Never buy a luxury watch until you watch these 21 minutes

There's something about watches that men use to interpret stories or tell stories or kind of decode when they meet another guy. You know, you take a look at his wrist and you see what he's wearing and it tells you something about him. When do you think men start becoming aware of that and when does that start to matter in life? That's a good question. You know, I guess it really depends your fondness, how do I say, for the kind of, maybe not the luxury lifestyle, but I would say for like the finer things, right? I think a lot of people kind of are discerned in two ways. Either they kind of live a life, and this is a terrible way to put it, but live a life of mediocrity. They're just content with the status quo. Then there's others who kind of chase, I would say, the next level of things, be it in business, in their personal life, be it, you know, working out the whole nine, right? So I feel like it kind of goes part and parcel with anything. When you collect or appreciate finer things, watches naturally becomes one of them because, I mean, the kind of hobby of collecting watches, or even if you go back to pocket watches, has been around for over 500 years. So at this point, you know, it's pretty well known in culture and so anybody who is a cultured person, I feel like, is kind of, it's just a natural gateway into that world. Yeah, absolutely. So when a young man makes his first bit of money and he wants to invest it into a timepiece, what kind of price range are we typically looking at for a first high quality watch? Yeah, I think one of the big misconceptions about a high quality watch is you have to spend a lot of money. You know, like I'm wearing a Patek Philippe, which is probably the upper echelon, right? The highest level you can get, but you really don't have to spend tens of thousands of dollars to get something that is of excellent quality. I think if you're looking at a sub $1,000 price level, brands like Tissot, Hamilton, Seiko are the three big names I kind of tell people and recommend people to look into because these are kind of brands with a lot of history. They have great economies of scale, so you know you're getting a very high quality product for the money. Now, of course, as you go up in price, you can kind of discern based on complications or things like in-house movements of that matter. Now, we have a couple watches in front of us, but these are kind of brands that we represent. Of course, another excellent option is to go the pre-owned route, but to kind of focus on, I would say, let's say you want to purchase a brand new timepiece for yourself. In the sub $5,000 price category, I don't think that there is a better brand than Tudor. So, Tudor is a sister company for Rolex. They're actually both owned and operated by the Hans Wilsor Foundation, and under the $5,000 price point, they make, without question, the best sports watch on the market, and probably its most popular watch is this one right here. It's the Tudor Black Bay 58, this one in the black version. I want to say they released this back in 2016, and it is, to this day, probably one of our best-selling watches, and without question, probably the line that really helped revive Tudor, and they've made other iterations of it. Now, the Black Bay 54 in 37 millimeters, as opposed to 39 here, and now the Coke GMT, this one on a rubber strap, but you can also get it on a metal bracelet. I think those are kind of emblematic of, I would say, the perfect everyday watch, where, you know, maybe 10 or 15 years ago, a Rolex Submariner was your first luxury watch, priced at around, you know, $5,000 back then. New, if you were going pre-owned, probably around the $3,000 to $4,000, that was when you can just kind of walk in and get one new at retail, but I think Tudor has kind of taken that place of the best first luxury watch for most collectors who are looking for a really high-level timepiece. So what happened with Rolex that has made them much more expensive and difficult to get hold of in recent years? It's an excellent question. So I like to say that Rolex actually doesn't compete in the watch industry, so they're outside of the watch industry entirely. They're a lifestyle brand. I think what Rolex does is they sell a lifestyle. People who enjoy Rolex watches are kind of, like we mentioned earlier, right? People who are akin to the finer things in life, kind of like Hermes, for example. I don't think Hermes operates in the fashion industry. They're a lifestyle brand, and so that's kind of how Rolex unlocked that, and I would say the genesis of that was probably in 2017. So there was a very famous auction of Paul Newman's Paul Newman Daytona that sold at the time for the record for around 18 million all-in for the watch, and from then it's kind of when watches, I would say, started to disappear from Rolex showcases and when they started to kind of sell above market, I would say, in the next following years, and I think COVID kind of accelerated that process, especially because supply chain issues and just