[typomatic]

> I simply cannot even imagine having a hobby that would have me spend thousands of dollars. I would sooner switch hobbies.

Your imagination needs work. Being on HN, I'd assume that you have at least one hobby that necessitates a significant amount of electronics (gaming console + TV, monitor + PC, laptop). Any one of these (if you actually care about the hobby) will run you thousands of dollars.

You'll probably dodge at this moment and say how necessary or important or utilitarian all those things are, but that's just because you like your hobbies and don't like other people's.

[mhermher]

I think the difference is that the hobby is the thing you do, not the act of buying itself. I have a probably un-utilitarian hobby of building/upgrading maintaining my desktop computer. But still, the hobby is the building/upgrading/maintaining part, not the buying part, using the thing is great too, but I probably don't purely need everything I've put into it. So in a way, I don't get it either. With the watch example, the hobby seems to be the act of buying itself, since you don't actually doanything.

[throwawaymath]

There are conferences and meetups you can go to for the purpose of hanging out with other watch collectors and geeking out about watch features. Buying the watch is not the hobby, wearing it is.

[girvo]

Spot on. I’m into three main hobbies: gaming (and game development), audio production and recording, and photography (digital & film). It wasn’t until the other day when someone pointed out that all those hobbies are quite expensive that I sat down and thought about it: while I bought a lot of my gear second hand and did a good job of making my purchases efficient, it really does add up!

[kleiba]

You will be surprised but I don't have a gaming console, my TV is an old bulky tube one, and the last laptop I bought (and still use) was a netbook for under $300. That's exactly why I said I would not spend thousands of dollars - I do spend _some_ money on my hobbies but it's nowhere near the sums that expensive watches are traded for.

[princeb]

a lot of people really do nothing but watch tv at home all night. it's truly incredible. I am guessing there is a subset of these people that do not think about expensive hobbies at all, let alone reading about one or attempting to imagine one.

[kleiba]

I don't see the juxtaposition of watching TV all night and having an expensive hobby. There is a middle ground: having an inexpensive hobby.