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Re: Watches as a store of value?
Posted: November 22nd, 2023, 7:36 pm
by XFool
stevensfo wrote:I have my late father's Seiko Kinetic.
The mechanism relies on movement of the wrist. Something that occurs less now that everyone is sitting in front of a computer.
If you haven't used it for a while, then you have to rock the watch from side to side for about 5 minutes to charge the spring. You can hear and feel the mechanism moving. Rather as if something is loose inside.
I believe these types of watch use a swinging 'pendulum' in the form of a metal disc with a sector cut out to make it unbalanced.
stevensfo wrote:There may be a small button to press that uses the second hand to show how much power is left in the spring.
My EcoDrive uses the second hand to indicate low battery charge by 'hitching', that is jumping two seconds at a time instead of one second. Only every seen this once in twenty years after I had become accustomed for years to it just going every day and had grown used to simply putting it aside at night and wearing it every day without any consideration of how it was to keeping going.
Now I leave it on the window ledge every day when not wearing it - one issue with that is in summer, when I have more than once forgotten to rescue it from the direct sun and it has been cooked much too hot!
Cost me just under £50 twenty years ago and has been ticking away ever since (apart from time adjustments), keeps time as well as a Rolex costing thousands.
Re: Watches as a store of value?
Posted: November 22nd, 2023, 8:29 pm
by Padders72
XFool wrote:
I believe these types of watch use a swinging 'pendulum' in the form of a metal disc with a sector cut out to make it unbalanced.
Seiko Kinetic watches (and similar Swiss designs) use a rotor like a traditional automatic spring balance watch but instead of storing energy in a main spring turn the rotor movement into electrical energy which is stored in a capacitor (sometimes replaced later with a rechargeable battery cell). The rotor is not involved with timekeeping in the sense a pendulum on a grandfather clock is, it is not in fact a pendulum at all. The original name for this type of movement was Automatic Generating System Quartz which describes it pretty well. There are no springs at all involved, it's basically a quartz watch which theoretically at least needs no battery changes.
Re: Watches as a store of value?
Posted: November 22nd, 2023, 10:15 pm
by Lanark
Prices for used Rolex and Patek Philippe watches fell to fresh two-year lows on the secondary market last month as demand for pricey timepieces continued to decline amid rising supply.
The Bloomberg Subdial Watch index, which tracks prices for the 50 most traded watches by value on the secondary market, is now
down 42% since a high in April 2022.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... x?sref=nah
Re: Watches as a store of value?
Posted: November 23rd, 2023, 9:36 am
by TUK020
XFool wrote:CliffEdge wrote:I have a Citizen EcoDrive watch powered by sunlight. You don't have to change the batteries, but if I kept it in a drawer it would go wrong. I like wearing it when I go into town.
Snap!
snap
Re: Watches as a store of value?
Posted: November 23rd, 2023, 11:19 pm
by servodude
TUK020 wrote:XFool wrote:Snap!
snap
I keep mine (EcoDrive chrono) on a G10 strap so snapping is less of a concern
(having lost a few watches in the past if it can take a G10 i put one on)
Re: Watches as a store of value?
Posted: November 24th, 2023, 2:57 pm
by TUK020
servodude wrote:TUK020 wrote:snap
I keep mine (EcoDrive chrono) on a G10 strap so snapping is less of a concern
(having lost a few watches in the past if it can take a G10 i put one on)
I tend to be fairly rough on watches - never take them off.
I have a Titanium Ecodrive which has been pretty damn robust. I have sheared one of the connecting pins in the strap once (these are stainless steel, even though the strap links are titanium), but on the whole it has been solid.
Re: Watches as a store of value?
Posted: November 24th, 2023, 5:06 pm
by Moosehoosenew
Surely the cost of insurance of a watch detracts from the investment appeal or the risk of not insuring it and having it nicked.
Re: Watches as a store of value?
Posted: November 24th, 2023, 5:44 pm
by BullDog
Moosehoosenew wrote:Surely the cost of insurance of a watch detracts from the investment appeal or the risk of not insuring it and having it nicked.
You're right. Add in the fact that it's easy to spend thick end of a £1000 (or even more) when the posh Swiss mechanical watch needs a service and the cost of ownership really starts to add up.
Personally, I opted out and now wear a solar powered Seiko which will probably outlive me with zero maintenance and costs £600. That's less than one service costs on my Swiss posh watches that are no longer used. And zero possibility of getting mugged for it. Mrs BD wears a £10 Casio now and her Rolex lies there unused.
Re: Watches as a store of value?
Posted: November 25th, 2023, 4:49 am
by servodude
TUK020 wrote:servodude wrote:I keep mine (EcoDrive chrono) on a G10 strap so snapping is less of a concern
(having lost a few watches in the past if it can take a G10 i put one on)
I tend to be fairly rough on watches - never take them off.
I have a Titanium Ecodrive which has been pretty damn robust. I have sheared one of the connecting pins in the strap once (these are stainless steel, even though the strap links are titanium), but on the whole it has been solid.
One of the features of the G10 is if you snap one of the pins the face remains attached because of the other one
Re: Watches as a store of value?
Posted: November 25th, 2023, 7:38 am
by qwaszx
Padders72 wrote:scrumpyjack wrote:Well a 50% gross margin is probably about normal for a retail jeweller, so buy at 5k and sell for 10k is not remarkable. It is expensive running a High St shop!
That’s a 100% margin is it not?
100% markup, 50% margin.
Re: Watches as a store of value?
Posted: April 22nd, 2024, 12:34 pm
by Watis
Stumbled across this story about the British watch industry:
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyl ... igh-statusIt's a growing market, apparently.
Watis