Reply With QuoteOriginally Posted by apm101
When cash is a bit tight I'm the same - steer clear of exotics and boutique brands in case I can't release my cash again.
It's a shame because some of the nicest watches I've had are from brands that depreciate for fun!
Does anyone else take resale value/ ease of sale as a consideration when buying?
It is sad, but I have avoided buying watches that I fear might be difficult to sell down the line.
I've also bought more boring but easy to sell pieces.
Anyone else do this?
When cash is a bit tight I'm the same - steer clear of exotics and boutique brands in case I can't release my cash again.
It's a shame because some of the nicest watches I've had are from brands that depreciate for fun!
Unfortunately no i buy what i like and im stuck with them :)
I've lost a shed load of money on some slightly esoteric choices so I'm probably a bit more careful now, but as I always buy with a view to keeping it's the servicing costs and times that are most important. For this reason I'm afraid I won't go near Omega or JLC.
Sometimes - but a lot of the time I end up buying something to try and lose a little, but get to enjoy something different. Thankfully my favoured brands didn't depreciate so badly when I was in a mood to buy, but buying new is a road to losing a small (or large) amount in almost every case. If you buy used you can see what the rough going rate is for a watch and try and keep, or move it on for little difference.
It's just a matter of time...
It makes some purchases easier to justify, but I usually seem to find some way to justify the others too.
Sadly not.
I've bought watches that I've liked new, and then in time moved them on at a significant loss.
It's sobering to think that I could have a new Omega or Tudor with the money I've lost flipping watches.
I'm now at the point where I think I might as well just keep watches and buy more, rather than sell or px for losses.
I have been looking at this in a slightly different light recently. It depends on the market you are aiming at and at the top end of my budget, pieces are far and few between and there is no way to predict resale value on them, as it is buyer's dependent and I would not expect many.
So if I consider resale value every time I look at an interesting piece, I would never buy it and might as well stick to Rolex.
I think I could have bought a new car never mind a new watch! :(
Ive had a lot of fun and enjoyment from it though
It's just a matter of time...
I try not to think about the losses,Its something I enjoy ,dont smoke so its my little bit of pleasure.I tend to buy what I like, sometimes loss small sometimes big……….
"Does anyone else take resale value/ ease of sale as a consideration when buying?"; I am not a watch dealer so I don't.
"It is sad, but I have avoided buying watches that I fear might be difficult to sell down the line."; Who are you buying the watch for? Yourself or some future person you flog it off to?
"I've also bought more boring but easy to sell pieces." ; So you are a dealer?
"Anyone else do this?"; Yes, this is what watch dealers do.
People do when buying a car, doesn't make them a dealer.
Sorry GrandS, but what the hell are you talking about?
A car is a necessity. A nice watch is a luxury. If you are already agonizing about selling a watch before you buy it, then just don't buy it.
Some people seem to struggle to understand the difference between having a hobby for the sake of enjoyment and wheeling and dealing for the sake of financial gain. I think you will enjoy things more and achieve better results if you keep the two firmly separated.
Whether a watch is a necessity or luxury, folk still don't want to pay over the odds. Some brands have a reputation for having poor resale values and it's always 'best' to buy second-hand.
I think resale value plays a part in purchase choice, I have lusted after some that would be so difficult to sell it has put me off, I want to indulge myself not go broke
I have never considered resale value, but then I have never considered resale either. I get overly attached to my personal possessions and can't seem to part with anything, it's not recommended. Lets hope I never need the money back because my choices haven't been financially astute by accident either. In truth though, those safe bets would never have happened anyway because they have never appealed.
It is an evolutionary and refining process. Buying a watch, finding out whether it really gives you lasting satisfaction and/or what parts lessen the satisfaction to some extent. If necessary then flip it and move on. You may make some or lose some £. But after x amount of adjustments/refinements you find one that takes you to your destination it makes the whole journey worth it.
Yes always! I gave myself a budget for this hobby so in order to remain true to this budget I have to flip watches that don't get worn anymore.
So I always consider resale value, no AD buys and always vigilant on good deals for used but in great shape watches.
Doing this I haven't lost a penny in more than 2 years of flipping.
Surely most collectors buy and sell watches, doesn't make them dealers. The question is about recouping a large chunk of your outlay if you decide the piece is not for you not to make financial gain. I have bought and sold dozens of cars over the years because I like cars but last time I looked I wasn't a dealer.
I used to think about resale a lot more in my mid period of collecting , ie when I was buying a lot more watches than I do now
Good luck everybody. Have a good one.
He's not a collector so he wouldn't know.
I know first hand how hard it can be to sell something unusual and what a loss you end up taking, but its worth it (mainly) to have tried it out and not think 'what if'.
