As Zach Kazan prepares to move from Concord to Brooklyn, he finds that the records he once planned to leave behind explain something about the watches he is bringing: both collections grew from a love of design, physical ritual and objects that gather meaning over time.
Why the records made the move harder
In his September 30, 2026 essay for Worn & Wound, Zach Kazan describes sorting his possessions before leaving Concord for a Brooklyn apartment. He had lived in Concord for nearly thirteen years. The watches were coming with him; he had sold a handful of pieces, but never seriously considered getting rid of the collection. The presentation boxes, by contrast, posed a practical packing and storage problem.
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The records seemed easier to leave behind. Kazan’s music collection began with physical media—DVDs, Blu-rays and CDs, then vinyl—and some of those records had been with him for more than twenty years. As he packed them for storage, he reconsidered what it would mean to discard them: “It wouldn’t be simplifying my life to eliminate the hundreds of pounds of music in awkward boxes from my move. It would be erasing a big chunk of it.”
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What records and watches have in common for him
Presentation matters
Kazan recognizes the same attraction to presentation in both pursuits. His watch taste tends toward design, and he enjoys the deliberate packaging of records: gatefold sleeves, colored vinyl and box sets. These details do not make the objects interchangeable; they reveal a shared pleasure in how an object is conceived and presented.
#1 Best Overall
Physical ritual matters
A digital alternative can make music easier to access, but it does not reproduce the act of choosing a record, cleaning it and flipping it over. Kazan sees an echo of that routine in winding a watch. The appeal is partly in the repeated attention the object asks for—not merely in the information or entertainment it provides.
Objects keep a personal timeline
Records preserve the soundtrack of particular jobs, relationships and musical phases. Sorting them while preparing to leave one home for another made that history unusually tangible. Kazan says the collection helped him see his watch enthusiasm as an extension of an earlier collecting impulse, and made him recognize that his attachment to watches had become more emotional than he had admitted.
Rank #2
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The records he could not imagine leaving behind
Radiohead’s In Rainbows Disc Box
Kazan identifies Radiohead’s In Rainbows Disc Box as probably his most meaningful record. He remembers receiving its elaborate packaging and playing it on an inexpensive Audio-Technica turntable. Later, the familiar album became a reference point when he assessed audio equipment. Its importance is not just the music: the object links an early listening experience to years of returning to the album.
Bob Dylan’s Original Mono Recordings
Another especially valued possession is Bob Dylan’s Original Mono Recordings, a 2010 box set collecting Dylan’s first eight albums in mono, released in CD and vinyl formats. Kazan describes it as a historical document and says he could not imagine leaving it behind.
Rank #3
- Format: Vinyl...
- Best Sellers: Top Seller...
- Genre: Rock...
- Best Sellers: Top Seller...
- Released: 2018-06-08...
Why he expects to keep carrying them
Kazan’s question—whether he is doomed to haul the records everywhere he lands—ends in a qualified yes. That is his personal answer, not a rule about collectors. The records connect earlier chapters of his life to the next one, just as his watches have come to carry more emotional meaning than he once recognized. Their weight and awkward boxes are real inconveniences; so is the loss he imagines if he lets them go.
For the new home, he plans to find an inexpensive turntable and simple powered speakers so he can play the records again. He names no model or preferred setup. The point is not a particular piece of audio gear, but making room for the listening ritual—and for the history attached to the records.
Quick Recap
Best Value
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Rank #4
![The Ultimate Collection[2 LP]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41sT+lfCwEL._SL160_.jpg)
- Jackson 5's Ultimate Collection features their biggest group and solo hits
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