Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Part 3 - Things you need to know about collecting watches !

YES THE EL PRIMERO, 36,000 BPH , IN-HOUSE MOVEMENT ! THE BEST CHRONOGRAPH IN THE WORLD ! WITH TRIPLE CALENDAR & MOON PHASE BEST ! A POSH ON THE WRIST !
THE OMEGA GMT SEAMASTER IS A NICE PIECE AS IT CAN BE WORN FOR ALL OCCASION ! MOST IMPORTANT IT IS REASONABLELY PRICED IN THE PRE-OWNED
MARKET ! JUST LIKE A TOYOTA OR HONDA !

FRANK MULLER'S UNIQUE WATCH CASE ADDS A RETRO FEEL TO YOUR WRIST ! PLUS IT IS THE 1ST AUTOMATIC WATCH THAT DISPLAY 3 TIME ZONES ! AN AUDI ?



AP'S ROYAL OAK IS AN ICON ! THEIR FINISHING IS ONE OF THE BEST IN THE MARKET ! PLUS VERY LOUD ! BUT PLEASE ADD A SWEEPING SECOND HAND !!! VERY PRICY FOR A STEEL WATCH ! BMW ?



LIKE THE SIZE HATE THE WEIGHT ? TITANIMUM ??? BUT CANNOT BE POLISHED..........




A SPORTY & TRENDY PIECE THAT SUITS MEN WITH SMALLER WRIST AS WATCH IS 38MM ! LOVE THE EASY TO USED +/- FUNCTION & THE QUICK SET DATE AT 8 O'CLOCK POSITION ! A VW ?







GOOD INVESTMENT & RESALE VALUE ! AND VERY INN AS BIG WATCHES ARE WELL RECEIVED IN THE MARKET ! AND THIS IS THE MARKET LEADER FOR BIG WATCHES !
OTHERS ARE JUST FOLLOWERS ! BUT THE RUBBER STRAP NEEDS IMPROVEMENT !!!!
A PEUGEOT ??


ALWAYS SEARCHING FOR THAT PERFECT WATCH !!!!






Children & wife are asleep,time to do what i like best,spending time with my watches !
If you are still reading what I am writing you must be really bored or you are slowly lured into the fasinating world of watch collecting !
Q:WHAT SHALL I WRITE NEXT THEN ???
We have looked at brands the last time so next lets talk about design & function . Design is an important factor as looks & practicality are always in mens' mind (unlike women they only go for diamonds ! )
In short there are only 2 categories, namely dress & sport watches.
I personal dislike dress watches as they usually comes with leather strap,not very practical in this part of the world ! A good strap easily cost $200-$500 which is costly to replace & it stinks after 3 months ! But like I said these are just my personal opinion ! I do have exception,eg.
Panerai only looks good with leather straps btw their rubber strap sucks !
So we(men) chose our watches according to our tastes & life style,ask yourself these questions before you want to buy a watch ,do I want a trendy & sharp piece ?or something modern & sporty?or do I prefer something that is classy,retro looking?or am I looking for a tool watch (something for a special purpose) ?
I do have some suggestions for the above questions,if your are looking for something sporty AP royal oak jumbo & offshore,Rolex sport range,Patek steel models are pretty good choices if you can afford them. Of course how can I forget Panerai !They are the 1 responsible of bringing back big watches! But if you are collecting Panerai stick to their basic historic range,3 hands with date (pam104) & gmt range(pam 88) ! Currently market trend is the bigger the better !
However if you are searching for a tool watch Sinn(eg.144 gmt ti,103 utc ti)earlier range is prefered as the later range are over priced ,Omega(gmt Seamaster),are highly recommended ! 1 watch for every occasion. Up the hill ! Down the stream type ! When buying a tool watch always get the bracelet version.
Hope these questions will help you to narrow down your search.....


Next come trendy watches ,Frank Muller tonneau shape has been an icon among its range(master banker),Daniel Roth's watch case also has a unique shape , Gerald Genta's retro sport is also very modern looking,recently Roger Dubuis is also quite popular,not forgetting Cartier,Bvlgari, Hublot(they tried very hard to go in between AP & Panerai price range) & Graham(their swordfish looks pretty weird ! ),but all of them have alot of die hard fan & supportors ! Recently rubber seems to a in thing (be it the bezel or strap)


As for dress watch Patek ,Breguet,VC,Lange,Blancpain,Zennith(king of chronograph),JLC(reverso),Chronoswiss are nice pieces...........


A little tip over here regarding dress watches,try to get a watch that is 38mm-40mm in diameter as it hides nicely under your long sleeves shirt. In the past the smaller the case & the more complicated the movements is the better,as it very difficult to house a complicated movement in a small watch case........but things has changed currently collectors seems to prefer big watches instead.


Above are some of the watches we have owned before over the past 14-15 years,again some we kept & some we traded or sold ,but our conclusion is if, you only need 1 watch get one with a gmt function with date & bracelet plus a minimum 100-200m water resistance(esp. if u r the type that like to wear your watch to shower)


Adding on to the above mentioned matte finishing case is much better for out door as it does not reflect light,that is why most military time pieces are in titanimum.Anti-reflection on both sides of the crystal is also prefered.


Yet when you are doing the actual shopping for that "perfect watch",not many model actually fits the requirements !!!!! Hope you guys can share with us your choices too ! if u have the time.

Alright I'll stop here,we will go to functions & movements the next time (part 4)