How come some watches are so expensive?

[dave_the_nerd]

The workmanship of a Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet watch (all handcrafted pieces and takes 2-3 years for one watch). The exclusivity (only 50,000 watches or less are made per year). Rolex has a very high image (and great sports watches) but they make around 1 million watches a year. People can buy a toyota to go from A to B but people who can afford it buy rolls royce or maybach. That is why there are luxury items.

Bullshit.

http://www.motiveautofinance.com/276/what-kind-of-car-does-warren-buffet-drive/

In fact, it’s interesting to note that the most popular cars in America’s wealthiest zip codes are not exotic brands like Maserati and Bentley and Ferrari. They are brands like Mercedes, BMW, Lexus, and even…Jeep.

Most moderately wealthy people get that way by making sensible economic decisions - spending a large sum of money on a rapidly depreciating asset is something that they soon-to-be-bankrupt nouveau-riche people do.

 

[Newell Steamer]

Oh calm down. You can get plenty of affordable watches. I bought a A. Lange & Söhne the other day for $2.5M.

Please don't tell me you want a sub $1M watch?? I mean, you ARE a member of these forums for a reason.

 

[Shlong]

Bullshit.

http://www.motiveautofinance.com/276/what-kind-of-car-does-warren-buffet-drive/



Most moderately wealthy people get that way by making sensible economic decisions - spending a large sum of money on a rapidly depreciating asset is something that they soon-to-be-bankrupt nouveau-riche people do.

That's one example but can you tell me the car collections of some other Billionaires? Warren Buffett is the exception not the rule. Most Billionaires have crazy homes, private jets, yachts, car collections, art collections, watch collections, clothing, etc. And moderately wealthy people shouldn't be buying these luxury cars anyways (I'm talking about people with at least $20 million in assets).

 

[Sonikku]

There was a hot deals thread on $17 watches from China that looked pretty fancy to the naked eye. If you don't care about "authentic" you can go cheap.

 

[CoPhotoGuy]

I've always and still do wear an analog watch. Right now it's a Citizen Eco-Drive with radio controlled time.

I don't understand why anyone would not want a nice watch.

 

[smackababy]

I've always and still do wear an analog watch. Right now it's a Citizen Eco-Drive with radio controlled time.

I don't understand why anyone would not want a nice watch.

If you don't have a watch, you have an excuse for being late?

 

[Muse]

Seems like the dumbest thing in the world to me nowadays. 70 years ago an accurate watch was impossible to find, then they came out with quartz. They were a little pricey but good to maybe a second a day or better. Nowadays you can buy a watch that's a lot more accurate than that for maybe 20 bucks. I can't see spending much more than that. I have a couple of watches that cost me less than $25 each, they do everything I need, they are super accurate, keep on working, don't need any maintenance other than maybe replace the battery every 15 years.

It's just nuts to spend hundreds or thousands on a watch. IMO it's just a status symbol, unless you have special needs. You can even get a super cheap watch that you can dive with.

 

[Muse]

If you don't have a watch, you have an excuse for being late?

"Man with one time piece knows what time it is. Man with two time pieces is never sure."

 

[Muse]

The mfrs would tell you that they're works of art, and in many cases they are. But the reason people buy is the same reason they buy any other high end product - status. If you're a banker or broker, wearing something like Patek Philippe or Hublot tells your clients that you've "made it." It basically serves the same purpose as driving a Porsche 911 - for when people can't see what you drive.

You can get a 911 (used) rather cheaply. I've thought about it, but it's not as practical as my car, and I imagine keeping it in condition would be more costly.

Generally speaking, most expensive watches are jewelry.

AFAIK, I've never laid eyes on one.

With a Bentley you get much more than you do with a Yugo.

A $30 Timex is dead on accurate, and tells time. A $30,000 Rolex is dead on accurate, and tells time.

And is thief bait.

 

[Shlong]

Seems like the dumbest thing in the world to me nowadays. 70 years ago an accurate watch was impossible to find, then they came out with quartz. They were a little pricey but good to maybe a second a day or better. Nowadays you can buy a watch that's a lot more accurate than that for maybe 20 bucks. I can't see spending much more than that. I have a couple of watches that cost me less than $25 each, they do everything I need, they are super accurate, keep on working, don't need any maintenance other than maybe replace the battery every 15 years.

It's just nuts to spend hundreds or thousands on a watch. IMO it's just a status symbol, unless you have special needs. You can even get a super cheap watch that you can dive with.

It depends, the people wearing a blinged out watch or gold watch might wear it for the status symbol but a person wearing a simple steel Patek Philippe Calatrava or Audemars Piguet Royal Oak (which 99% of the people out there wouldn't know costs thousands of dollars or even what kind of watch they're wearing) probably doesn't wear it for the status symbol. Instead they're called WIS - Watch Idiot Savants who just love watches.

