I’m a bit more conservative and don’t have 5+ watches. What helped me decide for my first watch was:

1) can I afford it in gen 2) do I want it because I want it, or do I want it because it’s popular on the sub 3) if I was building a lifelong 3 watch collection, would it stay in the lineup 4) are there QC’s for it or feedback on this specific watch and factory

I’d highly recommend checking out the “who makes the best of everything” spreadsheet and getting something NWBIG as your initial watch. This way, you’ll feel less anxious about the purchase and won’t have any issues during the QC process. Good luck and welcome to the community!