Replica Watch are beneting collectibles
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NEW YORK -- A watch's primary function might be to keep track of
hours, minutes and seconds but its style, system and statement are
hardly secondary factors.
That was a lesson collectors learned with orologi watcheshttp://www.watcheshop.net.
Advancements in timekeeping techniques -- some of which date back
centuries -- barely budged until the 1970s when orologi
watcheshttp://www.watcheshop.net came on the scene, replacing the
tension-controlled springs found in mechanical uhren watcheshttp://www.watcheshop.net
with a crystal in an electric field to oscillate at a constant
frequency.
Almost immediately, the demand for mechanical orologi watcheshttp://www.watcheshop.net
waned and a slowdown in production of those fake watcheshttp://www.watcheshop.net
followed.
But what happens when people stop making something?
"Everyone wants one," says Edward Faber, co-owner of New York's Aaron
Faber Gallery, which sells vintage, collectible and estate jewelry.
"They want one for the nostalgia of a mechanical watch."
That made such orologi watcheshttp://www.watcheshop.net "collectible,"
and in a world of expensive toys and eccentric hobbies, collectible
often is a code word for valuable.
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"Now if you have a Daytona Rolex or Patek Philippe moon-phase (watch)
-- if you have the means to acquire these -- when you walk into a
board meeting in Los Angeles, London, Paris or Italy, it gives you
cache," says Faber, who wrote "American Wristwatches : Five Decades of
Style and Design" (Schiffer).
The private market for high-end mechanical orologi watcheshttp://www.watcheshop.net
started to skyrocket, with particular interest from European and Asian
collectors, and auction houses recognized the trend. The value
continues to increase so dramatically, according to Faber, that uhren
watcheshttp://www.watcheshop.net made in the 1950s and '60s that cost
hundreds of dollars then, are now worth thousands. "The Rolex Explorer
-- a simple black military watch -- sold for $300 in the '70s. Now you
can spend $6-, $7- or $8,000. You could have bought a Patek Philippe
moon-phase full- price for $2,000 in the early '80s, now you cannot
find shade sail for less than $100,000," says Faber.
A Cartier Tortue Minute Repeater, a rare minute-repeating wristwatch
in 18-karat yellow gold from the 1920s, was auctioned earlier this
year in New York for $640,500.
A luxury watchhttp://www.watcheshop.net is an acceptable -- yet
noticeable -- sign of wealth for a man looking for a counterpart to a
woman's diamond ring.
or tennis bracelet. "A big gold bracelet or pinky ring -- a man can't
really wear. But it's OK to wear a 1930s Cartier or Vacheron
Constantin," observes Faber. He says that Ralph Lauren has worn an
exaggerated tank watch (a rectangular shape) as a symbol of style and
elegance for years, and once something is spotted on celebrities and
fashion insiders, consumers will follow.
However, for orologi watcheshttp://www.watcheshop.net to keep their
value, they also have to be perceived as
NEW YORK -- A watch's primary function might be to keep track of
hours, minutes and seconds but its style, system and statement are
hardly secondary factors.
That was a lesson collectors learned with orologi watcheshttp://www.watcheshop.net.
Advancements in timekeeping techniques -- some of which date back
centuries -- barely budged until the 1970s when uhren watcheshttp://www.watcheshop.net
came on the scene, replacing the tension-controlled springs found in
mechanical orologi watcheshttp://www.watcheshop.net with a crystal in
an electric field to oscillate at a constant frequency.
Almost immediately, the demand for mechanical orologi watcheshttp://www.watcheshop.net
waned and a slowdown in production of those watches followed.
But what happens when people stop making something?
"Everyone wants one," says Edward Faber, co-owner of New York's Aaron
Faber Gallery, which sells vintage, collectible and estate jewelry.
"They want one for the nostalgia of a mechanical watch."
That made such orologi watcheshttp://www.watcheshop.net "collectible,"
and in a world of expensive toys and eccentric hobbies, collectible
often is a code word for valuable.
