It's not watch collecting, it's watch buying

if were talking about anything except rare vintage watches there really are not many real collectors. There are just watch purchasers. I used to collect significantly important bicycle derailleurs. I had an early Capagnolo, the first slant parallelogram, all kinds of crazy early mountain bike models. I had to hunt the down and find them. By contrast buying a Black Bay 58 just requires money.

Mostly people are just chasing that consumer buzz and most of the value of a watch comes when you first unbox it but they are soon forgotten. People use the term 'collector' to dress up consumerism.