I'm in a similar boat and I find it really hard to talk watches with folks who are experienced in the way of the Rolex AD.

I really enjoy cheaper vintage watches that call back to when everyone had one of them on their wrist.

Something about a semi-autonomous machine ticking away on your wrist, whether you're looking at it or not, using no electricity, is just intrinsically satisfying to me.

I got into watch servicing pre-covid, but never got into actual fabrication of parts. I mention pre-covid because it really got popular when everyone was stuck inside and there was a sudden loss of cheap ebay parts watches to pick from.

Yeah, it's always interesting when I run into watch guys --- my father's 27-jewel Seiko is too large for my wrist, and the date wheel is broken (and I can't find anyone willing to fix it w/o a donor watch), so I wear quite modest watches such as a Timex Indiglo, or a Seiko Solar --- folks are understanding and sympathetic and almost always have stories about repairs, or watches which they are hoping to have the chance to buy.