Horological Meandering

Hi guys and girls,

 

Many of us here are familiar, some more than others, with the idea of keeping ‘safe queens,’ a watch that for a number of possible reasons, we deem ‘to precious’ to risk wearing.

 

Given the large amounts of money that we pay for many of our watches, on first instinct it seems like a perfectly natural thing to do, however I find myself torn between opinions on the matter for a number of reasons;

 

Firstly, there is a part of me that considers keeping a watch as a ‘safe queen’ something of an insult to the maker and the art. Most of us are aware of the hours of skilled labour that go into manufacturing the watches we love, crafting an exquisite timepiece capable of amazing things and so it somehow seems almost insane that after such skilled individuals have put so much effort into making these things, that we decide for whatever reason that a watch will not fulfil its potential as the maker intended, but will in fact spend its days in motionless darkness! I think the catalyst for me forming this opinion was an interview I read with Usher (singer) of all people, in which he was explaining his ‘passion’ for watches. He spoke of his various watches, Audemars, Panerai, Cartier, Breitling and went on to explain that none of his watches ever tell the time because he cannot be bothered to set them, instead he wears them ‘as trinkets’. This immediately frustrated me, the thought of such capable mechanisms being worn as little more than jewellery! So many wasted hours of a watchmaker’s time, I wondered how he’d react if I told him that I’d bought his latest album and I use it as a Frisbee!!! J Although this is obviously not a direct comparison, I feel it still highlights my point.

 

There is of course the argument that if a watch brings us pleasure, it does not matter in what form this pleasure is derived. Which is of course valid, but as Purists, I think most of us take pleasure from the exceptional skills and techniques of the art as much as the physical manifestation that is the finish product. This is of course all my opinion, feel free to correct me if I’m wrong!

 

The second point of issue is the age old idea of investment, that the watch in our safe is in fact an investment that if kept ‘in mint condition’ will increase in value over time. Fair enough, if a watch was purchased with the intention of never wearing it solely to make money, then people are free to manage their money how they wish. In this case, the watch is no longer a watch and may as well be any object, a lump of gold for example (which would probably be a better investment!). Whilst I still consider this to be an immense waste, I can understand why some people may do it, especially if the investment potential is the result of something trivial such as a minor dial variation or a ‘limited edition’ of a particular colour/design.

 

However, it does frustrate me that some of us choose to keep exquisite pieces that we love, locked up, never to be worn; pieces that we’d love to wear but are afraid of risking resale value! Madness! If you are privileged enough to own a piece that others aspire to, then it’s your obligation to wear it! You deserve to! After ten years of storage, once a couple of thousand in profits have been made, I bet most Purists would look back and wish they’d worn such a magnificence piece instead of submitting to the idea of resale value.

There are more points I’d love to discuss, but I feel I’ve probably droned on for long enough!! And so you’ve heard my 2 pence worth, although finally, it should be noted, that there are obvious exceptions, pieces of historical importance may be viewed as ‘too important’, understandably. But you know what, if I owned the Marie Antoinette or the Graves watch, I use them everyday!!!! Although almost paradoxically, I’ve a feeling there’s a few who would consider that an insult to the art!!

 

Hope everyone’s well,

 

Dan

Not sure what happened to font halfway through!!

and while I would feel totally at ease wearing any of the objects of our attention every day in the company of fellow readers of this forum, in the real world, many do not recognize or respect the craftsmanship of our hobby, and see only "displays of wealth".  To avoid attention, I tend to wear a nice piece high up the wrist under the cuff, or more likely tend to wear less interesting, more routine pieces.  I end up wearing a perhaps a dozen of my watches regularly, and the rest tend get to run around the house, but don't get out of the garden.  My excuse for having too many watches without stamps in their passports...

I am constantly re-evaluating and tweaking my collection. The single biggest factor determining the direction of my collection is wrist time – what am I wearing and not wearing, and what would I wear if I had it. If I cease to wear a piece on a regular basis, I sell it, regardless of how “collectable” it is. If I would not wear it on a regular basis, I do not buy it, regardless of how collectable it is. It is that simple. I do not buy watches to gather dust in a safe, or to stare at in their box, or for investment purposes.

At the end of the day, one has to decide why they are collecting watches. If your primary goal is appreciation in value, or to occupy the inside of a safe for the occassional private viewing, the manner in which you buy and sell watches is guided accordingly. However, if your primary consideration is wrist time, the approach is entirely different. That’s the beauty of this hobby. Not only are our tastes different, but also our motivations. The reasons each of us buy and sell watches are incredibly diverse and divergent.

For me, its all about wrist time!!!

Craig

When I spend my hard-earned dollars on a timepiece I want to wear it.  Period.

Hope you are enjoying your new FPJ!  I imagine it on your wrist as I type this.

Cheers,

Daos

reporter looked at my wrist and said: " You actually wear your VH Goldpfeil?  Seriously did you pull it out of your safebox for this dinner only?"

I replied that it is on my wrist at least once a week.  She shook her head in disbelief.

What is the pleasure of owning something you cannot wear.

I still have my comic book collection from my youth.  I'll still pull them out of their mylar covers and flip through the pages once a while eventhough they are valuable.  My son sits right next to me and we share the moment.  Priceless!

 

Best, Mike

Wrist time what it's all about.

Cheers

I am with you , I can understand why Usher spoke like that , many people do not known what is true inspiration of watch, in my eyes the inspiration of watch is fine mechanical time device . Sometime , people buy very expensive audio because it is expensive and look good , they use it to listen to lousy quality CD , or an example as : one Chinese come to Hermes boutique at first time, and he bought some hundred thousand USD of porcelain items , he only known Hermes is big brand,but do not known Hermes is wellknown because of its leather goods .

But I do not understand why collector buy watch for "investment " in case they have good knownledge about watch. They buy the watch which they do not like it much but they think its value will raise in future . I really want to known what are reasons ? Do they want to prove that they have good knownledge so these watches which they choose have good value in future ?  Do they really want to make profit ?

Wear 'em!  I recently took delivery of a piece that I waited long enough for, and that is sufficiently rare, that before its arrival I thought many times that this would be "the one" watch that I would keep in the safe and take out from time to time to admire, wind, and then return.

I had it on my wrist and out of the house within 5 hours of delivery...

There's another watch I have the good fortune to own -- a unique piece, but very robust in its construction and mechanics (certainly not the Marie Antoinette!) -- that even its Independent maker was a bit surprised to see me wearing at a dinner.  Not because he didn't want it to be worn, but because, he said, most "collectors" would never wear the watch in hopes that it would appreciate in value.

Finally, in a thread a few months ago I told the story of bidding on the "Einstein" watch -- my pitiful bid was a small fraction of the final price for which the piece sold, but had I been successful, my full intent at the time was to put a fresh strap on it and wear it to my next office meeting ("Hey, look!  I'm wearing Einstein's watch!"). 

Recently met a fellow who told me (and I have no reason to doubt him, given the circumstances of the discussion) that he has $43million in watches, mostly stored in safes in Switzerland.  My view: if it gives him joy, fine -- but it's not for me and it saddens me that so many lovely pieces will sit silently.

Enjoy!

Best,

Gary G