747 said:
Now FM is that your sarcastic sense of humour????
After watching that video from the luxury channel the other day I thought it was pretty much hit and miss with New Gens as to what would increase in value. Your better off buying secondhand and taking it from there aren't you?
I'm not in the Gen Owners league but it would seem to me that whatever luxury item you buy it should be done because you like it not because you hope it will increase in value....
cheers
747
In general, you're right. There are certain watches that are regarded as safe investments (and they will likely appreciate), but with a few exceptions, you're talking about major money. Watches like Patek Phillipe, Breguet, and Vacheron Constantin will all likely hold their value. Well, at least they were holding their value up until this last year. With the economy, who knows? But these watches are also tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of dollars.
If you're looking for a watch as an investment alone, then I would look somewhere else. If you buy a new watch, it'll be like buying a new car. It will take a significant depreciation hit the minute you walk out the door of the store.
With the economy, you can get good deals on some used watches, but you have to be somewhat careful. Do NOT buy a used watch without papers. You may end up with a Watcheden special.
For the money you're looking to spend, I would say your safest bet (purely from a financial perspective) would be a used Rolex. Rolex watches will depreciate, but at a lower rate than other watches (Omega, in particular, have been really up and down in terms of value-- the scandals associated with Omega buying many of their own watches in the big Omegamania auction a year or so ago are still having a negative impact on the resale of Omegas). If you can find a used Submariner, for around $3000, that's a pretty good deal. And my guess is that since the new model is being rolled out this year and next, you'll be able to get pretty good deals on the older styles. Same with the GMT II.