less overall supply being put out on the market, despite the fact that, you know, Rolex makes over a million watches a year. Every single one of them sells out, which is, you know, nothing short of remarkable. Yeah. In terms of the brand prestige and being recognized by people that aren't in the watch world as much, which other brands are maybe on a similar level but a little bit more accessible? Maybe an Omega or something like that? Yeah, absolutely. I would say, so when I first started, my answer originally was a Tudor Black Bay 58. Now, there's a kind of starter entry-level luxury watch. Now, when I started in the industry five years ago, Speedmaster was 5,000 new, so that was my personal pick, right? Because it's the moon watch, if you're getting the professional model, which to me was the best, you know, that was amazing. All the history behind it, the design is perfect, but now that watch is $9,000 new, which is a big stretch for a lot of people. Yeah. Of course, you can still go pre-owned and get something around the $55,000 to $6,000 price range if you're getting the latest model, but, you know, Omega is a great brand. I think Cartier is also one that is very, very popular, especially among our generation. Things like the Santos, the Tank, and even among ladies, the Pantera, the Tank, these are some of the most popular watches on the watch market, even beyond like a Rolex Datejust, for example. They are really, really popular among women. Yeah, absolutely. In terms of depreciation, one of my clients described this very well as, you know, I was talking about buying expensive watches, and he said, well, I consider how much it costs to own rather than how much it costs me to buy, and wearing a watch is sometimes a way of storing an asset on your wrist, and you get the fun of wearing it at the same time. Let's take, for example, the Black Bay. This is around $4,500. If somebody were to buy this today, walk out, wear it for a day, and try and sell it the next day, how much would they probably get for that? Yeah, I mean, like, listen, I'm a buyer for the company. I buy pre-owned watches all the time, so I would offer them $3,000, which is a pretty big, obviously, hit from the retail price, but it's kind of hard to explain. The pre-owned versus the new buyer is a totally different beast, right? Like, they're two different clientele, so the people buying a brand new watch kind of want an unmarred product, right? They want something that is distinctly theirs. They're the first owner. They're the first person to wear it, the first person to put scratches on it. The person buying a pre-owned watch is the more value-conscious shopper, of course. Like, the watch I'm wearing today is a watch that retails for $75,000. Now, I'm 26 years old. I come from a very middle-class family. I can never afford that new at retail, so I bought it pre-owned for less than half of what its current retail is, right? So, that's the idea, right? Those people who are gonna purchase pre-owned watches or be value-conscious are gonna look at the pre-owned market as opposed to new, but there's something nice about buying a brand new watch, and the reason I say that is because, again, it really depends what you're buying it for. If you're buying to keep it forever, in theory, there's nothing more kind of special, right? Like, I never had... My grandfather didn't collect watches. My father didn't collect watches, but my idea is now I will make my memories with my watches and pass them on to the next generation, right? And so, like, there's something about buying a brand new watch. Like, this is dad's watch, you know, or this is uncle whoever's watch, uncle Marco's watch. There's something kind of special about that, even though, you know, who knows if you bought a new or pre-owned, but kind of having a new watch that's distinctly only been yours, that's kind of special. Absolutely. So, at the newer level, we've got, you know, new price range. We've got the something like the Tudor for a more sporty look, and then for dress watches, tell me a bit more about, for example, this one by Longines. Yeah, so Longines, I would say, when it comes to the dress watch range, are by far and away the best in their class. You get a lot of the time in-house movements from Longines, which ultimately purchased ETA, which is just a movement manufacturer, but, you know, tried, tested workhorse movements in their watches, and you get very bulletproof designs. So, something like this, for example, with this engraved dial is something you can wear with a suit, something you can dress down if you change the strap, or you can even get something on a bracelet. I mean, we just discussed the Tudor Black Bay 58 line, which is a very kind of sporty, rugged watch. It's a diver watch, and this here is a lot more dressy. So, for a young professional, I think something like this, the Master Control Collection with the Moonface, it's just an excellent watch. It's distinct, it's beautiful, it's got a complication. I love a Moonface, very romantic, or you can even go in the kind of more sporty realm