What time is it? Watches and horology

I was thinking about this off the back of the Lazer sale thread. With interest rates being shit and all how do watches stack up as a medium to long term investment. I'm thinking about 5-15 years.

Generally speaking watches don't stack up especially well as investments. As with any investment people will regale you with tales about how well they did with a particular watch but will be silent about the watches which did not do so well. As with any market you can be lucky and I'd say overall the vintage watch market is on an up at the moment. Generally the brands which do best are not the ones which are already well traded such as JLC but the lesser known brands where someone has done some research and then marketed it around the watch forums. But the current up is largely because of fashion and could just as easily nose dive again.

Generally speaking watches don't stack up especially well as investments. As with any investment people will regale you with tales about how well they did with a particular watch but will be silent about the watches which did not do so well. As with any market you can be lucky and I'd say overall the vintage watch market is on an up at the moment. Generally the brands which do best are not the ones which are already well traded such as JLC but the lesser known brands where someone has done some research and then marketed it around the watch forums. But the current up is largely because of fashion and could just as easily nose dive again.

Watches are money for some people. They will buy high end watches such as pateks, and shrink wrap them and keep them in a deposit box

Watches are money for some people. They will buy high end watches such as pateks, and shrink wrap them and keep them in a deposit box

And like money, it's value can diminish over time.

You're better off collecting whiskey - much better investment returns and if all goes to fuck you've got some quality booze to drink.

ArchieLuxury vid is very amusing.

His take on a big Panerai
60mm Wrist Watch Craziness! When will the stupidity stop? Panerai Madness - YouTube

Less 'farkin this and that' more smiting and maybe. Right now he's like a less funny version of drive by abuser:

Drive By Abuser - Episode Two - YouTube

Don't buy watches to speculate. Buy them because you love them and really want them.
That way any increase in value is a bonus.

All my watches are worth more than I paid, partly due to market forces and partly because I got them all at really keen prices in the first place. However, all but one now need servicing and that is bound to wipe out any theoretical profit were I to sell any of them.

How do you find the pebble? Heard there have been teething problems. Do you team it with iPhone or android? Very interested in one myself.

Photoben, I love it. Offcourse there are some issues. Sometimes the screen crashes but a reboot solves it. Happened twice so far.

While wearing this watch I crashed into a wall (not on purpose). The screen wasn't readable anymore because of all the scratches. I took it to someone I know who paints piano's. He was able to polish the watch and 99% of the scratches are gone. Looks almost new. If you tilt the watch you can see them but when you look directly into the watch it's ok.

I also have a pebble and have put a decent screen protector on it to avoid scratches, also makes it look cool!

I have both a iPhone and android and find the pairing with android much better as there is a third party app (pebble notifier) which allows me to push anything I like to the pebble combining it with tasker, so have football scores etc up on it.

Also opening of the sdk is leading to some cool development, although haven't really used Tetris or snake, but the stopwatch and millions of faces are great!

I think it is definitely worth the money.

Tempted... Early adopter syndrome in full effect...

They are very cool, I invested right at the start of the kick starter so took me over 12 months to get it delivered, which nearly killed me waiting

Thanks for the input people. My idea was to take a max of £2k out of savings and put it into a watch - ideally something more like 2 x £800 though.

Plus at that price sort or price level I'd be perfectly happy with wearing it/them on my wrist.

Generally the brands which do best are not the ones which are already well traded such as JLC but the lesser known brands where someone has done some research and then marketed it around the watch forums. But the current up is largely because of fashion and could just as easily nose dive again.

I do wonder about watches being bumped up by forums and online demand. For eg has anyone seen the second hand value of a sekio 007/009 - most of the time it's almost that of a new one. Although I guess that's influenced by their purchase cost.

Also from just general reading the two names that come up from an investment POV are (unsurprisingly) Rolex and Patek, and I almost wonder whether "lesser" names are that wise from a pure investment POV without a fair bit of knowledge.

As I said though I'm thinking of something possibly longer term so if fashions change, it won't matter as much. The JLC attracted me in itself - its a watch I would love to own, but the fact that it has some history and seems mint and has the papers etc. also means its viable to justify as a long term investment. That said reading around has shown that its the less desirable earlier version that sold more.

The best balance of investment/wearability has to be any " sports " Rolex . Wear it , enjoy it , dont abuse it and get it serviced regularly and keep its box and papers safe and you will always make money . I work for a jewellers with 7 stores , so we have most of the luxury brands inc a huge new Rolex showroom in our Windsor store . I am the manager of our Abingdon store . I wear most regularly a black dialled IWC Spitfire pilot from 2006 .

Ha!

I feared that might be the sensible move. I've just never really liked Rolex that much.

Though I was reading somewhere that after something like a five year period they will retain and then slowly increase in value relative to the cost price.

tudor has some lookers

Cant buy Tudor new in the Uk at mo .....
I dont like Rolex either , have bought and sold in the past but is a brand I have never worn . I had a client that bought a GMT 2 in 1998 paying circa 2k and sold last year to buy an IWC from me , got £3500 for it .

Yeah, depending on fiances I'll be getting a nexus 4 and possible a pebble. I like the idea of having a watch telling me when someone rings me, so I don't need to keep my phone in my pocket all the time. I like the Casio Bluetooth watch, but it's a G-shock and bloody huge. Hopefully they'll make a more tasteful one soon. They reckon the battery life is 1-2 years which is bloody impressive.

What's the mark-up on a Rolex?

Citizen do a bluetooth watch , only for Iphone 5 tho , and maybe 4s . Its about 400 quid . Do you a deal if you want one !

Mark up on Rolex ? I'd have to kill you afterwards ......

Yeh but Tudors seem (imo) to carry a bit of an inflated price tag, and look pretty similar to Rolex. With Rolex it's not just the brand that isn't my cup of tea.

I picked up a late 70s air king date for a decent price and have been offered prices for it each time I have taken it to a watch shop. I'm no watch expert so I don't know if this is true but I am told that the air king date is an "affordable" rolex that is no longer made and becoming rarer. I get the impression that some people think that it is a watch that will increase in value now that it is on the road to obscurity...

I read a similar thing about the quartz Rolex Oyster. I can also imagine that it will always be an easy sell to the general public as it's quartz.

A couple of years ago I was able to buy a Maurice Lacroix at cost which was 70% off RRP. I didn't though as they is a bit whack.

I was looking at the Decentrique

The quartz Rolex oysterquartz is saleproof . Avoid .

I love ML

Nice unusual looking watches , but again cant give 'em away in UK . Just a brand that people don't " get " .