I used to have a collection of Rolex, Omega, TAG, Breitling with the usual obvious vintage pieces. Moving it all on in favour of a new collection wasn't too bad, but if I ever have to shift some of mine it'll take a while, that's for sure, far more limited market.
I guess the point for me is that I can't justify putting a lot of cash into my hobby, so if I made a big loss on a lot of watches, I would end up with no watches at all!
And I'm not a dealer- a dealer aims, as far as I was aware, to make a profit. I would just like to avoid making a substantial loss, and to keep my hobby going.
No.
Daddel.
Got a new watch, divers watch it is, had to drown the bastard to get it!
Hahhaa, this resonates a lot with me :P
I'm too much of a hoarder/keeper and too poor a salesman. I doubt I shall flip any of my watches, so the only value I care about is the value to me!
Ha! I have had many 'keepers' in my time, all have gone - though some were a very hard choice (PAM190 springs to mind). My collection has been reduced in number and I believe they aren't any I would sell for something else now - additional watches would have to come from money elsewhere rather than selling anything in the collection (there is a pool of slighty 'cheaper' ones that can be moved as required or are easily replaced).
Whether a car is a 'necessity' or a luxury is purely an opinion.
If you live in central London, for example, I'd argue it's a luxury that you really don't need (and many can't afford!).
A 'nice' car (like a 'nice' watch) is a luxury - A cheap or old basic hatchback or estate will DO, if you drive a sporty, luxury or SUV-type car, it's a luxury.
I don't buy watches that I think will make me money, but equally I don't like to buy many new and take the inevitable hammering on depreciation (as with cars).
If I can get back more or less what I pay for a watch that's a good return (although I rarely sell and I don't tend to buy many watches for more than a few hundred - some much less! - so it's never money I'm looking to 'invest', it's disposable, to a degree).
M
Agreed
I think about the value of what I buy.
Not re-sale, because I do not buy to sell. I buy what I want to.
But yes, I think about value.
I cannot afford not to.
None of us can, at one level or another.
To say otherwise is ludicrous.
Very few if any of us here can drop a massive wad on some Richard Mille LE that proved unpolular and dropped £40k in value , so we are all making affordability judgements, just on different parts of the scale, and with different conclusions from those judgements.
It hasn't meant that I have avoided buying things that I wanted. It has meant that I buy differently.
An example.
I really wanted A blue Bremont Alt1-P.
I did not go straight to an AD and slap a card on the desk, to walk out 30% poorer but with the watch I wanted.
I bought a used example off Ebay instead. It took a long time to find one. But I did. And I have not sold it (and probably won't). But if I did, I would not have lost much (if any).
Sometimes I have even sold for more than I bought for.
I have never bought anything here that I subsequently sold on for a profit.
But I have spent a lot of time trying to find what I reckon were interesting and different watches abroad, on Ebay and at auction. I've bought from Chrono24, German Customs auctions, Italian Ebay, the US, foreign dealers, classifieds from Italy and numerous other locations. Sometimes I got lucky and spotted auctions that no-one else did, or classifieds where the seller hadn't pitched the price right.
I've never bought to sell, but I do sell sometimes to fund new purchases. And some of these watches are worth more than I paid.
Would anyone expect me to sell my near perfect EZM1 for the £1900 I paid for it (from Australia)?
I am not going to, but if I were, I would sell at market rate, and therefore make a profit on it.
Because one of my thoughts was about the value, when I bought.
THIS DOES NOT MAKE ME A DEALER.
Perhaps I am lucky that my taste in watches in mainstream enough that the value of what I buy does not continue to drop and drop.
Dave
Jesus! I'm beginning to see why some members on here think you're a total arse – because you talk a load of 5hite sometimes.
How on earth did the original question lead, in your mind, to the supposition that the OP is a dealer? You seem to have absorbed a lot of guff from various recent incidents, i.e Pippen Gate, but are now unable to rationally process all this amazing new information crashing around inside your skull, like an asteroid storm in a wormhole.
People buy and flip watches. See? That's what watch people who frequent watch forums do. While we try new watches, we like the idea of taking as little hit as possible when selling to fund the new purchase. I don't think the OP once mentioned that dastardly word 'profit', which is a proper dealer's raison d'être. But even then, so what? You seem to regard the concept of profit akin to finding a large turd on the bottom of your shoe.
There, I'm in a bad mood today and you just took the brunt
EDIT: And as for a car being a necessity? On yer bike son
Last edited by Onelasttime; 23rd June 2015 at 11:19. Reason: Something else annnoyed me :-)
"man maths" I think some call it. Yes I use that logic myself.
Now, now children - play nicely !!!
What a stupid post
Yes. I have a taste for quirky high end brands, like Glasshutte Original. I'll preferentially buy secondhand - the difference between new and secondhand covers at least a few servicings.
I see that some serial flippers have got their knickers twisted. Woop dee doo...
