday. My mom informed Jason at Halios that it was my birthday so he sent watch number “28” to correspond with my birth date, a whole bunch of straps, and even a birthday card! I preordered the Aevig Balaur with my summer earnings in 2016. Finally, my latest addition came in the form of a Damasko DA46 on a bracelet as a high school graduation gift this year.

So far that’s what I’ve managed to amass. Going to college at the end of the summer, I think I’m going to have to leave a few behind. I’ll likely part with the Aevig; I don’t wear it. I’m also thinking of giving the Seiko away. I recently got a Harris Tweed Worn & Wound watch roll, which I’m planning on shoving into the sock drawer in my dorm room to keep everything safe. I have four slots in that to fill. My Damasko and the two Halios’ are certainly coming with me, but I think the Tag is going to stay safest at home. It’s simply too valuable for me to bring with me and since I live just 45 minutes from school, I can always come back and get it. So that leaves me with one more space to fill.

My current obsession is the Sinn EZM 13, but I’m worried it’s too close to Damasko I already own. The Tudor Heritage Black Bay in blue has been in the back of my mind since it first came out as well. One of those two might very well be in my watch roll by the time I leave for school. The journey continues.

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