Advertisement
"Now if you have a Daytona Rolex or Patek Philippe moon-phase (watch)
-- if you have the means to acquire these -- when you walk into a
board meeting in Los Angeles, London, Paris or Italy, it gives you
cache," says Faber, who wrote "American Wristwatches : Five Decades of
Style and Design" (Schiffer).
The private market for high-end mechanical orologi watcheshttp://www.watcheshop.net
started to skyrocket, with particular interest from European and Asian
collectors, and auction houses recognized the trend. The value
continues to increase so dramatically, according to Faber, that
watches made in the 1950s and '60s that cost hundreds of dollars then,
are now worth thousands. "The Rolex Explorer -- a simple black
military watch -- sold for $300 in the '70s. Now you can spend $6-,
$7- or $8,000. You could have bought a Patek Philippe moon-phase full-
price for $2,000 in the early '80s, now you cannot find them for less
than $100,000," says Faber.
A Cartier Tortue Minute Repeater, a rare minute-repeating wristwatch
in 18-karat yellow gold from the 1920s, was auctioned earlier this
year in New York for $640,500.
A luxury watchhttp://www.watcheshop.net is an acceptable -- yet
noticeable -- sign of wealth for a man looking for a counterpart to a
woman's diamond ring.
or tennis bracelet. "A big gold bracelet or pinky ring -- a man can't
really wear. But it's OK to wear a 1930s Cartier or Vacheron
Constantin," observes Faber. He says that Ralph Lauren has worn an
exaggerated tank watch (a rectangular shape) as a symbol of style and
elegance for years, and once something is spotted on celebrities and
fashion insiders, consumers will follow.
However, for orologi watcheshttp://www.watcheshop.net to keep their
value, they also have to be perceived as special and rare.
When the pendulum looked like it was swinging back toward mechanical
orologi watcheshttp://www.watcheshop.net in the late '80s, Swiss watch
netpanies increased production. However, the skilled craftspeople of
the previous generation were gone, Faber explains, so the netpany
looked to netputers to help.
The result is well-made contemporary watches with a lot of bells and
whistles that cost a lot, but they don't netmand the interest or price
of vintage watches, he says. "When you take that soul out of it, you
lose it."
It's a perpetual challenge to mix modernity with a brand's heritage
and integrity, all equally important elements when you're hoping to
design a future collectible, says Stanislas de Quercize, president and
CEO of Cartier North America.
For the 100th anniversary of Cartier's first wristwatch, the Santos,
the netpany unveiled an updated version with its classic square face
and screws that stand out, representing the rivets on an aircraft that
Louis Cartier's friend Alberto Santos-Dumont would have flown. Cartier
created the watch so Santos-Dumont would be able to tell time while he
was in his plane and unable to reach his pocket watch.
"For the new Santos, the spirit is the same. The square watch is a
provocative design because most orologi watcheshttp://www.watcheshop.net
are round, and it has the screws that are a tribute to
industrialization but a much larger size and sturdier," de Quercize
explains. "We want to keep the myth alive by reinterpreting the
classical shape and classical spirit. We still want someone to
immediately recognize that you're wearing a Santos."
More people are collecting uhren watcheshttp://www.watcheshop.net even
though the need for them as a timekeeping tool is diminishing since
cell phones, TV news crawls and netputers display the hour and minute,
he notes.
"The people who are collecting watcheshttp://www.watcheshop.net do
Shade sail because it's something that recalls our dream of eternity.
It's also one way to remind us that time isn't forever. The precious
watch on your wrist reminds us that our time is precious and the way
we're spending our time is up to us everyday," he says.
Brian Pier probably wasn't that reflective when he bought his first
Swatch, certainly a less expensive "collectible" but probably more
recognizable.
He was on vacation in the Netherlands in the early 1980s and shelled
out about $30 for the quirky watch with a black face, gold hands and a
black plastic band that he expected would last two weeks. "I thought
it would make a nice souvenir," says the 48-year-old corporate
recruiting manager for an information technology netpany in
Springfield, Ill.
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