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Sunday, January 11, 2015

Are Luxury Watches The Biggest Hustle?


I love luxury watches.  I longingly look in the display cabinets of high end jewelers at Rolex, Zenith, Omega, TAG.  I even own a couple of affordable models.  But my practical side keeps telling me that these watches are the biggest hustle out there.

Do these watches do more than the standard $100 Seiko or Citizen watch?  No.  They tell the date and time and maybe have a stopwatch function.

Are these watches more accurate?  No.  They usually use an automatic movement that winds with the movement of your wrist and need to be adjusted and cleaned.  The average Seiko quartz battery watch will keep more accurate time and the battery will last 5+ years.  Citizen Eco Drive watches will never need a battery as they charge from light and some read the atomic radio signal to give you super-accurate time forever.

Any special features?  No, not really.  Some luxury models have functions to tell you the phase of the moon or a few other functions, but you can get the same info from inexpensive standard watches, and better info from a smartphone.  Advanced $300 "smart watches" will tell you where you are, your heart rate, how many calories you expended, who is calling you, play music, play games..

Are they good investments?  Well, it depends.  A Rolex will retain a lot of its value (60-80%) over a long period of time, and may well appreciate if it becomes rare and collectible, but this is an exception, not the rule.  Other luxury watches will retain some value (30-50%), but they are not investments, they will never earn a positive return.

Do they look good?  Yes, they do.  They are really jewelery and should be considered as such.

Given all these factors, how do I stop this push and pull from my emotional and practical side?

Photo credit: Flickr

8 comments:

  1. This is an interesting note Mark. Just recently I said something similar to my wife, regarding my like for luxury watches (I ain't driven by luxury nor fashion in general). But I advised my wife, don't ever buy me one, not for consideration to her pocket, but because I like to choose myself. My epilogue is, I rarely wear a watch... I just like the feeling of owning it and admiring its beauty (as if I was in a museum looking at a Monet)

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