with their new most popular seller, which is the Zulu Time. So, kind of taking the same inspiration of a dive watch, now with the GMT, and this is kind of a very historically accurate watch that they used to make, and now kind of redesigned it for their kind of current production line. I think the watches are becoming more popular as well, partly because they're being used to signal status and presence in a room, in a world where sometimes the most successful people don't necessarily dress up, or we're all kind of... The playing field has been leveled in some other aspects, you know, and people are making money in ways that are non-traditional. They're making money online, so you might be able to walk around in a wife beater all day because you're a gym guy, but you've got a lot of money, so you can wear the watch, and that kind of establishes that. And I think also, you know, the amount of networking that you're able to do by just even recognizing a watch is unbelievable. So, for example, I was out for dinner with my in-laws and my girlfriend, let's call them in-laws, soon-to-be in-laws, right? And there was a gentleman, we were at a Greek restaurant, he was wearing a Rolex Daytona, obviously I could kind of spot it from a mile away being in the industry, and I said, hey, that's a really nice Rolex Daytona that you have on your wrist. He's like, oh, thank you so much, you know, like I bought it from so-and-so. And I actually ended up striking up a conversation with him, he's a business owner, and like, this is somebody I would never normally connect with, and I ended up selling him a watch. Now, that's great in my kind of business, right? But I mean, just even the quality of people that you'll meet and the network that you're able to reach, just being able to be interested or have the timepiece, there's no question about it. The doors that it opens is unbelievable. What kind of base level does that start to open up to you? Obviously, if you're in the car world, there's a certain level of car that you need to have to bring it to Cars and Coffee. Where does that start, would you say, with watches? You know, the watch world is interesting, in that there's far less pretentiousness. So you can collect at the sub-$1,000 level, and I think it's kind of like what you discuss on your content, that people are so afraid to just show up, right? Post their first Instagram reel, but in our world, it's just show up to a meet, for example, right? They think that, oh, their watch collection is inferior to what other people will have, and so they shouldn't even go to begin with. I think that's the most phallic logic ever. It's terrible. The whole point of even coming into a luxury store, for example, is trying these watches on. You'll never get a real idea of how a watch is and feels and wears without actually physically trying it on. I'm a nuts and bolts guy. I could dissect each one of these watches for you, but it does nothing until you actually physically try it on your wrist and see how it feels. Yeah. I know you don't need to be in the business of convincing people how great watches are, but if somebody is of the mindset of, well, I just have this one Seiko, this one Timex, why would I spend so much money on a watch? What would you say to them? You know, that's an excellent point. I mean, listen, at the end of the day, people will collect for different reasons, and you can't be into everything, right? Listen, I collect pens, I collect cufflinks, ties, suits, shoes. It never ends. Some people are more just into collecting. 100%. You have that collector's gene. A lot of the time, you'll just be into collecting is what I call it, right? But for those who are content with their one watch, that's perfectly fine. I'll never try to sway somebody away from what their personal tastes and styles are. If you're comfortable owning one watch for the rest of your life, there's something also very poetic about that, I think. Being able to just own one watch. I don't think personally it's a collection. That's my hot take. That's not a collection. Collection implies plurality. I agree. You've got to have more than one. However, I do admire the person who has a one watch collection because, you know what, they stop chasing. That's me. And that's kind of the thing. I've been into, what, about 50 watches in the last five years. It's outrageous. It makes my head spin sometimes. But I very much envy the one watch collection, for sure. Yeah. But if you were to give somebody a glimpse of maybe the magic that you get from watch collecting and wearing different watches, how would you describe that? It's unbelievable. Every single watch personifies something different. I have, for example, a watch. It's a Rolex GMT. And it was my second Rolex I ever purchased. And I have a YouTube channel. I used to have a personal YouTube channel. It's kind of how I got into the whole watch hobby, collecting, and also now in the business. And to make a long story short, I was doing a live stream one night, and it was my birthday. And people were like, hey, could we donate some money to you