I'm a member of timezone
http://timezone.com/ a pretty serious watch collector/owners site. It's a pretty large community of like minded watch enthusiasts or WISs (watch idiot savants) who take a fairly humorous view of their particular addiction. On their sales corner there are great bargains on barely used watches with a pretty decent control and self control of fakes and cheats.
For some reason I've always been attracted to watches, probably pocket watches early on (although I don't own any) and then worked my way up to now owning around 20 watches.
I only started accumulating them in the last few years and most were under $500. A year or so ago I bought a Phillipe Charriol Columbus, then a Cartier Roadster and finally 6 months ago a Rolex Submariner.
Once I started wearing the Rolex and the Cartier I rarely wear the others. It's something like a fine camera, even though it's a tool it is still a great work of craftmanship and art.
The difference between the craftsmanship of a "mechanical" watch, compared to a quartz watch is where one starts to appreciate the "quality" of the workmanship.
If you've ever opened up a quartz watch, regardless of the price, you are quickly filled with disappointment. A mechanical, on the other hand, often have see through cases on the back and you are able to see craftsmanshop and art much like the prestige watches of years ago.
It's hard to explain the attraction but we WISs know it's a disease, and one we feel grateful to have.
Michael