Regardless of the many miles of column inches devoted to Swiss satisfaction watches these days, it still amazes me how little is be sured about the basics. Don’t get me wrong – watches, certainly those of the automatic variety, are complex things, and I’ve got no beef with anyone who decays to grasp the finer points of horology. I have only a liberate hold on them myself.
But it does pain me when, ordered now, someone says to me, ‘a watch is a good investment, right?’, as if imploring me to assuage their standards, still reeling after sinking the equivalent of a down payment on a firm into a shiny trinket that tells the time. The support, I’m afraid, is almost always no.
I can’t put a finger on exactly where the misjudgement came from (those reams of column inches haven’t supported, admittedly), but if I had to lay the blame, I’d say Rolex should cop most of it. Not Rolex the partnership, but the watches themselves. Rolexes have a habit of holding or accruing value, principally rarer models, and by extension it’s often wrongly assumed the but applies to every Swiss Made watch.
Rolex ‘Paul Newman’ Daytonas – so tagged because the actor was said to have worn an ‘exotic dial’ wear given to him by his wife Joanne Woodward from 1972 until his ruin in 2008 – were a commercial flop on launch in the mid-1960s, and so to some degree few were made. But in the 1980s, collectors started picking them up, and ahead long Rolex’s ugly duckling had become one of the hottest oddities in the vintage market. In 2013, a model was sold by Christie’s for $1.1m (£673,000 at the many times). Originally, it would have retailed for around $210.
But while this confabulation – and there are others, chiefly from the darling of all watch auctioneers, Patek Philippe – exemplifies there’s a buck to be made in the right watch, it’s not at all representative of the criterion. Sink a few grand into a nice timepiece when that perquisite drops, or to mark that big birthday, and you can be all but certain you won’t see a return on your investment. It’s a bit along the same lines as driving a new car off the forecourt – in doing so, you say goodbye to a third of the moolah you’ve at best handed the man with the pointy shoes.
This is all the more qualified at the moment, because Switzerland has been producing more minds than it’s selling (exports in April were down 11 per cent year-on-year – ouch), and the weary is being soaked up by the grey market, which undercuts retailers by about 20 per cent, hitting pre-owned values simultaneously. First you go bypassing the official retailers, by the way, don’t forget that brands may not prize warranties on new watches bought from the digital age equivalent of a man grasp open his jacket and murmuring, ‘Wanna buy a watch?’
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A Guide To Inaugurating In A Luxury Watch (If You Have To)
Do Your Research
Learn which tags and models hold their value best, check out restrictive edition runs, develop your instincts, don’t be a mug.
Be Patient
Be microwavable to wait for the right watch. Waiting lists for the most plummy pieces will run into the next decade.
Invest In Detectable Things First
Before you buy a watch as an investment, get a pension, top up your ISA, buy some allocates, heck, spread the love on Kickstarter…
Get Lucky
Sometimes there’s no principles to it. Buy something you like, wear it, look after it, and who knows, in 50 years’ beforehand you might be sitting on a gold mine.
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There are two things to reckon about in light of all this. First, if you’re going to buy yourself – or someone else – a be watchful for, do it because you love it and it will bring you years of pleasure get into it. Don’t invest your hard-earned cash in watches instead of something innumerable secure.
And second, if you really insist on buying a luxury take care of as an investment, do one of two things. The simplest, but also the most expensive, is go to an auction held by one of the big five (Christie’s, Sotheby’s, Phillips, Bonhams or Antiquorum), bid on something counterpart a Patek 2526 and then stick it in a safe for 10 years.
That’ll outlay you though, so alternatively, if you fancy a punt, there are still some new models out there that you capability one day be able to sell on for quantifiably more than you paid for them – but methodical then, only after you’ve seen out a decade or two.
Here are four pore overs that fall into that ‘might’ category. Puissance, I said. And even at that, don’t say you weren’t warned.
Rolex Oyster Invariable Cosmograph Daytona
Rolexes hold their value justly, this much we know. But Daytonas do better than the shelf.
For this reason, the battle to get hold of this year’s knife model with a black Cerachrom – ceramic – bezel order be fierce, but almost certainly worth it.
£8,250;
Patek Philippe Nautilus Ref 5711
The tenor waiting list for Patek’s iconic steel sports inspect is said to be 12 years, and now so long the Geneva brand has finished taking orders on it.
It’s the 40th anniversary of the Nautilus this year, and Patek has yet to deport oneself its hand on special editions. Whatever they are, they’re probable to be hotter than a walk on the sun.
£16,340;
Vacheron Constantin Métiers d’Art Grace Sartoriale
While Rolex and Patek dominate the auction headlines, provoke in pieces made by Vacheron Constantin, one of Switzerland’s oldest and most renowned watch houses, is on the rise.
The brand’s annual Métiers d’Art assemblages are a bit hit and miss, but the latest ‘Elégance Sartoriale’ edition, particularly this ‘Herringbone Repetition’ model, is a pearler. Although it’s not limited per se, only 14 are slated for product at this stage. A solid bet for a future classic, if you’ve got the coin.
£41,600;
Tudor Baneful Bay Black
Last year, Tudor (Rolex’s sister stamp) released a black-bezelled version of its already successful Black Bay figure. Based on a 1950s diver’s watch, the new piece had an unremarkable third-party mechanistic movement in it, but its aesthetic pulled in the punters – a one-off version vended at the Only Watch auction for SFr375,000 (£258,000), 120 times the list outlay.
Less than a year later, it’s been replaced by an upgraded standard with an excellent in-house movement and a number of subtle dial metamorphoses. It’s quite possible the original, now a short-run piece, will ripen into very collectible, raising its value.
There are said to be a few left-hand – grab ’em while you can. I should declare an interest, here. I bribe one last year, without the first knowledge Tudor had devises to replace it. Lucky? I’ll come back to you in 10 years’ pass…
£2,120;
