Watches Are Yet Another Easy Way Rich People Make Their Money Into More Money

That gold iWatch that retailed for 10K should be worth about 2K and dropping. An expensive Swiss timepiece is a statement. It shows taste and tells people you value time. It is not vulgar like gold chains or diamond rings. It is appropriate in almost all situations. Understated elegance. Forget about it being an investment and enjoy wearing and using it.

My pet peeve is a certain few watch manufacturers who have all these high performance aircraft in their commercials, with a guy in front of them with one of their watches. Or one of their watches above a glove. If I have a GPS on my plane (and that is usually 4 or 5 of them) I have access to time so accurate that it is adjusted for relativity effects of the speed in orbit, and gravitational dilation of time. Why on earth would I need to consult something as inaccurate as a watch? Not to mention trying not to rip the wings off while I get the flight suit sleeve up so I can see the bloody thing. Advertisers must hate me...

The Richard Mille & Hublot mentioned in the article have taken notorious hits in terms of value and desirability. I think an all black Hublot carbon Big Bang is a very nice watch but the manufactures probably got too full of themselves and price marketed their wares to the point now Hublot and R Mille are demonized. Rolex and Patek are in their own league. Blacnpain and Breguet are revitalized from death and so it begs the question can they ever be jackpots? Finally. Sylvester Stallone is an amazing patron of timepieces a connoisseur (Panerai) that brought a splash to timepieces.

Cue up the "my $10 watch keeps better time" or "I wear a 30 year old Timex and jeans and I don't care what people think" comments!

Investing in watches? Yeah, right. That's like the Dutch were "investing in tulips" or people were investing in late 1990s tech. Fool's game. Nobody even uses watches anymore, so their value is limited to a small market and the precious metals they contain.

I wished I had bought that Omega "Moon watch" in '92 for $600. And maybe I should have kept that 50's Rolex Oyster Perpetual. Ah well, this $75 Zodiac Professional Red Dot keeps better time (quartz) and looks great with a NATO strap.

Thank goodness the brand I collect wasn't mentioned.

I hate to check time. Nowadays time is accurate to a fraction of a second and everything goes precisely - linked to atomic clocks or the GPS. And all electronic clocks/computers, your emails, texts, posts and, yes, your phone screen have the exact same time. You look around and then there is time passing. So, why wear another heavy metal piece that is likely off-beat and will not serve the purpose for which it is made! This ego boosting fad will also pass.

Today, and every day, people in this country and all around the world are starving, homeless and dying. Evil is investing in luxury objects like these rather than in things that save lives, alleviate suffering, and preserve the planet. Articles like this show that there are countless people who disagree with me.

I love, cherish and wear my grandfather’s gold Girard watch. Little mechanical alarm. Large numbers for his poor eyesight. Gold case worn down with the years and generations. Unimaginable to think of this heirloom and trusted friend as some kind of “investment.”

A collectible is only as valuable as someone else is willing to pay for it. Most antique dealers already knew this 200 years ago when they were hawking Marie Antoinette jewels. It has no value until you sell it. Otherwise it is just an object of desire. If you have a Paul Newman Rolex, now would be a great time to sell it.

Is a person who buys and sells watches called a timer market market timer?

I'm not a one-percenter by a long shot, but I have a modest collection of mechanical watches. As a child of the space race, I most adore my Omega Speedmaster moon watch. I have watched the watch market go up and down across 40 years, and I don't believe that they will always be a sound investment. I collect sparingly and only buy watches that I want to wear; having one sit in a box seems like a form of madness to me. One curious analog to me is the vintage radio market. Ten years ago, there was a rush on old tube sets 1920 to 1935, with the prices going beyond absurd. Eventually, the market calmed down and people who paid thousands for old sets took a serious bath, one that continues today. The smartest collector on the planet is my German shepherd dog, Riley. He collects rocks, bringing one home from every field trip. I've tried to ask him why but he stonewalls me every time.

I own a small collection of mechanical watches, some of them Rolex. It is a pleasure for me to take one, wind it and strap it on my wrist for the day. I understand that it looks odd to many, but these tiny mechanical machines are a real work of art, especially when you consider the beating some of them took throughout the years; in many cases they keep ticking, hardly missing a beat. I always smile when I reach out for my Submariner or GMT Master; they really are something.

