Absolutely agree with Rich, it's very much a personal thing. Like some of the others here, I get emails about watches - I'm very happy advising about the details, originality etc of a watch, even where there are some grey areas involved. In fact, the grey areas are often the most fun and I have some theories about some of the grey areas too, but I digress. Where it gets trickier is when the owner/potential purchaser asks me what work they should have done on the watch. I always preface any response with stating that I'm in the leave alone for the sake of originality camp. So really any decision is up to them, and it is very much a personal choice - I'm happier with a scratched and dented original case than one with even the most sympathetic refinish. I prefer lost lume to relume. And no-one should sit in judgement on those decisions - if someone decides to go ahead and have things touched up, then it's right for them. I wouldn't have, but that doesn't leave me sitting on some sort of horological higher ground shaking my head, it's just a difference of opinion and at the end of the day, it's not my watch anyway!

: I'm at the stage of throwing mud at a wall, and seeing what sticks.
: That is, buying what I like TO WEAR, and then seeing where this
: hobby/passion takes me, it is a beautiful exciting time, as is
: life itself. Perhaps you have awakened me to the fact that I
: have enough watches now, giving me a slight grasp as to what
: direction I want to hone my tastes in, that it is pointless in
: buying something that is not in the best (most original)
: condition that I can afford, and that I like the feel and look
: of, on my wrist.

Perhaps you're at the stage of deciding whether you want to specialise at all. I refer to this as vertical collecting, as opposed to the horizontal kind. I'm a vertical collector, because I decided right at the start that I would only collect Carreras. A horizontal collector might decide to collect those pieces they just really like, in the best condition they can find. Arno's collection, for example, is broadly horizontal. Of course, horizontal collectors can specialise too - you might say Arno is a horizontal collector specialising in NOS. Others might choose to collect only tropical dials but from across all the Heuer models (which I think would be a nice collection actually, and rewardingly challenging to put together). None of these is innately right or wrong, but one may be right for that individual. You might even decide that throwing mud at a wall is absolutely the right way to go forward :)

I've just been looking at your Omegas over there, and very nice they are too. I've considered buying a Speedie a couple of times myself, though haven't yet for fear of opening another can of worms... but if I did, I know already that that would be another vertical collection (i.e. just Speedmasters rather than other Omegas). My first watch collection was horizontal within manufacturer though, and other collections either are, or would be. Sometimes you know, sometimes you have to find out, but that's part of the fun too.

We might not show off many redials, but I'm sure a lot of us have watches that wouldn't be universally appreciated. Take both these, for instance:

The one on the right in particular many people here won't be at all into - a 3-hand time only quartz watch? But it was actually really hard to find and as a result, I'm really quite pleased with it :) And that's what really counts, right?