I have been blessed to own a few great timepieces, and I cherish using them all.
I still wear my original Seiko "Pepsi", a gift from my parents in 1980, and now it's joined by other select Seiko's. I own a few Heuer's, not TAG Heuer's to be clear, and a few newer watches like Weiss and Sangin, Jake who started Sangin owns one of my vintage Porsches.
The blessings have certainly extended to the Rolex brand, where my first was a Gen1 GMT Master in stainless with black face/black bezel, Lord I felt like I had finally pulled myself from the primordial ooze when I bought that, and my most recent a gift from a hunting buddy, an Explorer II with a black face, engraved on the back with "Fuckery, Incorporated, Chaos Made Proper", a logo I put in play for fun last year during the FE Outrider Hosted African Safari.
But if I had to pick just one, keep just one, it would be my 1967 Rolex Submariner, reference 1680. This watch was owned by my Uncle, and given to me through his estate when he passed away. He was a US Army Arial Reconnaissance officer early in his career, and later in life sold film for a notable German brand. He volunteered his time to many pursuits, maybe the most visible was part of the flight operations team for Dick Rutan's flight around the world in Voyager. He was President of the Los Angeles chapter of the Explorers Club, and I fondly recall joining him there for some speakers and dinner. This watch had a small chunk chipped out of the thick vintage crystal when I received it. The story we heard was his Land Rover 109 had rolled over him and off the road in the Yukon, and he walked out miles for help, Winchester Model 94 30-30 in hand, cursing the Land Rover for damaging his watch. I still have the crystal, locked securely in my safe, right alongside that Model 94. Someone can try the old "pry it from my dead cold hands" trick if you want.
