Getting more flummoxed and bamboozled by vintage prices

Hello Omegoids,

I've often read jaw dropping stories on the OF of members who got the watch collecting bug what seems now waaay ahead of the curve 20-30 years ago and the amazing deals and finds they made. Indeed even only 4-5 years into the game I have happened upon the odd piece and lucked out...nothing amazing, but a couple of nice pieces.
I've always been looking at the bottom end of the scale (4 kids and a mortgage I'm not about to jeopardise) and repaired, or flipped, or just stuck bits away for some point in the future (as we all do).

This isn't the first time I've commented on vintage prices, but with Covid causing many of us to do more online WILFing in the home office (What Was I Looking For?) I've been frankly quite surprised. I thought that many folk facing difficulties and financial hardship might start with selling off lower end or superfluous pieces in their collection, that there then might be a bit of a glut and a few shiny deals might be in the offing. Instead I've seen reams and reams of of really "bleh" watches (especially Omega) that 6 months ago would struggled to sell for over 175 pounds actually sell for upwards of 300 UKP...and it's not just Britain. It's certainly throughout Europe. It seems some people really are regularly paying out 30-50% more in the sub 500 UKP market than last year. The dealers are slapping on ridiculous BIN prices in this value category, ( I've no idea if the 1500+ watches are shifting at all). Is it a supply and demand thing? Is it a fad or are there some crazies thinking this is a really good way to invest money? It certainly looks like yard sales, car boot sales, (if you can get up earlier than the Russians where I live ) bric a brac and junk stores are the last bastions for reasonable deals...Or maybe I should offload a couple of "bleh" watches myself and sit on the cash for a while...

And I think people are sitting around surfing the net looking at watches. Many are not spending on life like before—clothing budget? travel budget? 300€ for a fun watch helps get through the days.

This is the trend I’m seeing also... watches seem to be picking up rather than slowing down. I’m finding Rolex’s are also being snapped up as quick as they’re being offered...!

I don't think collectors are going to start selling watches because of pandemic anyways. "Investors" might start selling though. This situation should equalize over inflated prices I think. I've been getting emails from Crown and Caliber with their "SALES " . Last I clicked on the link there were 14 pages of watches with $1K to $1.5K off of the asking price.

Investors are cash rich at the moment that you get nothing for in the bank and is losing buying power. Most have got out of shares (waiting for the bottom), if your not in Gold already you have missed that boat. So why not invest in something different such as watches.

Also wait for a bit- 6 months from now will be a drastically different world than today. The effects of what's happening right now in both regional and global economy will reverberate for years and years. We're just getting started unfortunately..

Vintages pieces are still holding strong, but I assume modern steel Rolex sport have come down in price like the Daytona Hulk Pepsi... but still well over retail 😡😡

Very interesting topic. Since I am new to the vintage watch world as of 2020, I was hoping to see watch prices drop over the coming months. It is crazy when I look back through older listings in the Private Sales forum (2-4 years old) and see watches at half of today's prices. It seems like the watch market mirrored (actually outpaced) the +60% US stock market gains over the 2016-2020 period. Watch collectors' stock portfolios soared, and so did watch prices.

I just add this to the discussion...