Interesting discussion, John . . . thanks for presenting this topic.

Of course, the question of who buys watches also raises the questions of "who sells watches?" and "who collects watches?"

I am on a flight . . . must keep it quick.

I look forward to some responses and to your presentation / conclusions.

Jeff

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

: I am working on another iteration of my presentation on collecting
: watches. In the wake of the recent Bonhams auction
: http://www.bonhams.com/auctions/21971/ of significant (mostly
: American) pocket watches and all of the talk about various wrist
: watch auctions here I have started to sort out my thoughts on
: what types of people buy high end watches. It is difficult and
: perilous to try to place people in to categories. Very little in
: life is absolute. However I think it is sometimes useful to
: think about motivations especially among
: collectors....so....below are some of my broad, preliminary
: thoughts about the types of people who buy high end watches.
: What do you think....and if you want...where do you fall on the
: spectrum?

: JohnCote

: TYPES OF PEOPLE WHO BUY HIGH END WATCHES:

: 1) Dealers (defined as someone who is more interested in the
: profit than the watch.)

: 2) Collectors (defined as someone who is more interested in
: the watch than the some future profit.)
: a. The man on a mission
: i. The man on a mission has to have every Autavia and will buy with
: less regard to the economics of the deal just to fill out his
: collection. This collector’ knowledge base is an obsession and
: though his focus may change over time he will drill down and
: learn about every minor variant in both the aesthetics and
: mechanics of a brand or caliber.
: b. The opportunist
: i. The opportunist is a collector who knows what he likes and wants
: but who is willing to wait until he finds a good deal. Perhaps
: his desires are more broad/less focused. He is not the guy who
: is on a mission to have every type of Autavia or Carrera. He can
: be happy picking up either an Autavia or a Carrera, or even the
: occasional Zenith ELP or Omega when the opportunity presents
: itself. The opportunist’s knowledge base is broad. He has
: studied the kind of watches he likes but may not have drilled
: down into every bit of minutia involved in a single brand or
: their calibers.
: c. The accumulator
: i. The accumulator does not have a focus and will buy whatever
: strikes his fancy at the time. Some accumulators buy because of
: price and some just buy because the goods are in front of them.
: Accumulators are probably but not necessarily less educated
: about watches both in terms of history, technology and value.

: 3) The casual watch lover (defined as someone who likes
: watches/wearing watches for whatever reason but is not on a
: mission to own lots of them.)