Journal

Watch Files

Watches as collectibles and daily tools. Rotations, brand guides, and the entry-luxury market without the speculation.

The entry-luxury market is where the gap between a watch as an object and a watch as an asset is widest, and where most of the bad advice lives. Treating a mainstream mechanical watch as an investment usually means ignoring the running costs: mechanical movements need periodic servicing, and over a long enough hold the servicing can approach a meaningful share of what the watch cost. Approached as something to wear, the same watch is straightforwardly good value. So the useful questions here are ownership questions. What does a service cost and how often is it recommended? Is the movement one that independent watchmakers can work on, or does it have to go back to the manufacturer? Does the model have a deep enough secondhand market that you could sell it in a week if you had to? Those answers hold up across decades. Which reference happens to be scarce this year does not.