Wendy SpiresCharlie Morgan, editorial director of Watch The Story, the iPad watch magazine, shares his wisdom on the best luxury timepieces to buy as an investment.
An Aston Martin or an Audemars Piguet?
It may seem odd to launch an article delving into the world of investing in watches by looking at a 1968 Aston Martin DB6 Mark I Volante but strangely enough this particular car opened my eyes to the merit of investing in “vintage”, swiftly followed by a certain amount of friend envy.
A number of you will have those friends, the ones who seem to consistently make the right moves and purchases that never seem to go wrong and always sees them coming up smelling of roses.
The friend in question purchased the aforementioned Aston in 2001 for the princely sum of £60,000 (around $97,000). Some nine years later he sold this stunning automobile in the October 2010 RM Auctions sale for £296,800. Like a true friend I smiled through gritted teeth and told him what a clever fellow he was, but was he really that clever or was it being in the right place at the right time?
After this sale and the inescapable gushing that followed I decided to look into how hard it would be to transfer these felicitous skills into the watch market.
For most, a watch or timepiece, dependent on which side of the fence you lean, is their only everyday accessory. This rings true particularly for men and makes it incredibly important. For most a luxury watch is a status piece. A City gent wearing an Audemars Piguet may be held in greater regard than one wearing an Omega.
The watch sector has grown remarkably over the last twenty years, with multiple luxury watch brands entering the market expressing their own unique provenance for all to hear - but buyers beware, are they worth their weight in gold?
With the upheaval in the world economy, one thing is for certain: tough times lie ahead for the “new kids on the block”. The last four years has seen a shift back to traditional and stable brands such as Rolex, IWC and Patek Philippe.
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