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How Much Do You Lose When You Buy a New Omega
by Desmond Guilfoyle
Will I Remember My Omega Coaxial in a Future life?
As a collector of vintage watches, particularly Omega Constellations, I have
become accustomed to values increasing over time. It isn't guaranteed of
course, but I may well see the bottom fall out of my pants before I see the
bottom fall out of the quality vintage watch market. There have been a couple
of blips in the past, but the market has always bounced back.
Naturally, when buying vintage watches the usual caveats apply: buy the seller
as much as the watch; buy a watch that's been looked after and not one that's
been to hell and back; avoid mutton that's been dressed up as lamb
(particularly over-polished, over-restored watches); know what the market is
paying and pay no more than its worth. And last but not least, never view
watches as an investment proposition unless you have the expertise to buy
pieces that you can restore to their former glory. So far so good.
But what about the vintages of tomorrow? As a horological petrol-head, I have
been drawn towards Omega's coaxial escapement watches designed by English guru
George Daniels. Omega claims that the new coaxial escapement, in tandem with a
recently developed free sprung balance, goes a long way towards eliminating
the barriers to ultra high accuracy in mechanical timepieces. This new
invention has three components: a coaxial wheel, an escape wheel, and a lever
with three pallet stones, which varies significantly from the run-of-the-mill
pallet lever and escape wheel of the lever escapement. Even if, in the long
run, it proves no more accurate than your average 18000 beats a minute
workhorse, it's quite sufficient to give this aficionado an eyegasm because it
sure is a pretty engine......but enough already!
I've been asking around various watch forums about how much I will 'lose' if I
buy a new Omega with a Coaxial escapement. Lose???? Well, yes. The reason why
I've taken this tack is to work out how much of my dwindling reservoirs of
delight, captivation and pure pleasure I will have to invest in order to
cancel out the inevitable depreciation that occurs when one buys a new watch
from an authorised dealer.
Here's what I discovered about the financial side of the equation. If I pay
around $3000.00 for one of the cheaper Coaxials, I lose roughly 40 percent of
its value as soon as I walk out of the door. This represents most of the
dealer margin. Unless I can on-sell to a passionate Coaxialist with very
little market savvy for a price higher than that, the depreciation is mine to
wear, along with the watch of course.
However, the consensus is that the value of the watch will stabilise for a
while after that, and, if I have cared for it well, I may still be able to
realise about 50% of its value five years down the track. Averaging out
inflation rates over five years, it means I need to invest around $2050.00 of
today's dollars worth of delight, captivation and pure pleasure of ownership
over the period, or around $410.00 each year, without adding the cost of
maintenance. Hmmm, that's the price of four Calibre 564 stainless steel C case
Constellations, if you buy well.
And there's another consideration. I still recall with great clarity paying a
week's average national earnings for a particularly seductive Omega Seamaster
in the 1970s. After 30-odd years, allowing for all of the economic adjustments
necessary to convert the purchase to today's money, the market would still not
offer me than 35 to 40 percent of what I paid for it. Hell, it may take
several lifetimes of delight, captivation and pleasure of ownership before I
recover the financial side of things!
I have a very strong recollection of owning a Rolex Prince in a past life.
Will the Seamaster leave a similar imprint on a future one, and will I have
invested enough delight, captivation and pure pleasure of ownership to be
assured that I'll remember my Coaxial with great fondness when I come back as
a grasshopper in 2090?
(c) Desmond Guilfoyle 2006
About the Author
Desmond Guilfoyle in an award winning commentator on influence, persuasion and
charisma. He has written three books on those subjects and his book 'The
Charisma Effect' has been published in seven languages around the globe. He
can be contacted at mondodec@tpg.com.au For further articles, tips and
information visit his blog at http://charismacom.blogspot.com/
If you want to collect vintage watches, do it for the pleasure of
ownership. You may not make a profit in the future.
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