I consider myself a newcomer in watch collecting, having only been at this hobby for the past 3 years.
Much like Kolosstt's journey, my initial steps were somewhat meandering - intermittent missteps, occasionally on the right path, but always learning, and constantly helped by friends and a community of fellow watch lovers in Singapore and around the world. They provided advice, encouragement and occasional warnings (eg. 'stay away from that Frankenwatch') as I navigated the world of modern and vintage watches.
Along this journey, my tastes started becoming clearer. I was (in general) not a big fan of chronographs, I preferred dress watches (in SS or WG, less so in YG), and my slim wrists meant that most times, the right size for dress watches was 36-38mm, and 38-40mm for sports watches. Simpler 3-handers worked best for me, even better if they were slim, manual wind watches. My tastes were becoming more consistent, though I did enjoy other complications like moonphases and alarms.
I had a bit of time this weekend, so I decided to take some pictures with my new iPhone. I was struck by the fact that I had 5 very similar watches, from 5 different brands. As I assembled the watches for a photo, my wife dryly asked why I kept buying the same watch (!). Fortunately, my teenage son could tell the differences quite quickly (bravo!).
So here they are: