I can cut a long story short by giving you the quick answer to why I don't consider myself a watch collector. First and foremost, Im a watch journalist. A bit of distance between subject and journalist is preferable, in my opinion. But when I went through my little troupe I don't dare call it a collection of watches, I did find something like a common denominator. It also made me reminisce about the collection that could have been.Before I started writing about watches, I looked at them, talked about them, saved money for them, and rationed myself for them. When I was a poor student but had already caught the watch bug, I bought them, sold them, and went through that process all over again a couple of times for them. And it was worth it every time. I didn't write about watches, but music and football amongst other things, and because of that, I enjoyed them in a non-professional way.What stopped me from becoming a watch collector?It all started seriously with a Baume Mercier Formula 1 Chronograph. It heated up with an automatic TAG Heuer S/EL Chronograph, intensified with a range of Breitling watches,?an IWC Pilot's Watch Chronograph, and even a Explorer II made a brief appearance. Where have they gone? What happened? And what happened after the watches I mentioned? What stopped me from becoming a watch collector? Explorer II Reference 16570Why I don't consider myself a watch collector Painting the pictureTo cut a long story short, life happened. Nothing too dramatic. Just life. I'm talking about career changes, becoming a father, buying a house, getting married and the opposite of that and also having other (costly) interests and hobbies. What also happened is that I started working for a watch magazine the printed kind. And because of that, I got closer to the object of my desire than ever before. What also happened is that my professional outlook as a trained journalist caused distance between the subject and me. Does that sound pompous? Sorry about that, but it did happen. The deeper I dove into the world of watches and the more I learned about what happened behind the scenes, the less the magic of mechanical marvels affected me.Breitling Montbrillant SpatiographeWork harder!Luckily, it didn't ruin my love for watches. But what it did is make me work harder to find watches that hit my sweet spot. And my watches had to work equally hard to stay in the collection. Sometimes the watches had to fight my love for a new watch. Without an unlimited budget, trading in and selling privately was my modus operandi to obtain a new timepiece. But it also happened that a watch had to go because I had to satisfy another burning urge a new bike. That's the other costly passion/hobby I referred to earlier. I've been a cyclist for as long as I can remember. Racing, riding in the high mountains, and also regular training through the polder is fully integrated into my life.