The state of the UG market

bgrisso

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 before 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.

bgrisso

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.