
Watches Are yet Another Easy Way Rich People Make Their Money into More Money - danso
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/20/style/collectible-watches.html
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cjlars
This article is trying a little hard to push its agenda.

Collecting watches is a lot like collecting art. A well chosen collection can
hold, or even increase in value over time, but most people lose money.
Maintenance can be $100 / year or more. Insurance can be a couple percent of
the value per year. And trends are anything but "easy" to predict.

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chillacy
Is this a submarine piece for luxury watches? Because it reads so bizarre, and
tries so hard to take itself seriously.

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blacksmith_tb
Probably? I suppose the basic claim is that watches become rare and
collectible where other kinds of jewelry tend to remain worth near what you
paid for them (in the sense that the materials and craft involved aren't much
different 30yrs from now). In both cases if you wear them regularly they will
be worth less than if you sock them away (and the watches will need to be
oiled and adjusted).

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contingencies
Much like cars in style of marketing, but a whole lot less useful since they
take you nowhere, get lost more easily and everyone carries a mobile, it's
basically true to say that watches are for two major categories of people: (1)
suckers; and (2) people with cultural references from a bygone era fishing for
social credit.

Exhibit A: India is obsessed by watches. It's the way to indicate the class
you will never achieve because that world died decades ago but nobody's in
India's yet noticed. It seems logic is the last untouchable.

Exhibit B: Loads of luxury watch ads I saw in Hong Kong this week associating
time with breaking rules (Central), mountain climbing (Wanchai), and other
such nonsense. What to say? Awesome, Anson. Far out, Frederick. Happening,
Herbert. Rocking, Raymond. Striking, Samson.

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tlackemann
The thing with expensive watches is they recommend to send them in for
maintenance every 2-or-so years which isn't cheap, I know sending my watch
costs me ~$500 for maintenance which was about 1/4 of the total price.
Granted, it comes back looking brand new but I'm skeptical to believe that my
watch will be appreciating greater than the costs of owning it. Then again, my
watch isn't rare or _crazy_ expensive, I just happen to really like it.

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pcurve
What watch do you own?

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fgonzag
For the price of the watch (mid-end) and the price of the maintenance (fairly
high end), I'm guessing Omega, but maybe a Breitling ? Doubt it's a Tag
because of the maintenance cost

Cartier, Rolex, Patek Phillipe, and those brands don't really have watches in
the $2K range.

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lvturner
Rolex recommends every ten years for maintanece, unless you damage it or
notice it not keeping time correctly.

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lvturner
Anecdata and not fully fully researched as I have no plans to sell my watch,
but very shortly after I bought mine, the manufacturer raised their base
prices, to the extent where it appears, even although I don’t have the most
desirable model, to have covered the deprication I face from wearing the watch
daily. At best it’s held it’s value, at worst it’s not ‘lost’ much either.

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sgwae
Maybe yours is way more expensive, but the $300 brands I buy tend to go down
in price as new models come out.

Its a fashion accessory to me, dont even use it for time as we have smart
phones nowadays. Just the skeleton looks cool.

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fgonzag
I'd say the minimum requirement for a watch to be able to hold it's value is
the following: Contain an in-house Swiss automatic movement.

There might be exceptions, but there will be very very few.

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anth_anm
My watch is the second most expensive thing I own, and my car is depreciating
rapidly.

I don't have any intention of selling my speedmaster though. Maybe if it
suddenly shot up to insane prices (it's a limited edition), but I like the
watch.

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justinsaccount
You can replace 'watch' with 'bitcoin' and the article still works.

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danso
You think just like a NYT editor apparently; from the bottom of the page:

> _A version of this article appears in print on March 20, 2019, on Page D1 of
> the New York edition with the headline: Watches Are the New Bitcoin._