So? Some things gain in value. I remember a delightful "Antiques Roadshow" episode in which a woman came in with a beautiful bureau from the early 1800s. Her middle-class father had wanted to buy her a nice car for her graduation; she refused and chose the bureau, a bargain for him and -- as it turned out -- a canny investment for her. We spend our money as we see fit. Time to invest in early nineteenth-century furniture.

And the iWatch 4 is even better than all of these watches which can only (gulp) tell time and that's where it ends. That's just the beginning for an iWatch. Old school watches as those in this article are becoming expensive paper weights, mere taxis in a world that is now being moved by Uber.

When my grandfather retired (at 55, if you can imagine), his coworkers gave him a Rolex Explorer II. He promptly threw it into a drawer, explaining to me years later that, since he was retired, he didn't need nor want to know what time it was anymore. If only he'd worn it for the next 30 years and beat it up instead, I'd be rich.

For most of the super rich, it is just another form of investment. Just as in buying Strads. The next group are those who like to advertise status. Putin, e.g. has a faible for expensive watches, as do some of former US presidents, after they became multi-millionaires after leaving office. Clinton, Obama, e.g. And finally there are the true collectors. As those who bought Strads for their sounds and to play, not money value , they are a shrinking part of the market.

Every so often my husband will pick up a bargain at a "junk shop" (a term we fondly refer to when frequenting any antique store) and that is an old watch from the Civil War era or even the early 1900s. Believe it or not, they are not very expensive and actually work. Why he buys them and treasures them is because he can actually feel a piece of history in his hands. That's the priceless reward of owning one of those time pieces. It's not the fancy name or numerous jewels in the back of the watch that he craves, but knowing someone from a very long time ago had that same watch in his pocket and used it every single day of his life. Pretty darn cool - on so many levels.

It's been interesting to watch Ben Clymer take the watch collecting game upmarket, making it popular among new participants with deep pockets. I think without his efforts there would still be a mini-bubble, but nothing like we're seeing today.

Everyone pays what art is worth to them. I love my hand wind Cartier American tank, it is gorgeous, but more importantly, it makes me happy every day, I have had it for many years, and remember the day I aquired it. Beauty has a real value in our world of ugly and unkind rhetoric and actions. Manufacturing or preserving special artifacts has an important cultural value....as a society we need to value the good instead of embracing the ugly. Please, please let’s concentrate and embrace good stuff and avoid evil. Watches, cheap or expensive, important or not don’t hurt our country: hatred does.

Something like this happened in the car collecting world some time ago. All of a sudden, new people appeared and prices went crazy. These new people were not even ‘car people’ just as the new buyers of watches have no experience playing with the innards. Cars that were made in very large quantities, with many surviving, suddenly became big ticket items. Now the car collecting hobby and market has a few underlying characteristics, such as a big bulge at about 20-30 years when (middle aged men again) want the wheels they coveted as teenagers, but another interesting factor appeared. To wit: Drug profits and ill-gotten gains. Dirty cash could be turned into a legitimate object, which is not unusual, but also big appraisals could liberate movement of much larger money, through sales and swaps. And the IRS could never catch on. And in places like Connecticut, where I live, the State tax people could only appraise a collector vehicle for a maximum of $500. I appreciate this, being able to own modest cars without huge taxes, but there are untaxed multi-million dollar collections all over the place. Similar things happen in the art market, but I don’t know much about that, other than the seeming nuttiness. All you need is adjustable value, marketing and a supply of wealthy poseur dupes. Have fun!

While I can cognitively appreciate the "holy-grail Paul Newman-model Rolex Daytona from the 1960s" and any Patek Philippe watch (they are all so beautiful and elegent), what is priceless on my wrist is my mother's 1960 Timex - the watch that continues to take many a licking but keeps on ticking. To borrow Patek Philippe's advertising slogan, “I never actually own my mother's Timex. I am merely look after it for the next generation.”

