Yesterday a friend that is not in watches (he does not wear one), asked
this question (followed by many others) that made me think a lot.
How we can advise and introduce a newbie on this fantastic hobby?
How
can a person that is entering on this mysterious and fantastic world
avoid most or some of the mistakes that we made when we started?
I’m sure that each one here already faced a question similar to this on and let’s see what “formula” we can propose to a novice.
I
will give mine but I’m expecting that the team here should have her/his
own “secret formula” but at the end, it will be the buyer call.
Let's start:
1) Don’t buy ANY watch now.
Wait
for some months. During this time visit ALL PuristSPro forums and spend
a quality time trying to learn the ups and downs of each brand.
Information is “the name of this game” and here you can have all information that you need.
Dumb
question is the one that you didn’t ask. Don’t hesitate to make
questions and if you don’t understand the answer, ask again and again.
Watches are an expensive hobby and your precious money MUST be wisely spent.
Not now. Wait. Be cool.
2) Don’t visit any watch boutique during this learning time.
Watch boutiques, during this time, are very dangerous.
They
have outstanding sales persons that will persuade you, for sure, that
their watches are exactly what you need and the watches that they sell
there are a perfect match for you (and your credit card/check book).
3) Same with pre-owned dealers
At
this moment, you don’t have the necessary knowledge to face a smart
(they are all) pre-owned watch dealer. For sure, those watches are much
less expensive but you don’t know, yet, how to judge when a pre-owned
watch is in good or bad shape.
One only learns how to proper
judge a pre-owned watch condition after years of experience and even the
experts fails, from time to time.
4) Learn about maintenance costs or better …
Try
to engage and make a good relationship with a great watchmaker. For
your first piece (I'm assuming that you go to buy brand new) a
watchmaker may seem unnecessary but, even for minor work like a bracelet
adjustment, is good to have a relation with your watchmaker.
Learning is the key to avoid major frustrations.
5) Consider where you are
Some places, countries, are full of thieves that have strong preferences for certain brands.
Inform yourself to determine if this is the case on your country and be careful.
This is a sad fact, but remember that we live on Earth and not on Heaven.
6) Your first watch, now that you are ready
At this point, after this learning process, you already is “in love” with a brand and model.
You already got informed about the ups and downs of this brand and you are ready to take the jump.
I’m assuming that, at this time, you got ALL information about the target watch. This includes EVERYTHING about this watch.
Be
sure that, no matter how much homework you did, that this first watch
would NOT be your true love on the long run but this will come later.
Go for the watch that speaks to your heart, meaning for the watch that is important to you and only to you.
Take your time, acquire this first one and enjoy.
Little but important hints:
a) Buy on an authorized dealer or, better, on a boutique. Yes, you go to pay more but this is the price for your peace of mind.
b) Try the watch. Don’t be shy to try others. Your “dream watch” may not be what you want.
c)
Be sure, if the watch is offered on a metal bracelet, to take the model
with the metal bracelet or you got to pay A LOT for a separate metal
bracelet. Even if you want a leather strap, ask the seller to replace
the bracelet and store it on a safe place.
d) Verify the watch
with a loupe, even if you are buying on a boutique. Watches are an
industrial product and they may contain flaws. Take your time checking
ALL features of the watch BEFORE you exit the boutique.
e) Check if the watch paperwork matches perfectly the watch. Serial/case numbers, model etc.
f)
Don’t forget to check if, in the case that they adjust your metal
bracelet, the removed links are on your box. An extra link costs A LOT.
g)
Final Warning: If anything is incorrect DON’T FINALIZE the acquisition,
even if the sales person states “they will replace this later”.
7) Some final points:
a)
It’s good to have in mind that watches, excluding some very exceptional
ones, are industrial mass products, made in hundreds, thousands or even
in millions. If one watch is offered to you as “unique”, walk away.
b)
Quality always carries a price. High quality watches costs
proportionally more. Notice that high price does not assure quality.
c) There is no overall BEST brand. A brand that can be great to one can be terrible to others.
d)
Watches are for enjoyment and are NOT a good investment. You go to
learn stories about someone that acquired a watch for X and then sold
for 10X. This never happens in real life.
e) Maintenance counts.
No matter how great is the watch, sooner or later it goes to need
maintenance (around five years on average). This maintenance must be
considered when doing an acquisition for long term or a used watch (in
this case I consider the maintenance as part of the cost).
f) I personally prefer brands that:
g) Used/Vintage watches
Sooner or later you go to enter into this field that can be very fun or very dangerous, depending on your approach.
When purchasing second hand/vintage, try to estimate the cost of an extended service/overhaul into the maximum value. This should be added to the price that you are ready to pay.
Another point when buying pre-owned/vintage is to get some information
about the seller ("buy the seller, not the watch" matters).
How did he/she
handle the watch?
Its difficult to find out directly, but one can infer a lot if one asks
him/her to demonstrate the watch to you; does he/she have a personal
relationship to the watch (i.e. are there certain points he/she puts
importance to?)
Does the seller know the specialties/uniqueness of the
watch?
Ask him/her how precise the watch runs.
The more detailed the
answers are to these questions the more one can be sure that the watch
was treasured.
If the watch includes the original box, papers etc. the seller may want to try to charge more, but you must consider that a "full set" is considered more valuable.
I personally refrain to acquire modern watches (made after the 1990) without the papers and preferable the original box.
A final point, is if the seller let you take the watch for a watchmaker that you trust for a final evaluation.
Summary