for your birthday? And one thing led to another. And in a little over 24 hours, I got a little over 20,000 in donations. And one of the people who donated over $3,000 reached out and said, hey, you can pick any watch from Rolex you want, and I'll get it for you brand new at retail, which is impossible to get at the time. This is like peak COVID. They're not selling any watches. And now every time I wear that watch, I ended up going with a Rolex GMT. A month later, it arrived at my doorstep. I paid the man, and we're all set. So every single time I put that watch on wrist, I'm reminded of those memories, the friendships I made through that, and all that kind of amazing, just kind of all those amazing memories I've made with it, being in university with that wristwatch on and all that kind of good stuff. It's pretty cool to be in college with a Rolex GMT. It's unbelievable. But you don't have to own a Rolex GMT. That's the beauty of this. You can own a Seiko and make those same kind of memories with it that I made with it, even though it's attached to something totally different. To me, the watch is so special. And I try not to hang on to material objects too much, but there's something about owning something that is distinctly yours. There's a bunch of other Rolex GMTs out there, but that's my GMT. That's very polite. And I think that part of the appeal of a more high quality or more luxurious timepiece is the fact that it's hard to obtain. That it is a milestone in and of itself to be at a place in your life where you can purchase it. That's what makes it special for a lot of people. 100%. And part of collecting also is knowing that John Mayer, he did a very famous episode of Talking Watches with a company called Houdini. He said, you know, all these watches are the drugs I never did in my 30s. So there's kind of something poetic about that, that you kind of collect something and your money isn't totally lost. It is somewhat of a store of value. Well, speaking of store of value, why don't we go and grab a few secondhand watches and take a look at those? Let's do it. All right, let's do that. So we've got a few different watches here that are available secondhand. We've got two dress watches and two sportier watches. Let's start off with the Rolex. What do we have here and what's the price difference on this new versus used? So this is a pre-owned 114060 is the reference number. Essentially, this is just the previous generation to the current one. So the current retail, I want to say, is around the $11,000 ish price point. I might be a bit wrong, but obviously you're paying tax out the door as well. And this is selling pre-owned for around $10,000 to $10,500. So this is, again, the previous generation. If you're going to get the more current modern generation, you're probably paying around $12,000 to $12,500 for a modern no-date Submariner. But this is a watch, again, if you're buying it new at retail, you're getting a watch that actually trades over, which is really, really nice. This is why these kind of, I think, are probably the most popular seller for us. The Submariner is probably the quintessential, if I ask the watch collector, what is the go-to watch for every day? The Submariner is kind of most people's choices. And especially in this no-date format, it's obviously very clean, no-date, very symmetrical, just perfect for everyday use. And the big thing with a Rolex on the second-hand market is you can actually get it fairly easily, as long as you have the money. Absolutely. You can actually buy it. The cool part about Rolex making a million watches is there's a lot of supply out there, but it's just about the price, right? That's really what most people worry about. So that's a great price point. Obviously, $10,000 is a lot of money for some people. Now you can get really good sporty watches on the secondary market. This is one that we just have on hand. It's the Breitling Premier. This one with the kind of bullet style bracelet is what they call it. That's cool. I like that. The newer style. And it's really great green dial with the GMT complication. So you get dual time zone, closed case back, but you get the water resistant 200 meters. I believe the Submariner is 300, so you can go swimming, take a shower with it, everything. And it's just got this beautiful look to it for sub $5,000. This is a heck of a watch. It's really a looker. And yeah, I just think it's really, really beautiful, especially with that green. Yeah. And if on the new market, how much would you be looking to pay? I mean, you're probably paying well, I don't know exactly offhand, but it's definitely over $7,000 if I had to guess. Yeah. And again, you know, these are just kind of two examples I have readily on hand. Something like a Speedmaster is a great watch also. You know, there's so many different brands and that's, what's really cool about watches is everybody can kind of pick and choose what matches their personal taste and style to a degree that is extremely, extremely affordable or extremely expensive, you know? Yeah. And that's, what's really