I wear a Fauxlex most of the time; nobody has ever noticed that it isn't the real thing. On the other hand, when I dive, I wear a genuine Seiko dive watch that I bought for a Benjamin at Filene's Basement 30 years ago. It keeps perfect time, despite having been more than 100 feet under water on many occassions.

While the rich buy antique watches, an entire city in Southern Africa was destroyed by a typhoon, due to climate change. Just think of how that money could be better spent on good works to save the planet. But there’s no logic ...

A tulip is just a flower. A watch is just a timepiece.

This story saddens me. What a misuse of money, when so many have so little.

This is such a sad article. Watches, like fountain pens, are made to be used, not vaulted. However gorgeous, however many complications they have, watches are utilitarian objects and should be worn. They want to be worn. I have a Patek Philippe that my father bought in Europe back in the 1930s, when he was a newspaperman stationed in Paris. I still wear it and it runs perfectly. I also wear a Vacheron Constantine that I love. Both are wind-up watches, not automatic. Wind-ups need to be wound up or they get stiff and sort of die. Personally, I like a watch with few complications - maybe a second hand and the date. I like knowing that I am wearing an apex watch, and nobody else knows but me. It doesn't scream "Steal me!" I guess I don't understand this need to collect watches for their investment value. PS I also wear a Citizen automatic that can be recharged by a light bulb. I love it!

All this story demonstrates is that there’s way too much money floating around in this country. This is the perfect time for a big tax increase on the wealthy. My $18 plastic Marathon (Timex’s second label) has kept perfect time for several years now, without so much as a battery change. My 1970 Omega Seamaster? Not so much. The Marathon is my trusted daily companion, while the Seamaster sits in a drawer. I’ll take the former any day.

Want a well made, attractive hand-wind mechanical , still in protection ? Today I'm wearing my Vostok Komandirskie (yes Russian made). Keeps great time ... all metal case and back, 36 hours on a full wind, smooth second hand sweep. Such a pleasure ! And people will notice.

My husband and I own a watch repair business and it's been a pleasure to see how many people are more excited about vintage watches (and I have to disagree with the author about it only being a man's game. Yes, men are the majority, but there are a lot of women collectors). The prices have absolutely increased quite rapidly over the past few years. For instance, we purchased a Seiko 6159 a few years ago for about $2500 and we were offered $15k for it a year ago. Yes, finding a good quality vintage watch these days is quite difficult, but not impossible. Just like with anything, you have to do your research. A lot of Seikos are reworked in the Philippines and India so while the case may be very shiny (from repolishing, which decreases the value), the inside is wrecked from water intrusion. eBay isn't your only option and sometimes you can get lucky at a thrift store. Not likely with a Rolex because of brand recognition, but maybe you'll find a Seiko 6139 similar to the one Col. Pogue wore into space. In case it wasn't obvious, we specialize in Seiko. On our YouTube channel we've started a Seiko 101 playlist. Shameless plug - our business is Klein Vintage Watch. While he's too busy to accept new work, we always welcome questions whether it's in an email or as a comment on our YouTube channel.

Easy ? There is risk in this investment as there is an any. Are you providing a guarantee here? Are you have to do is look back to the last recession and you’ll see how the price of watches dropped like a rock. Add diamonds and other jewelry and jewelry to that list. You could not give the stuff away. And as we know, history repeats itself. I would not be pushing watches on anybody.

I feel so cool and up to date! I have a mechanical watch that our local jeweler insisted I buy (my quartz one was junk, he said) for a whopping $20.00. I've had it for 8 years now, and I imagine it must have appreciated up to maybe $30.00 or even $32.99! Riding the crest of the wave! BTW, I'll add that it's fascinating to have a mechanical time piece. I've taken to rescuing old wind-up alarm clocks (the really cheap ones) and getting them working again as a hobby. Analog can be cool.

They once, I understand, invested in tulip bulbs. I still am mystified why somone will pay big bucks for a wristwatch that keeps no better time than the throw-away battery operated watches that can be ordered online for less that $20. I guess that I just have no class. I remember once my wife, just to provide me with amusement, took me into a store on Fifth Avenue to show me a simple, dress that was priced at about $1600. I could not tell it apart from the basic dress that was for the beginners class at sewing macnine school.

