This summer, my father passed away, suddenly and unexpectedly, from a brain aneurysm. Almost immediately thereafter, I began collecting watches.
There’s a school of thought which holds that forty-something men who purchase luxury items aren’t necessarily going through a “midlife crisis”—buying youthful accessories in an attempt to not seem old—but are instead buying things they’ve alwayswanted, yet are only now, in middle age, able to afford. I wanted a powerful muscle car when I was 16, for example, but was 39 before I could responsibly get one.  A similar arc has followed in my life for indulgences like traveling regularly and eating at four-star restaurants on days that aren’t my birthday.
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