cool. Another point to consider, which I didn't bring up before is safety and security. So I'm going to be traveling around over the next few months, including some, let's say third world countries. And there is an element of safety concern. Definitely wouldn't want to wear something like this in some of the places I'm going. What's like a really great watch that strikes that right balance between nobody's going to cut your arm off for it, but you feel nice wearing it and somebody who's in the know. You know, I always recommend insuring your watches if you're ever worried about that. That's the first kind of form of defense, you know, here, just take the watch because at the end of the day, your life is worth more than the watch. But second, I would say if you're just looking or you're worried about that happening, obviously it's a big, big problem throughout Europe, throughout the world, really. I would just say, take something affordable that you're not afraid to lose, you know? So like that sub thousand dollar price point, Tissot, Hamilton, Seiko, those are kind of my best bets for a travel watch. It's what I personally take myself just because a lot of the time, although I want to make the memories with the watch, you know, I was in Mexico recently. I'm not taking my Rolex GMT. Could be the wrong kind of memory with the watch. A hundred percent. It's just not, you know, you've got to know where you're going and know that, Hey, like, listen, I'm going to be a little bit more careful. That being said, I took it to London. So like, you know, I was a little less careful with that. Yeah. Again, you just have to be weary of your surroundings and be okay with, Hey, I'm going to be wearing an expensive watch and maybe a little bit of a dodgy place. I just got to be more aware of my surroundings. Absolutely. Yeah. Let's take a look at this Omega. Yeah. So this is a great, great watch. This is part of their Deville collection. It's a coaxial wristwatch. So coaxial escapement was invented by a British watchmaker. Actually, his name is George Daniels and Omega kind of took it for all of their technology. This is a manual winding watch, which I always love because you know, a lot of the time you'll see watches, they're automatic. I enjoy that too. But a manual wind watch, there's something about the tactile feel. First of all, waking up every day and winding your watch. It really helps you bond with the time piece in a way that an automatic watch, you know, you just put it on your wrist in the morning and go, you know, that this for me is really, I think what makes watches great, you know, every single day you're winding it up. You're really making sure that it's keeping time and keeping time accurately at that. So yeah, that's, that's one watch that I absolutely love in black. You can get in a variety of different dial colors. This is a watch that probably retails, I think over $9,000. And you can pick this up secondhand around the five to $6,000 price point. So it's a significant depreciation, but the good part is if you're buying it pre-owned, you're getting a great, great value, super thin profile and a beautiful open case. Incredible. Yeah. The movement on Omega is awesome. Love that one. Really awesome. Now this is a bit more of a kind of niche brand, let's call it. This is a brand called Frederic Constant. Now this kind of design may be seem familiar. A lot of the time they're known for kind of copying, let's call it. Homage is the best form of flattery. Patek Philippe is probably the biggest name in the industry that they copied, but they make some very high quality watches. Especially pre-owned, you can pick up some bargains. I mean, this is a full rose gold watch, moon phase, date, automatic movement with a rose gold rotor. This is actually a fully in-house movement. Frederic Constant actually makes their own in-house calibers and you can pick this up well under $7,000. That to me is the best value on this entire table. Obviously Rolex is a big name. Breitling is a bigger name, maybe a little bit more usable, but what catches my eye the most, a gold watch from maybe a little bit more of a niche brand, but it's much more of a conversation starter. When you go up to somebody and say, Hey, that's a really nice watch. Oh, well, what are you wearing? Well, I'm wearing actually, this is a little bit different, a lot more unique. When it comes to kind of spotting watches and striking conversations, it's not necessarily who has the most expensive or the most well-known. Sometimes it's who has something that's interesting to a watch collector. A hundred percent. And that's the cool part about the hobby. There's such a variety of designs. You can really match it to your personal taste and style to a degree that is really unlike any other hobby, like price points, designs, genre of watch. There is so much variety out there to be had and tailoring your collection to your personal taste is really easy to do if you do the right research. Well, thank you so much for showing me around. It's been an absolute pleasure looking at these watches with you.