"And in the event of an economic downturn, fine watches may turn out to represent a safe-haven asset, like metals or gems..." Not really. In an economic downturn, expensive watches (or vintage motorcars, etc.) get harder to sell. It also costs money to keep them, in the form of security and insurance. "Hot collector items" are fad-driven, like diets. Beanie babies, "limited" edition Panerai watches, crypto currencies, and low-carb/Atkins/gluten-free/whatever diets come and go. Watch collecting is fun (if you have the money), and that's all.

A Daytona or Submariner are incredibly expensive because Rolex actively manipulates the market to keep them expensive. This also stems back from the oversupply of Swiss pieces due to soft Chinese demand, thus lots of grey market pieces were discounted from retail price. Rolex is your first sniff of money. You're not in the big leagues where you can bespoke a piece for $200,000. The only person I know personally that wears a Patek Phillipee is the grandson of a bank founder in the Midwest that pays cash for everything, drives a Volvo and has a very nice, but not ostentatious, house. Not a couple of million, maybe $15-20m in the fund. The soft whisper of generational wealth is a Patek. The I'm new here is Rolex. The bigger issue: most young people do not care about watches, and the only people who comment on my watches are other haute-couture watch aficionados. 99% of this country couldn't care less about what's on my wrist, thus high-end watch purchasing is a lonely endeavor nowadays.

Thank you for justifying my interest in a $6000 iwc pilot watch. I will site this article after I struggle to may off my credit card and don’t eat for the next year.

Ah yes.. an indulgent wealth envy article for the newly arrived leisure class. Likely, envy is what offsets, energizes the sloth instinct. Now in my dotage, had I been more envious. I too could possess a Rolex (or fake rolex). Alas, my Timex is declasse'..

Time obviously favors the rich ! They know how to watch their wealth while the res of us watch time pass us by until the hour of our demise.

I'm quite happy with my "Geneve" watch that cost $4.80 including shipping.

Real collectors don't sell their watches, that's not the point. They're not seen as investments, something they would sell in the future. They collect them for the same reason anyone collections anything: for the pure enjoyment of it. It is the super-super rich that are ruining the market for everyone, buying up anything and everything until they're flush with watches they don't want, don't need, and don't care about; they'll sell them for giant profits when the time comes. Watches like Patek's steel Nautilus have wait lists years and years long thanks to people like that.

Rich people spending obscene amounts of money for beat up old watches that they've arbitrarily decided are worth a lot? Have at it, suckers. I'm happy with my Swatch.

Too much like tulips. I like to invest in people. Education for little kids, big kids. The environment. Rate of return to me in dollars? Terrible. Rate of return to the people? To the earth? Large, I hope. Risk? Yes, but acceptable.

As an engineer and scientist, nothing is more pleasing than an actual mechanical watch with complications. Also, having come from the oil and gas industry, just about everyone in that environment has a Rolex, so I find them rather unimpressive. Mechanical watches can be like fine art. However, this article is not really about watches, it's about "entrepreneurs" who hope to make some money not on the watches for their beauty or craftsmenship, but on the names of who wore the things for however brief a time. I see it as kind of like selling basketball shoes simply because Lebron wore them for one game with the Lakers and lost by 30 points.

Since the smartphone has made the wristwatch redundant, is the only reason to wear one the hollow gratification of impressing strangers? Does some minute design foible that inflates a watch's appeal among a tiny number of speculators represent lasting value? Would a guy like Paul Newman spend six figures on a Paul Newman watch? If he wouldn’t, and there’s no doubt in my mind he wouldn’t, what does wearing one say about someone who would?

I fall into the camp of collector. I've been buying (and only rarely selling) for the last decade or so. I have archived emails with friends who though I was crazy for buying an old technology, steel Rolex GMT master with a janky bracelet in imperfect condition for 3K (which is still real money - not minimizing). Same watch easily worth in the upper teens. One should also note that the modern version of that watch is worth the same money in the aftermarket due to supply shortages from Rolex. Same applies to Ben Clymer's Patek Nautilus. There are indeed collectors and investors in the market and both can co-exist. We'll see if the market continues to hold though.