 

[Muse]

It depends, the people wearing a blinged out watch or gold watch might wear it for the status symbol but a person wearing a simple steel Patek Philippe Calatrava or Audemars Piguet Royal Oak (which 99% of the people out there wouldn't know costs thousands of dollars or even what kind of watch they're wearing) probably doesn't wear it for the status symbol. Instead they're called WIS - Watch Idiot Savants who just love watches.

How can you love a watch, you might as well be an idolator. There are things in this world that you can love passionately, watches are not among them.

 

[Shlong]

How can you love a watch, you might as well be an idolator. There are things in this world that you can love passionately, watches are not among them.

And who are you to say what people can love / have passion for and can't? Some men don't love cars & working on them? There's no passion for computers? I remember I used to love computers and all the separate parts a decade or so ago. Watches are something people can love and have passion for, there's a lot of successful people who love watches.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeu6Vj3M0EI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aNNNmVXWiQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjylr-KEMG8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3b4NI-t5ys
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xV_0WiT5p4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgSYZIUrRkw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rBM7uwE2Bw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s396C9hn7tg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RcoiIz2Jd0

 

[WaTaGuMp]

Nope, it's just a watch, doesn't do a damn thing the Timex doesn't, except maybe get you mugged.

Both the Yugo and the Bentley do the same thing, they act as transportation.

 

[poofyhairguy]

All Rolex watches are waterproof to 100M and they never need batteries (there are no batteries), as long as you wear it regularly they keep perfect time.

Three men in my family have Rolexs and all of them keep terrible time. I always see them check their phones for times when I am around them!

It is arm jewelry for men, nothing more.

 

[WaTaGuMp]

Three men in my family have Rolexs and all of them keep terrible time. I always see them check their phones for times when I am around them!

It is arm jewelry for men, nothing more.

Mine never kept perfect time either, it was always within that standards they set though.

 

[Shlong]

Three men in my family have Rolexs and all of them keep terrible time. I always see them check their phones for times when I am around them!

It is arm jewelry for men, nothing more.

They're probably magnetized, need service, or fake. Mark it up as anecdotal but all the Rolex watches I have owned and friends have owned with COSC label have kept good time (usually only loses 2 or 3 seconds a week). If they're under warranty, Rolex will fix them for free if they're keeping terrible time.

 

[Hugo Drax]

Why is a Bentley more than a Yugo?

Why is the 10K Apple watch more than the 390 dollar Apple sport watch?

 

[WaTaGuMp]

Why is the 10K Apple watch more than the 390 dollar Apple sport watch?

I would guess the same reason a Rolex is more than a Timex.

 

[Hugo Drax]

Current Rolexes hold their value pretty well (you can sell them for around 90-100% of what you bought them for), once you get into the precious metals they lose more value (only 60-70%). However, the old watches you could get 30 years ago (ie a Rolex Paul Newman Daytona you could get for $500 or so can now fetch over $100,000 and on some rare dials, over $1 million).

Damn I should buy 100K in rolexes today as an investment. I wonder what kind of dividends I will get and what the call premiums are as well, why not collect a little risk premium in addition to the quarterly dividends.

 

[WaTaGuMp]

Damn I should buy 100K in rolexes today as an investment. I wonder what kind of dividends I will get and what the call premiums are as well, why not collect a little risk premium in addition to the quarterly dividends.

I bought mine for $2500 in 1994, sold it for $3000 in 2013. With servicing over the years, of course I didn't make money, but it still increased in value.

 

[smackababy]

Damn I should buy 100K in rolexes today as an investment. I wonder what kind of dividends I will get and what the call premiums are as well, why not collect a little risk premium in addition to the quarterly dividends.

Like I said, most Rolex (and other high end watches) hold their value very well. If anything, you will get about the retail value in years time. If nothing else, you can get the precious metal value of it (and gold is on the rise!). If you happened to buy Rolex's in style that get discontinued, the value could easily go far up.

 

[IronWing]

I bought mine for $2500 in 1994, sold it for $3000 in 2013. With servicing over the years, of course I didn't make money, but it still increased in value.

Grandma bought me a Timex self-winder back in 1974. It has never needed servicing.

 

[WaTaGuMp]

Grandma bought me a Timex self-winder back in 1974. It has never needed servicing.

Well duh, servicing would most likely cost more than the watch is worth.

 

[cpacini]

I bought mine for $2500 in 1994, sold it for $3000 in 2013. With servicing over the years, of course I didn't make money, but it still increased in value.

Well no, not when you factor in inflation. $2500 in 1994 dollars would be equal to $3,936.92 in 2013 dollars, so it actually lost about 25% of it's value

 

[Charmonium]

Grandma bought me a Timex self-winder back in 1974. It has never needed servicing.

I bought a timex ironman datalink almost 20 years ago and I still use it. Just have to change the battery.

I like watches that do more than just tell time and the datalink has a calendar feature, contacts, notes, stopwatch, count down timer and about another half dozen other apps. I've gradually migrated some of these to my phone but still use the watch to remember things likes account numbers, combinations, etc.

The only thing I've had to do is buy a new band for it. Since they don't make the original band any more I got a nice titanium one.