Quality Is the Watchword for Timepiece Buyers : Investing: Don’t scrimp. Money well-spent will pay off in the long run, experts say. Major brands and out-of-the-ordinary models are worth checking out.
It can be the ultimate status symbol: a finely crafted instrument, handsome and expensive.
It is jewelry that almost any man is comfortable wearing.
And if you’re about to spend several hundred dollars for a top-quality wristwatch, you may want to stop for a second and think again.
Investing just a few times that much will not only buy a beautiful timepiece, but yield one that is much more likely to retain its value over time--pardon the expression.
In a few rare instances, the watch may actually appreciate if you buy a high-quality instrument and take good care of it.
“In the end, it’s better than a car, because a car can’t come into the boardroom or restaurant with you,” said Daryn Schnipper, senior vice president and head of the watch department at Sotheby’s in New York.
“There are so few things that men can buy as personal objects,” he said.
But a wristwatch is undoubtedly one.
Just ask Bill Cosby, Charlie Sheen or author John Grisham, all of whom have bought watches from Stewart Unger, owner of Time Will Tell in New York.
About a year ago, Sheen plunked down nearly $10,000 for a military-style watch made of white gold by Patek Philippe & Co., the prestigious Swiss manufacturer, Unger said.
That particular model, a limited edition that features a see-through (“exhibition”) back and a leather-and-gold fold-over buckle, is already selling at auction for $13,000 or more, Unger said.
“It’s a great watch. He just had to have this watch,” he said of the actor.
Like most high-quality watches, the Patek is mechanical--driven by a mainspring, part of the “movement” that runs the watch.
In addition to Patek Philippe, Vacheron & Constantin, Audemars Piguet, Breguet and Rolex all make mechanical watches.
“If you’re going to buy to invest, you want to buy the major names,” said Cindy Fanelli at Fanelli Antique Timepieces in New York. Unlike other watches, “they’ll always retain value in the secondary market.”
But the buyer should also look for something a bit out of the ordinary in new or used Swiss watches--a “moon dial” face, a stopwatch second hand, known as a chronograph, or some other distinctive feature.
These tend to retain more value than standard 18-karat gold watches, which sell for several thousand dollars when new. But there are ways to spend less and still get a high-quality watch.
One is to buy in Hong Kong, if you happen to be traveling there, since discounting is rampant. Just make sure the watch is authentic--by asking to see if the case, the face and the movement are signed.
“It’s important that the signature is right and that the case and movement are authentic to each other,” said Fanelli.
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Another alternative is to buy a watch from a Swiss maker, such as Breitling, at the next-lower price tier. Breitling’s new steel models with gold decoration start at under $1,000.
Or you can buy a watch at auction.
For example, Vacheron & Constantin watches from the 1940s or ‘50s--some with decorative cases or other unusual features--can be found for $1,500 to $2,000, said Claudia Florian at Phillips Fine Art Auctioneers.
Buying from retailers or dealers who themselves buy at auction means you will have to pay more, so it may be worthwhile to attend an auction yourself, experts said.
That means getting educated--reading catalogues and asking questions--before you start bidding.
Without a doubt, mechanical watches, as opposed to quartz models, “tend to be the ones with stronger resale value,” said Florian, noting that more new mechanical models are being made now than just several years ago.
“That’s what the purists collect, even if your watch stops several times a day, which mine often does,” she said, referring to antique models that need regular winding.
Some mechanical models are “automatic,” meaning that the everyday motion of the hand and arm winds the watch.
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Meanwhile, some Rolex watches--both newer and antique models--have become very popular.
“Rolex watches produced in the 1940s and ‘50s are worth 10 or 20 times what they were made for then,” said Jacques Reymond, a master watchmaker at Swiss Service in New York who graduated from watch-making school in Switzerland in 1961.
Some steel-and-gold models can fetch $2,500 to $3,000.
Then there is the Rolex Daytona, which features a stopwatch and sells in a sporty steel model for about $4,000 new. Because of strong demand and short supply of movements for the watches, the Daytona already fetches $6,000 to $7,000 in the secondary market, said Unger of Time Will Tell.
But that kind of rapid appreciation is rare, experts said.
For that unusually rare watch, be prepared to spend a bundle.
At an auction in June, Sotheby’s is offering a two-tone gold rectangular wristwatch that needs winding once every eight days and a gold watch with a bell that chimes the time, down to the minute, and whose original owner was Albert Middleton, a founder of Victor Talking Machine Co., a forerunner of RCA.
The minimum estimated auction prices: $400,000 for the “minute-repeating” watch and $100,000 for the “eight-day” model. Both watches were made by Patek Philippe in the 1930s.
