Good article. Not a ton of detail but gets the point across that this work takes time. Love RG's watches, and he's a great guy too.
Unless your aim as a collector is to acquire the watches that are held to be the most notable or important. I think the point @jhross98 has been trying to make is that market prices are basically a proxy for that. That's not actually how I personally collect - I prefer beautiful but unimportant to ugly and seminal - but I'm sure that's how some people do it and it seems perfectly valid to me.
Held notable or important by whom would be my first question, but I guess the answer is the ever present "market"... I can see that point, but like you, I don't personally care if "the market" views the items I own as important or worthy. If others do that's fine as I've said several times in this thread. I collect for me and me only - I rarely ever even post a photo of my watches here, because approval of others is not what I care about. What is rather irksome and certainly tiring is the constant notion that this "market" judgement is something that should be used to imply that watches that are not market darlings, are not worthy of being collected by others who don't share this particular market driven view of the world. It comes across as a rather childish "my dad is stronger than your dad" sort of argument...but it's clear some people are "winning" some race that I'm not in and don't care about, and have "tiger blood" running through their veins I guess...
Last year I narrowed down my short list to those 2 brands. I know I can only afford one high end piece that I wear daily. Both brands are great value, I still find Journe more on the innovation side, Lange more on the traditional side. I chose to go with Journe because of this, but after months of research. Also I prefer the way the straps join the case on the Journe, cases are also slimmer which I prefer, and the Journe large date display is using 2 disks on the same level, very flush and close to the dial, which I like very much. I never liked the way Lange does it with one below the other, this bothers me on the Zeitwerk too. Just my 2 cents, you cannot go wrong with either of those brands.
INB In no way does the secondary market dictate quality. In fact i think that Journe is being pushed harder to drive up the price. I personally am more attracted to Lange but that's just preference.
Both are amazing companies, the Journe will even be less common in the wild than the Lange. I agree with looking at the Journe's from a few years back, the quality was just better as is resale.
i'm sorry. . but even for high end new watches. . this is pathetic retail was what 46k. just sold for 20k chf = 21k usd if there is another high end watch brand that depreciates like this i am not aware of one https://www.christies.com/lotfinder...s.aspx?from=searchresults&intObjectID=6268984
I feel Journe's prices are exploding in the past year and it's becoming less and less of a value proposition. The chrono bleu's price is just ridiculous. And the tourbillon and resonance prices are getting out of reach for most as well. Whereas I feel there are still some very good value to be had in a used Lange 1, or an 1815 chrono today if you can find the right piece.
A friend has a similar dilemma. Choosing between saxonia (wg with small second at 6 and big date at 12) and octalune havana (in pt). told him to get both.
Both brands offers masterfully executed watch in their own way. For me it will always be a Journe because of the uniqueness, there is nothing to compare to a Journe aesthetically IMO. Also the value for rarity is a good point to consider. FPJ makes 800 watches a year compare to 5,000 from A Lange.
I think Lange straddles this line between Patek and Independents. Many of their watches are a value proposition for people unwilling to play the Patek game but getting similar or better quality and complications at Lange. Journe is basically the pinnacle of the independents right now. Everyone wants to grab one before he dies. I can't afford his watches but many of them have me wondering "WTF". There are a few sweeeeeet ones to me though... think I missed the below-40mm train at FPJ though.
I’m not sure if I was dreaming but it was only a few months ago that I was seriously considering FP Journe for the first times and so was having a browse on Chrono 24 where I found a good selection of 38mm & 40mm case sizes and was pondering what I would prefer. Now there’s barely any, let along 40mm!