Has investment prices killed the enjoyment of horology

To the moon · Mar 10, 2019

Who wears there Snoopy, has your Rolex LV seen the light of day recently? Does the thought of removing stickers resemble dragging your nails down a blackboard, or are you a True care free spirit and enjoy each day to its full and actually wear your Alaska whilst clearing snow of the drive? Feel free to post pics... Taking your piece to the edge or a shot from inside the safe

SpeedyD · Mar 10, 2019

I don’t have any ‘investment’ pieces. All of mine get worn. I don’t have anything quite as collectable as an alaska. But a few had 5 figure RRP - but bought to enjoy and are worn accordingly. Not sure I’d want a watch in mu collection that I could not wear. Granted - not going to wear them to do ‘hard graft’ - but a bit pointless to keep a watch hidden away really. At the very least they should be in a display case to enjoy as ‘works of art’ if not worn 😀

hbombkid · Mar 10, 2019

I buy watches to wear them not an investment. Now it’s cool they hold their value and do I regret a little not buying certain models at MSRP or below now they have skyrocketed in price but ohhh well. If I had those models I would wear them also not be a safe queen.

dsio · Mar 10, 2019

I wear my LV most days while my Daytona is in for service, safe queening isn't cool, even the really rare and special ones I have I do wear carefully.

MaiLollo · Mar 10, 2019

Since you’re speaking of LVs, here is mine: I’m the first owner, had it for almost 10 years and have worn it daily for at least 4 years. The watch may have tripled in value but it’s getting the scuffs it would have had the value dropped by 40%.

Even if I don’t wear some watches as much as I’d like, they were made as tools, so safe queening is not doing them justice.

Civic4982 · Mar 10, 2019

I’ve put some watches away but mostly as they have sentimental value although aren’t so much of the “collector” type.

Otherwise I don’t have many watches that I would consider too fancy to wear. They’re already in worn shape without being too pristine so an extra bit of regular careful wear won’t hurt. I try not to wear my more expensive watches for inappropriate places or events though like sports or in a questionable neighborhood.

It’s always nice to have a beater for those situations.

LeonDeBayonne · Mar 11, 2019

To the moon
Who wears there Snoopy, has your Rolex LV seen the light of day recently? Does the thought of removing stickers resemble dragging your nails down a blackboard, or are you a True care free spirit and enjoy each day to its full and actually wear your Alaska whilst clearing snow of the drive? Feel free to post pics... Taking your piece to the edge or a shot from inside the safe

I believe that what you describe cannot be called horology. It may rather be called investment, speculation, addiction to collection... It is an unfortunate evolution of the watch environment that started about 10 years ago with vintage watches. As everything does, it will stop at some point and revert back to normal, i.e. people buying watches only for the joy of wearing them.

kov · Mar 11, 2019

Both have been worn on a regular basis and I had a lot of pleasure to wear them 😀

nonuffinkbloke · Mar 11, 2019

My intention is to buy a modern Omega Speedmaster, and wear it everyday.😀

The Speedmaster I own, at the moment, is a vintage, pre-moon, 321 reference. For me, the value of this watch combined with the type of work I do, means that the risk of loss or damage is too great to wear the watch on a daily basis.🙁 Having said that, I do still manage to enjoy the watch.

eugeneandresson · Mar 11, 2019

I love wearing mine. I just do a lot of cycling daily, and so take extra care not to rattle all the the beautiful old lume off my dials and hands. Naturally if I am cooking and there is lots of steamy pots around that I will get steam-bathed with, I also take a bit of care (as original pushers / crowns etc reduce the water resistance), but other then that, I don't see the point in stressing (I don't bother with the modern pieces...they get rattled about, steamed etc). Part of the reason I love my old pieces is because they have been knocked around and are perfectly imperfect on the exterior. The dials/hands/lume are encapsulated, so they stay just 🥰 ...

MrJKLFoams · Mar 11, 2019

Definitely the “market value” thing destroys this hobby but everything that goes up must come down. Remember wayback 90’s I can just walk in a rolex shop with my dad and the manager will ask us to try rolex watches plus discount in advance without even asking for it. Now they will just smile at you when you ask for hot items.

ext1 · Mar 11, 2019

That's the good thing about vintage....it's already worn out, so you don't need to feel bad about it !

