If you buy the right "expensive watches" you get the enjoyment of owning and wearing them and they can make quite a wise investment unlike money in the bank and most car people think nothing of spending £££ on a new high end car only to find it's worth half or less than the original purchase price two or three years down the road ... LR products are a very good example of this.

Bought myself a Breitling Navitimer in 1972. Was into sports and motor rally's and needed a stopwatch. Time passed and bought a Casio radio controlled watch with stopwatch world time etc. Became a geek to second accuracy. Sold the Navitimer for a small fortune at auction five years ago. Now I have a smart watch and take phone calls on it. I'm now at the age when I think I need "BEAM ME UP SCOTTIE"

There was a bloke on Antiques roadshow this week with his dads beat up but very early Rolex sub. Again, Rolex subs are middle range tool watches. Have a look at it from 51:57. https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000...-mansion-1 Past: FL2 TD4 HSE Auto
Evoque SD4 Dynamic Lux Auto
Present: Audi A3 S Line.

Yeah saw that , Are you very wealthy... Rolex sub mid range I suppose against A Patek maybe.

But that Sub was valued on exactly what it was, a genuine military spec and service used watch with one owner and perfect provenance, it could go for more than the £50K estimate......military Submariner collectors really do splash out....see what I did there?

A normal high street supplied Sub of that age might go for as little as £20K. (which probably had a RRP of about £1K)......rarity and provenance is King.

I bought a Oysterquartz back in the early 80’s for about £400.....nobody wanted quartz Rolex then, it’s now easily £3K and going higher each year, the quartz Oyster Rolex are the rarest Rolex they made.....who knew?

I’d wish I’d bought a submariner while in the SBS though  Regards

David

Lovely i6 has now gone, but not me......

Please let me know if anything in my post offends you, as I may wish to offend you again......

GundogSD4 wrote:

If you buy the right "expensive watches" you get the enjoyment of owning and wearing them

That could be said about most things, early Motorola brick phones are now worth more than they were when new as are early Apple computers, Atari games and so on...

That is one of the points that puzzles me, people question why people buy expensive watches when they could use a mobile phone to tell the time and then go on to buy a new 600>1200 mobile phone every couple of years  Regards

David

Lovely i6 has now gone, but not me......

Please let me know if anything in my post offends you, as I may wish to offend you again......

My mind has turned towards Christmas already and with contributions from family plus putting money to one side over the coming months, I have decided that I want this:

Click image to enlarge

Nice watch, that...or an earlier version was my first foray into watches, wow just realised it was a present for my 50th, only 17 years ago but it’s still used occasionally (I rarely wear watches nowadays I have retired) and never been serviced either, still keeps excellent time.

If your going to keep it as “your” watch it’ll be a great companion, if you might want to sell it (or flip it as is the term) in a few years then you might be better buying a cheaper Rolex as they just don’t depreciate. Regards

David

Lovely i6 has now gone, but not me......

Please let me know if anything in my post offends you, as I may wish to offend you again......

The Doctor wrote:

Steve D, you have experience with Omega. This is £4,450 RRP which I am not wanting to pay. Swiss Watches Direct can supply it for £4,000.

Any thoughts on SWD? They get good reviews.

So unlike you not to pay full retail Doc. That’s what married life does for you.

Yeah, SWD are fine to buy from. One thing I did when I bought mine was to take out an Amex card and use that to fund it - I got £100 back and two free airport lounge visits as well, then binned the card before I had to pay for the second years membership. Don’t forget to pay it off at the end of the month - IN FULL!

Im wearing my SMPc today with an Omega Nato strap - makes it very light.


 Past: FL2 TD4 HSE Auto
Evoque SD4 Dynamic Lux Auto
Present: Audi A3 S Line.

There is one thing to check Doc , before you part with your cash . Ask them if the watch is a U.K. distributor supplied unit , or is it a grey import . I say this as their website says that all watches come with the manufacturers ‘ international guarantee ‘ .
Now obviously that guarantee is good , but will the service be as good as you would get if there was an issue with the watch , and you went back to a supplying dealer in your home town ? . The suppling dealers may be authorised sure , but they may not be U.K.

I suspect that if you turn up at your local dealer with the intent to buy a £4-5k luxury watch , and you have a quote from SWD , you would be in a strong position to get price matching or near enough ( with the possible exception of stainless Rolex sports ) . I’ve certainly had 10 percent off a Tudor Ranger I bought (when I took my GMT in for service and it was going to be away for 4 months) and I know of several people who got discounts on less popular Rolexes .

Also your local dealer will do things like remove links from the bracelet If needed , to give a perfect fit , rather than you just using the clasp , take the hassle out of any warranty issue , and sit you in nice armchairs with glasses of champagne whilst you decide . 2009 GS Auto Zermatt Silver - Sold June 21 after 10 years of ownership

2016 Subaru Outback SE 2.0 diesel SE Premium Lineartronic Sold 2024 after 8 years and 80k miles . Best Car I ever owned !

2023 Toyota Hilux invincible X 2.8 Auto .

Thanks both. Plenty of time for me to deliberate further and shop around just in case  LL.B (Hons) - University of Derby
LOT (Lord of Time) - University of Gallifrey

MartynB wrote:

There is one thing to check Doc , before you part with your cash . Ask them if the watch is a U.K. distributor supplied unit , or is it a grey import . I say this as their website says that all watches come with the manufacturers ‘ international guarantee ‘ .
Now obviously that guarantee is good , but will the service be as good as you would get if there was an issue with the watch , and you went back to a supplying dealer in your home town ? . The suppling dealers may be authorised sure , but they may not be U.K. ....

Both my Omegas were grey imports - pre-registered abroad, unworn with all stickers and with all bar a couple of months missing from the manufacturers guarantee. Both have been off for repairs under warranty - the Seamaster (running slow) with less than a month warranty left on it and they paid for registered, insured postage. They fully serviced it and gave me a further two years warranty on the service. Bonus is, each time you get a nice free Omega travel case and hard shell to keep when it’s returned.  Past: FL2 TD4 HSE Auto
Evoque SD4 Dynamic Lux Auto
Present: Audi A3 S Line.

For those into watches.

Now on 19:00, Sky Arts (Freeview CH 11) is a bit on really old watches.

May be a repeat, may be of interest ??