Horological Meandering

Ubik
1871

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A vintage perspective

I hesitate to add another thought here, so much has been covered and many very lucid points made.

My area of interest is in vintage watches and so my comments can only be about those, but maybe I can add some
extra concepts to the mix. First, I haven't come across the term "intrinsic value" before, but I can share with you the
perspective I have as a vintage collector and how it might relate to this term.

The first thing to say is that I have learnt that it is not all subjective, by that I mean that the value of a vintage watch
is NOT ONLY in the eye of the beholder. That of course does play a part, as does many of the other variables (rarity, beauty, provenance) already mentioned, but equally so does the quality of the watch.

When I look at old auction catalogues, of course I marvel at the prices for some things, but of even more interest to me
is the relationship between values of different watches and I ask myself, why has that relationship changed over the past ten or twenty years?

As an example, there are two collectible military watches that come from the 40's and 50's and are known as the MK 11. One is made by IWC and one is made by JLC. Ten years ago I would say that the JLC cost half as much as the IWC. However, today I would say
they cost the same, with some people now valuing the JLC above the IWC. Why?

Rarity and taste obviosuly come into play and maybe some element of the current brands stature, but equally so collectors have looked at the JLC and said, this is of equal quality to the IWC, yet costs much less than the IWC. It doesn't make sense and so more people began to buy them and ultimately the market established the correct price for the same quality item.

Another factor that has affected them, and this is only my conjecture, is that of knowledge.

Over the last ten years several articles have been written about these watches and their history has been unearthed. As more information about them has come to light we understand just how rare the JLC is, some three thousand produced, compared to over eight thousand IWC's, this has also coloured their value.

Equally more is understood about the movement and how good it was and how it came out of JLC's movements of the period. Most of this information wasn't known over ten years ago, but as we understand the value of this watch - it's true quality - in comparison to the IWC, then the value of each has become more equal.

Some more simple examples of quality affecting price might be, waterproof Vs non-waterproof.

Chronographs from the Forties and Fifties came in two types, ones with snap backs and flat pushers and ones with screw backs and round pushers (waterproof). Waterproof watches are made to a higher quality generally and so command a better price. Ones that are made from Staybrite steel also command a better price, because this is a higher quality steel that was only used in better quality watches.

Every brand has their own internal hierarchy and you need to know about that brand - or sometimes even more specifically about the particular line of watch - to understand why people value one version above another.

Of course we have only scratched the surface of quality Vs value debate and their are many more factors at play, but I wanted to add a little of my personal journey through vintage watches to the discussion and to say it's not purely subjective. What makes this such an exciting area of collecting is that it's an undiscovered country and more and more will come to light in the coming decades.

Two great examples to look at are the recent post by Dr Strong on his Comex and Bill Sohne on the White dialled railmaster. Bill does a great job of breaking down build elements and discussing why he believes this is a watch whose quality in each area makes it stand out.

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