(of course there's NOS but that aside. I just make sure to wear my speedy a lot and take good care and that's perfectly enough to give me my money's worth of smiles. 🥰)

Or get a vintage look modern piece, like watchco SM300. Now..THAT, I have subjected to absolutely everything and it has taken it all. House-building at volunteer work...underwater rover testing...desk-diving...travelling...cooking...you name it...(almost)

Renton · Mar 11, 2019

the only time (which hasn't happened to me) i will consider not wearing the watch is if it is a fully NOS vintage piece - hastags, fresh original strap, stickers, boxed etc. Other than that, i've worn all my pieces and never really paid extraordinary care to them.

wouter van wijk · Mar 11, 2019

The true joy of ownership imho is by using a watch and make it your own. I also have watches in stock that are (like) NOS. But my clients tend to buy these to wear them. Another interesting addition to this question would be, how many watches are in your collection. Some consider 1 enough and others have 100+. The latter will be more likely to have NOS watches that get no wrist time.

tjs · Mar 11, 2019

To the moon
Who wears there Snoopy, has your Rolex LV seen the light of day recently? Does the thought of removing stickers resemble dragging your nails down a blackboard, or are you a True care free spirit and enjoy each day to its full and actually wear your Alaska whilst clearing snow of the drive? Feel free to post pics... Taking your piece to the edge or a shot from inside the safe

If I had anything that qualified, I would wear it regularly. If you fear damaging it it must be a meaningful part of your assets, in that case, get insurance.

fastfras · Mar 11, 2019

Good question OP. For me, I think the increasing value of vintage watches has taken the joy out of collecting. Add the cost of servicing them and frankly, they have become too expensive for a retired guy like me.

I always liked to wear my pieces and, with the increased price I found myself not wearing vintage watches as much.

I too expect a levelling off point in the future. These devaluations almost come when there's a financial downturn within the economy. when it finally hits us, I'll be one of the buyers..

Ninja2789 · Mar 11, 2019

I'm sort of a mix of both. I think I baby some of my vintage watches not because they are "more expensive" but because it is so hard to find a good example of some of these rarer references. I've the "luck" to accidentally damage the hands on one of my exotic dial Camaros during a routine service.

It made feel awful, not because I lost value but because it felt like I had failed my task as a caretaker of this watch that has made it for 40+ years without damage. It was the idea that I am continuing this legacy/story for the next generation and somehow buggered it because I wasn't careful enough.

I could care less about scratching a new Daytona or 5711. It's the things we cannot replace that make me the most careful.

To the moon · Mar 11, 2019

Great response and all really good valid points. I do suffer with a touch of OCD and it does frustrate me that I am over cautious and miss out on what others describe. But, I do get a lot of satisfaction of having a pristine piece of how it left the manufacturer. But as soon as a piece like.... The Tin Tin for example starts climbing in price or my LV or even my BLNR it kinda kills it for me as wrist time decreases. But believe me when I say I am trying to resist and the insight into others helps 👍 with a rotation of pieces every 5-7 years it doesn't really make a huge difference in price if they are worn or not, It seems you have to hold onto them for 15-20 years for that to pay dividend financially. But I suppose we all appreciate items of beauty differently even if not for the way they are intended initially

MCC · Mar 11, 2019

People "investing" in watches has certainly made it more expensive and difficult to find certain watches and has attracted more scammers. However, I don't really think about the increase in value of the watches I have bought since I don't intend to sell them, I bought them to wear, some more carefully than others.

Archer · Mar 11, 2019

My answer is “no” to the question. Watches don’t have to be expensive to be enjoyable...

Has investment prices killed the enjoyment of horology

To the moon

SpeedyD

hbombkid

dsio

MaiLollo

Civic4982

LeonDeBayonne

kov

nonuffinkbloke

eugeneandresson

MrJKLFoams

ext1

Renton

wouter van wijk

tjs

fastfras

Ninja2789

To the moon

MCC

Archer

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