Buying Time 27/11/07 15:05 Page 081
hat you are about to read comes with an
W
official wealth warning, because it’s all
about the dangerous game of investing in
wristwatches. Ask any art expert what he
or she thinks will be tomorrow’s priceless
painting, sculpture or installation and they
will invariably advise against buying purely for investment. Works of
art, they’ll say, should be bought first and foremost because you fall
in love with them – if they rise in value, that’s the icing on the cake.
We tell you this because recently the best watches have come to
OPPOSITE: Rolex Submariner 1,000ft
be recognised as the fine artworks of micro-engineering and prices
THIS PAGE: Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Reverso à Triptyque
have rocketed accordingly, the most extreme case being that of a
Patek Philippe World Time model which fetched roughly £2.6
million at auction in 2002 to become the most expensive
wristwatch ever sold.
It was originally retailed in 1950 for a little more than £900
– admittedly the equivalent today of around £20,000, but even
compared with property, gold, classic cars (or, indeed,
many more traditional works of art) it was still an extremely
sound investment.
Until very recently there were really only two names to
look for in the world of super-valuable wristwatches:
Patek Philippe, of course, and Rolex. Although the
latter name is the one the man in the street will
always recognise, its bankability remains far
behind that of the former – the most expensive
Rolex auctioned to date made a “mere” £300,000
(738,500 Swiss francs at the sale), little more than a
quarter of the price of the twelfth most expensive Patek.
But now, thanks to people’s increased awareness of the
world of collectable wristwatches – due, in part, to these stellar
auction prices – a far wider range of brands and models has
become attractive to collectors, among them Vacheron Constantin,
Audemars Piguet, Jaeger-LeCoultre, IWC and Panerai.
A surprisingly large number of the models from these brands
which are proving collectable are only a few years old, so perhaps
it’s not as foolish as it seems to think of future value when you
choose your next new wristwatch, particularly if you consider the
common denominators found in those which are currently
favoured by enthusiasts.
Generally they were made in small numbers and usually feature
nuances not found on otherwise similar examples. As a case in
point, the £2.6 million Patek is one of several like it, but it is the only
one known to have a platinum case.
That uniqueness affords it a value far greater than the mere cost
of the materials used in its construction. Indeed, if the watch had a
steel case, but was still unique, it would probably be equally
covetable.
Another peculiar aspect of expensive watches is that their value
is seldom related to performance. If you want a watch to tell the
time accurately, buy a quartz digital for the price of a gallon of
petrol, because despite the hours, days and months watchmakers
spend on the construction of the finest mechanical pieces, these
will never be flawless timekeepers.
The more highly
While collectors obviously like their watches to work, they are not
drawn to them for practical reasons but by aesthetics and an
engineered a wristwatch,
appreciation of the detail, care and engineering genius which goes
the better collectors
into their design and creation. Being fanatical about wristwatches
can be likened to being fanatical about old cars: if you want to go seem to like it
from A to B reliably, economically and in heated comfort, an
electronically managed £10,000 hatchback is all you need.
If you’re passionate about design and engineering, appreciate the
torque | 081
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