zOwie Omega Discussion Forum

: To that point, I recently noted IWC cut their prices by about 8% --
: including on gold watches. When was the last time the prices
: went down on a Swiss make?

: So, it doesn't affect you regarding what others buy, just the
: fact the others are buying. That's what "pushes the
: button".

: More seasoned collectors probably buy fewer watches, and make fewer
: mistakes, but on average buy more expensive watches. Face it,
: you already have all the cheap ones you want!

: I agree with your sentiment about the forums being slower in the
: future, and somewhat with your reasoning as to the cause.
: However, I think there is a broader and much more pervasive
: cause that is ultimately more controlling.

: First, most forum members are male and between the ages of 40 and
: 60. We are old enough to remember having mechanical timepieces
: and that a man wore a watch if he were a responsible member of
: society (or perceived as one).

: To your point, the forum members are now worried about their
: employment and their retirement, and have less time to consider
: their expensive obsession and less resources to devote to it.
: Further, conspicuous consumption of any variety is currently out
: of style.

: But ultimately, I think we have seen the peak of mechanical
: wristwatch collecting.

: The fascination that our generation and those of our age have for
: these tiny machines is not shared by those younger than us. They
: have no connection to the history or the heritage. Those younger
: than us buy Seamasters because of James Bond and Panerais
: because they are fashionable. There are exceptions, of course,
: but most see a mechanical watch as an expensive fashion
: indulgence -- which is now out of fashion.

: Not that mechanical watches are anything but an expensive obsession
: -- they are. But our generation and age have a connection which
: justifies the indulgence for many of us.

: I think that mechanical wristwatches will become a much smaller
: collectible market in the way that pocket watches are today.

: A generation ago, pocket watches were the collectable timepiece for
: our parents, peaking in the 1980s where three-piece suits gave a
: pocket watch a brief usable life. In the same way that
: mechanical wristwatches were the prized possession of our
: forebears that quartz obsoleted before our eyes, pocket watches
: became an old man's anachronistic bauble during our parent's
: lives. But they prized the pocket watches that their elders
: used, caressed and valued and had a connection with them.

: Today, there is essentially no market and no large scale production
: of mechanical pocket watches. I do not think mechanical
: wristwatches will decline to that state, but I think the market
: and models produced will never again be as large as it is today.
: We are seeing the beginning of a long decline of mechanical
: watches, both new production and in the market for vintage
: collectibles.

: I am not saying this with regret or with rancor, just a factual
: recognition of what is most likely to happen.

:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:

:
:
:

:
:

: :) So want to sell your collection really cheap? Get out now
: before the market really crashes!!

NO......................... nothing to see here so move along...................

As per your norm.............you overthunk it.
I believe you are correct in the assumption that the peak of collecting mechanical wristwatches is over......maybe. The pocket watch and the wristwatch
are a different collectible, meaning, a pocketwatch is useless except as a collectible and a wristwatch enjoys being useful to most. No one carries a pocketwatch
but most have a watch, abet a quartz, but still a watch of sorts. The mechanical wristwatch hayday may be over but they will still be collected by people
as a rich mans indulgence. Conspicuous consumption of any variety is currently out of style in some circles, not all, and, we usually don't advertise that we collect
expensive watches, at least to others that we don't know well. Its always been that way, at least for me.

Money drives the watch market: those that have the interest and funds will continue to collect, those that don't, won't. Simple.

Great thread Sam, makes my head hurt. Want to see me start a "I got a new Seamaster thread?"
jim