From an outside perspective, watch collecting is often seen as an exclusive past-time for the wealthy. But as soon as you take a closer look, you begin to see that there is another side to it. It is one that is much more humble and down-to-earth people who enjoy a Seiko diver, Vostok Amphibia, or a digital Casio watch as intensely as some might enjoy a , Omega, or Patek. This is where I made my start. A time in my life when the watch budget was non-existent, as a university student living in the city of M1nster in North-Western Germany. Considering my limited means at the time, I still look back fondly on those first steps into the world of watches and what they taught me. And looking at the present and how my collection has grown in the past year, things are looking bright!Though I'm not sure I'd fully recommend following in my footsteps, I still feel that it's a story worth telling. At the very least, it will show how much fun can be had for next to no money, and how that can grow into a very real appreciation and passion for watches. Today I'll be showing you the first few watches in my collection. Ill also share the tools and resources I used to find them. From the good to the not-so-great, the downright shameful, and the ones I still own and wear todayThough sometimes a lot of luck is involved, there are certainly deals to be had out there. Sometimes theyre lesser-known brands from back in the day or just downright lucky bargains that you can find with enough time. The 10 watches I'll show you today cost me a total of 500 and were purchased over the course of a two-year period.My first mechanical watchThe journey beginsI've told this story before, so I'll give you the TLDR; during a screening of La La Land I went to on a visit to the UK in 2017, I noticed Ryan Gosling's gold Omega wristwatch. I already had some awareness of watches at this stage, but nothing in-depth at all. After the movie, I did a little bit of research to find out more. This was the gentle push that made me fall head-first into the watch rabbit hole. I decided to find a similar watch for myself. As I was in England at that time, visiting my parents in Oxford, I decided to do a very general search on eBay. There's a good chance that I simply searched for mechanical watch and sorted by cheapest first. Skipping all the results for listings selling explicitly broken watches, it was there that I found the perfect watch.The watch that started it all Image courtesy of LionsgateIt was a 34mm gold-plated Montine Of Switzerland, with a buy it now price of ?o20. Including shipping, it came to about 25 in total. And after impatiently waiting a couple of days time never advances quite as slowly as when you're waiting for something to arrive the watch was pressed through the letterbox, in a small orange bubble envelope. Tearing the top off of the envelope revealed a bundle of the thin foam-like material I would become very familiar with over the coming years. And inside, was my first mechanical watchA wonderful Montine Of Switzerland from the 1970's on a lizard strap. This is a watch with a lot of sentimental value. Its one that I wore a lot, and which will likely never leave my collection.After a little bit of TLC and PolywatchMontine Of SwitzerlandIt was everything I had hoped. Watching the seconds hand sweep around the dial and holding it close to my ear to hear the balance ticking back and forth would keep me occupied on the flight back to Germany. As it turns out, the watch kept time incredibly accurately and ran for the entire duration of its power reserve. For the price, this was quite a lucky purchase. Unfortunately, that was something that I took for granted. For a short period of time, I was under the impression that you could simply pick up all kinds of vintage watches in perfect condition both on the surface and under the case back for 20. But it was not until I decided to buy my next watch that I realized this was not the case without a bit of legwork. Either way, I was hooked!It was definitely too late to turn back, so the next purchase followed just a couple of months later. But in that time, I spent a lot of time researching the Montine Of Switzerland brand to a varying degrees of success. There was not much out there about these watches. At some point, I even dared to pop off the case back to see what was inside. Thanks to my research, I found valuable reference sites, such as Ranfft Watches and the Thiemard manufacturer symbol lookup tool (as well as other sites that I can't seem to find today). This is how I cut my teeth, and I eventually developed a knowledge and understanding of the weird and wonderful world of cheap vintage watches. All that while following my curiosity and expanding my collection.Scrolling through eBay Kleinanzeigen wearing one of my best scores and looking for the nexteBay Kleinanzeigen InterludeIt has almost become a running gag at Fratello HQ. I start a conversation with, Hey, I found this awesome vintage watch for sale- and someone will likely interject with a hint of knowing sarcasm in their voice, On eBay Kleinanzeigen? And as it turns out, nine times out of ten, that is indeed the case. Now, Daan wrote an article earlier this week on the risks and rewards of buying watches from private sellers, so I won't bore you with the details. But know, that unless otherwise specified, this was where I bought all of my first watches. That much may be clear. But you (unless you are German or live in Germany) might be wondering, what the hell is eBay Kleinanzeigen anyway? That's a fair question to askThe answer, in short, is that it's a classified ads platform. The German word Kleinanzeige literally translates to small ad.?So, in essence, eBay Kleinanzeigen is a platform similar to Craigslist, Gumtree, Kijiji, Wallapop, Marktplaats, and many more. Here, private individuals can post ads, free of charge, in order to sell or give away anything from houses and cars, to plants, old kitchen utensils, and antique clocks. Imagine a vast online antiques market that's open 24/7 and constantly receiving new merchandise. If you're anything like me, that's a dream come true. It's the kind of place where people sell their old watches, and with some luck, where bargains can be found. Going through this list today, I wouldn't see myself buying those watches now. But in some way, I'm glad that I did back then. My curiosity was satisfied, and I learned many valuable lessons in a fairly low-risk manner. Keep in mind, the total value of these 10 watches, is just under 550.