Okay, so picking a fancy watch felt like picking ice cream flavors when I walked into that shop last week. Way too many choices, all yelling “BUY ME”. My brain froze up solid. Price tags from $50 to $5,000? Nah, needed a system.
Started by dumping every watch brand I’d heard of onto my phone notes. Big mistake. Looked like alphabet soup on crack. Realized I was just collecting names without a clue why they mattered. Felt dumb staring at it.
Next morning, I ripped up that list. Grabbed actual sticky notes. Wrote stuff like “Look cool at work?”, “Swim with it?”, “Not sell kidney for it?” Stuck ’em on my desk. Made me pick only three things that actually mattered in my life:
- Under $500
- Works if I bike through rain
- Doesn’t scream “steal me” on the subway
Suddenly, brands like Rolex vanished. Poof. Didn’t even blink. Started eyeballing watches online with my sticky-note rules. Saw watches saying “water resistant 100m” – good enough for rain. Skipped any shiny gold ones or diamonds. Killed like 80% of the noise instantly.
Then I did something lazy but genius: searched “best beater watches under 500 bucks” instead of “best watches”. Boom. Real people’s lists popped up talking about Casios scratching concrete floors and Seikos lasting 10 years. Exactly my sticky-note vibe.
Went back to the shop yesterday, zeroed in on a tough-looking black Seiko automatic first. $350. Picked it up. Put it on. Asked myself: “Does it check all sticky notes?” Yes. Walked out 10 minutes later. No hype, no tears, just a watch that does the damn job.
