Wedding rings? Or are they suddenly impossibly feminine?

Sure. But if you buy a decent one in the second hand market (or get a good deal) is your money in a stable place. I could easily sell any of our watches for more than what I paid with the exception of an IWC we bought at list price.

I wear mine with pride, but then it is the first and only one :-)

That's how it is done - marketing is the key, not engineering.

Financial Times: The rise of the low-cost mechanical watch

Well to be honest essentially all common consumer goods are products of heavy marketing rather than engineering.

For me a watch is just a beautiful to own and look at, I appreciate mechanical watch movements, whether it is inside a 300CHF Seiko or a 9000chf Jaeger LeCoultre. I also think a nice watch looks far better and more gentlemanly than wearing a smartwatch, especially at work.

Some brands such as Rolex hold their value and sometimes even increase over time, this is common knowledge and you can find many websites that discuss it in detail if you Google.

Personally I do not buy watches as an investment, I buy them to wear and enjoy and fully expect to take a financial hit doing so. I'd rather have several different watches whose differences I genuinely appreciate than one super expensive show-off piece.

What that article does not take into account is that the top Swiss brands have watches that are subject to many hand-made procedures and parts that require genuine expertise to perform and make, not to mention the previously minerals and metals used. That kind of thing still thankfully has value in this world and hopefully always will.

Very few hold their value, Submariners tend to hold up well but not many other do really, unless they have a special dial or whatever.

I think you're slightly misinformed to single out high-end Pateks?! There are watches bought at list price of $8-10k which have appreciated in value due to a number of factors, not least that they may be discontinued or limited editions at the time.

Even a 20-30k Patek won't depreciate to the level you're suggesting...!

Of course an entry level luxury watch won't do that.

Unless you pay 100k plus you won't get a hand made watch, 10k will get you some hand finishing if your lucky.

Rolex produce approximately 1,000,000 watches a year, it's mass production on a huge scale.

As for keeping their value the manufactures have bought 100,000's of unsold luxury watches back from shops, they then recycle them into future production with new faces, hands etc. About 40% of turnover of a watch manufacture is marketing, Brand Ambassadors may receive 10,000,000 for their endorsement.

Very few Patek's hold their initial sale value you just need to look at the second hand markets to see that !



Limited editions, total crap, every watch Hublot brings out is a "limited edition", high end watch makers don't really bother with "limited editions", meaning Patek, Breguet, VC, Blancpain and AP if you notice.


JLC brought a few out in platinum about 20 years ago but it is just a marketing exercise and never really been repeated.

I didn't mean fully hand made start to finish, but with various procedures such as finishing and detailing in addition to parts like hands etc.

Again, yes, that is self-explanatory for mass-produced watches.

I don't like to wear watches as I find them uncomfortable, but wear one when I need to have easy access to the time. Generally:

- Travelling with timetable (train, plane)
- Sport with gloves (skiing)
- Timing for sport training
- Multi-day leisure travel without electricity/cellular network

Except for the above cases, I find a watch unnecessary as:

- I have the time readily available (computer, wall clock, building clocks, mobile phone, ask someone close by)
- I already know the time to sufficient precision from the last time I observed a clock (or sun position)
- I don't actually need to know what time it is

The closest thing I have to a Swiss watch is a Garmin

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Ah yes I see what you mean - by limited edition I mean genuinely short-run timepieces rather than those marketed as such. Ps. Hublot doesn't belong in any conversation regarding nice Swiss watches!

Jesus wept.

Um, AP makes dozens of limited editions of the royal oak offshore... one worse than the next.


Blancpain makes some limited editions for some ocean charity thing... but at least they are pretty.

I expect you would if somebody banged nails into your feet !!

you're wearing your watch wrong.

This one.



8 years later, I still have not seen a prettier Watch.



Doc.

I have added two more to my collection:

Omega Seamaster with custom strap



IWC Automatic also with a custom strap