The bottom line is that you either care more about watches or you care more about money. Watches are a hobby to me and I like watches for emotional reasons. Nothing could be further from my mind than resale when I buy a watch because at that point I have absolutely no intention of selling it. I am however responsible in my purchases and I will seek out the best deal possible when I buy a watch. Sadly, I do not have an endless supply of money, or at least my wife keeps trying to convince me of that. When I buy a watch I can afford to do so without worrying about selling the thing. If I can't afford the watch I don't buy it.
You may think differently and you may already be planning to flip a watch when you buy it. I am not going to place any value judgment on that kind of behavior. Seems like some of the characters in this thread have already done that for me.
Last edited by GrandS; 24th June 2015 at 00:43.
Can I ask what watches you own? Just out of curiosity, because I don't recall ever seeing a picture of your wrist bearing a watch. Certainly never in the Friday thread, and not many other threads either, or in fact on any threads? I'd like to know what floats your boat so emotionally watch wise. Thanks
Thanks, I might post a state of the collection someday. Cheers.
Perhaps you should just agree to buy watches from people, have them run around on your behalf then treat them with utter contempt. Yes, agreed that would be the way forward.
- - - Updated - - -
Perhaps you should just agree to buy watches from people, have them run around on your behalf then treat them with utter contempt. Yes, agreed that would be the way forward.
Hobby or not I was brought up to respect the value of things and I think due to my old man having very little when he was growing up he always instilled into us that we understand the true value of something and not to just throw money away!
I would have to consider what something will lose as it would feel wrong to me personally if I was spending all my money knowing that I will probably lose a lot of what I have spent!! I have a wife and two kids so this for me personally would just feel wrong as surely any money lost is money we as a family could have used to enjoy something together! Don't get me wrong when I was single and had my first real salaries I would sometimes spend without thinking but I was young and even then there would be that thought of how I was brought up to respect what things were truly worth!!
I would not have a future value as my first thought when looking at watches but it will be part of the decision making which at various points where I have wanted or even needed my money back I have managed to move them on with minimal loss😉
I want to start hanging onto my watches soon to build a collection and also build my wifes collection up and this is so we can pass our collections to my son and my daughter. When this starts the future value is not something I will think about during that process as I want to enjoy the chase and enjoy the end result, because I want to pass them on I wont be thinking of what I will get back for them and Im fairly confident that in 20-50 yrs time if and when my kids would feel they wanted to move some on they may have indeed gone up in value😉👍🏻
While this comment has brought about a few aggressive responses there are a few valid points here IMO. How can you enjoy a watch if on purchase the first thing you are thinking of is how much you will get back if/when you sell it? Especially so if you are actually avoiding buying a watch you like because you are afraid you may lose money selling it further on.
Ignoring the comments about being a dealer it more suggests you are buying for someone else's pleasure rather than your own. If you really fear a "loss" when selling on a watch why buy an expensive watch? There are plenty of micro brands out there that you can buy/try out and while you may have some loss it would be nowhere near as significant as buying one for several thousands.
Excellent point, thank you.
I also find it strange. If you know yourself to be a serial flipper then by all means limit your exposure by holding easy-to-sell assets (even if they still lose money, as practically they always do), but I wouldn't buy stuff that only appeal to other people.
Some years ago I remember being asked by a car dealer "why didn't you go for the normal options of metallic paint, beige leather and huge alloys? Your buyer will always value them more". The car was over a decade old. He was used to dealing in three-year-old fleet trade-ins, so I suppose it made sense.
...but what do I know; I don't even like watches!
???
Why have you aimed this rant at me?
Last edited by vortgern; 24th June 2015 at 00:21.
I don't consider resale value but I do look for value-for-money, which is one reason why I bought some Timefactors watches when I first had the funds to support my interest and eventually ended up here.
There is actually some good advice here, relevant to the topic of this thread:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNPWbqnBXlo
!!! Bad language alert !!!
I find it a little hard to understand why some people buy and then sell immediately, or even before they have it. I am always looking at buying even when I don't have the funds, but no funds equals no purchase for me.
Think that post was directed at George from Ireland, who posted before you. The chap who agreed to buy a watch from a fellow member who agreed to deliver the watch to him in Dublin. So the seller booked flights and arrived in Dublin with the watch, only for George to ignore his texts and phone calls. It's all there in H&V.
I usually buy a watch because I like the watch.
Bought a Zenith El Primero Pilot big date and took a 2000 pound loss.
Now I buy/trade off the forum or trade with friends.
The only watch I ever flipped that quickly was a Smiths Everest.
As soon as it arrived I knew that the plexi getting scratched would annoy the hell out of me so agreed the sale on the same day it arrived!
Other than that and a few other chespish watches, most of my watches tend to stick around so I buy with value for money in mind rather than resale value.
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