I have been into cars for as long as i can remember and i guess it is the same for watches as well. Having a father who loves collecting watches was a major reason.
I am not old enough to be nagging about electronic gadgets but boy oh boy, smart watches do annoy me a fair bit. But that is a discussion for a later date i guess!
I feel every watch you have should have a story, it just makes the whole experience so much better.
First watch: Started with the best
If my memory serves me right, i was about 4 when i got my first watch. Wish i had actual picture of it but it was similar to this.
About a year into owning it, i found out that it would work under water and hence my experiments started. Being a casio, it survived it all. It was the watch on which i learnt how to read time on analog styled watches. So it was a very special watch to me but a true bummer that i lost it during an interschool football match. (yes, i wore it on the field as well rl:)
Second watch: Coolest watch, ever!
This came in at the age of 12, it was a Casio Twincept Databank watch. Boy oh boy, this was a techfest for the time.
Ref: Abx-23 module 2358
First check out how cool this looks. Display on my one is a bit faded now so i have attached a picture from the internet to show the full glory of this thing!
Here is my watch
A reference picture from the internet.
So how this works is, there was a transparent display between the top glass and the analog watch under. Giving it a 3D look, sort of like a holographic display.
It came with a lot of features but i think the one to highlight the MOST has to be that you could store data on it. What kind of data, Technically, phone numbers. It was a bit of an annoying process to do it but if done right, the memory would store it there safe and sound. It could store about 25 contacts with names and that was pretty cool!
I remember using it to cheat in my geography test where we had to write down latitudes and longitudes of different places. Which probably makes it the first case of using a watch to cheat in an exam? Absolutely epic. I actually came clean to my teacher the year i graduated and she was blown away knowing something like this had happened haha.
Third: A bit of Swiss hurt nobody 
Got this very clean looking Swatch. Love the colour till date, its so minimal and light, a perfect everyday wear. These used to cost about 40 euros i think.
This has a transparent back so you can see the quartz movement inside!
Quite recently the rubber strap snapped from an end and now i am unable to get a replacement for it. If anyone has any clue where i can get it from, would be grateful!
Forth: Time for a chronograph watch 
Got this lovely looking Fossil chronograph watch. This originally came with a leather strap that looked very wicked but then thanks to the indian climate, that broke and then i replaced it with the easiest to find strap and got over it for the time being. First watch with Chronograph, still love how it looks, the olive green dial looks under the sun with accented yellow that pops out. Although Fossil is not particularly a watch making brand, this one has worked flawless for over 12 years.
Fifth: Casio goes Brrrrrr
This is the A-10 Thunderbolt of my collection and it is just PERFECT. Have travelled over 1 lakh kms with this, went scuba diving, jumped out of a plane, been through 4 relationships, climbed a number of mountains and hill and it is as solid as a warthog can be.
This is from the Casio outdoor series, they dont make the exact one anymore but they have similar featured products.
Talking about features, this has the most!
Altimeter, Barometer, Temp Sensor, you have world time, a way to have two time zones displayed together and a low temp display. This has worked flawlessly at -25 and at +45 degrees.
Here is a screen grab from skydive
And here out on a trek with the altimeter in action:
Truly one of the best buy in my collection!
Sixth: The bottom of the tier list watch
Got this dress watch as a gift. Wish i could like it more but i just dont. It has been a pain to upkeep, the glass keeps on fogging up, the leather strap gave up in 3 months and generally i find it too flashy for my taste. The least worn in my collection and if it disappears, i would not notice for a couple years.
Seventh: Time to go full AUTO, for now! 
What better way to get into automatic watches than a Seiko 5!
Had got this a month after Seiko had updated their design for Seiko 5. I fell in love with how good this looks and how it certain light gets bounced off from the indices. Being a divers watch, this has a rotating dial and the glass is a bit thick. this helps add a bit of depth to the watch face. Plus the details and the attention to details is GREAT for a watch at this price.
My watch comes with a NATO strap which is very comfortable and sort of takes away a bit of the weight from the wrist. Nato strap also has a dual link system so if one lugs of the watch actually breaks, the watch would still not fall off the wrist.
Highly recommended for someone on the side line for an automatic watch that can be used daily.
Eighth: Is it a Swatch? Is it an Omega? It is most definitely cool 
When Swatch announced their collaboration with Omega, I was SOLD.
I wanted my hands on the Mission to Pluto ASAP!
Other than the fact that this was an amazing marketing play by the Swatch group, the watch had the perfect blend of the iconic Speedmasters and plastic. Yep, no two ways about it. They call it bio ceramic but it feels light, cheap to touch, bleh to hold and feels fairly flimsy but you cannot have everything at once, now can you?
Why mission to the Pluto?
It is my favourite planet out there. (technically not a planet anymore but yeah)
So we discovered Pluto back in 1930s and the best picture we had was taken by Hubble.
The picture looked like this:
Although Hubble is a very capable telescope, capturing really little objects really far was not the easiest thing. This blurry picture left more curiosity than it actually satisfied people. So Nasa started working on the New Horizons space proble that was to wizz past Pluto and send back more detailed pictures.
Here is New Horizons Probe:
and here is how Pluto greeted us humans with a big warm heart!
With this picture, some creative minds got to it and made this, which is now a core memory for me:
So Mission to Pluto is just that special. Swatch did an amazing job with the case back which you can see here:
:)
Ninth: May help things go BOOM!
Some know about it already but the Casio F91W, an iconic watch and probably the greatest digital watches of all times was also used as a timer for bombs by the Al Qaeda. Known for the low price and reliability, this watch has been a hot seller for not a few years but decades!
I was recently gifted the metal version by my partner on my birthday and it has now become my daily. In a world full of displays and beeps and alerts and more, simplicity of a watch doing the watch thing in an easy and clean manner is just soothing.
What I’m currently wearing on my wrist is a new HMT Pace, with a blue dial. It’s been a week so far and I absolutely love it.
I’m 12 and I thought this was a good way to begin a collection:D.
