Evening folks, I haven’t been following UG market demand lately (maybe almost a year?). How is everything doing?

 

IMHO the market is pretty soft in general

 

Absolutely subjective: UG time-onlies seem to have their moment lately, i’d say.

 

I’ve sold a bunch of UG this year to fund a non watch project, prices seem good to ok to a bit soft depending on exact model and condition. I think COVID and the world situation are the major factors, nothing specific to UG. I’m seeing UG parallel the general watch market and brands. It’s obviously off from some of the highs 3 years ago, and that’s true of some other brands. Desirable brands and models are often evolving in the collecting community, there’s always the hot new thing, and then the thing cooling off, etc. you see this pattern everywhere. Good quality, desirable models seem stable and examples with condition issues are taking a hit. I’m up overall, but did take some modest losses on a few that I bought 2-3 years ago at higher prices AND with condition issues. Anyhow, rather bland and predictable assessment, that is probably broadly true across the entire market, and even the collectible market in general beyond watches.
In many ways it’s kind of a bummer when money gets involved and prices go up, over time you get a heavily stratified market, with the most examples falling into B/C grade, which it’s hard to justify paying much money for because it’s only worth “investing” in A grade examples, but there’s not enough of those to go around, so there’s a steep cliff in price points as you move downward. Anyone that bought anything below A grade when prices were high can get a beating on the flip. For me, and I think many, the flip is driven by evolving tastes, goals, and focus, not by money, so there is inevitable and constant turnover in the collection, and money actually gets in the way. If all these watches were worth a few hundred to a few thousand max, it would be a very different world, and the focus would be on the watches, not the money.

 

I don’t know where the "applause" emoji is, but this is a very good analysis.

 

This is a really good analysis but I also think there is something we often overlook, and that's collecting for the joy of wearing watches. I (generally) don't buy "A" grade watches, and for one good reason: I daily wear my vintage pieces, and I wear them in a manner which I would wear any other watch (my Seiko SARB017 for instance). I don't abuse them but I also don't go out of my way worrying about them either.

Some people may read into this incorrectly and think I have the wrong mindset. I do care about water and moisture. I do care about making sure they aren't getting unnecessarily banged around, but that's about it. IF you plan on wearing your vintage pieces, play the market, try your best to buy those B++ watches at great prices. As stated sometimes you are going to lose, but that happens in life.

EDIT: On the subject of UG prices, also as stated, it depends on the watch. Polerouter and Tri-Compax will always command a premium. To be honest, once I got my dream Polerouter I kind of let go of the UG market, but I do sometimes find myself lusting after a Tri-Compax...