Feature: 5 Things You NEED To Know About Watches

Whether you’re new to watches or not, despite this being an industry built on several centuries of evolution, there’s always something new to learn. So, with that said, here are five things about luxury watches that you really need to know.

Mechanical Watches Aren’t That Accurate

We’ll start off with a biggie, so if you’re fresh to the game and hoping this list will be filled with sunshine and lollipops, best take a seat. It’s easy to think that, with the legend of Swiss watchmaking and the price tags that come with it, that good old-fashioned mechanical movements are the be-all and end-all of accuracy. Well, I’m sorry to say that they’re not. Far, far from it.

Accuracy in mechanical watchmaking has long been a pursuit for obvious reasons, with important processes like pre-computer navigation relying heavily on accurate mechanical timekeeping. There were competitions across the world, held at hallowed centres of science and mathematics like the Kew Observatory, where watchmakers competed against each other to build the most accurate watch—but by today’s standards, those watches are pretty sub-par.

Even the most technically advanced modern mechanical movements peak at around half a second per day, with a realistic benchmark for good performance being a few seconds per day. After a year, that means a deviation of a whopping 20 minutes! A cheap, basic quartz watch can match the best mechanical. Add thermo-compensation and even radio control and you’re looking at seconds per year.

And if you were to compare the peak of mechanical watchmaking technology with the peak of time-telling technology today—well, it would just be embarrassing, with the most cutting-edge atomic clocks providing such extreme accuracy that, had one been set at the Big Bang 13.8 billion years ago, it still wouldn’t have lost a second today.

Swiss Made Isn’t The Best

Another popular myth in watchmaking isn’t so much about the watches themselves, but where they’re built. “Swiss Made” is such hot property that its definition is governed by law. There have been incredible scandals and devious lawsuits around the application of those rules just so watchmakers can be allowed to print those two hallowed words on their dials.

It stands to reason, since Swiss watchmaking is the best in the world. Or is it? Rewind a few centuries ago and, compared to the incredible technological developments by the French and British from watchmakers like John Harrison and Thomas Tompion, the watchmaking produced in Switzerland by unemployed farmers in the winter months was just, for a second time, embarrassing.

Even the great Swiss brands aren’t as Swiss as you might think. Abraham-Louis Breguet founded Breguet in Paris. Rolex was founded in London. Patek Philippe was founded by two Polish watchmakers who had fled to Switzerland after the collapse of the Polish uprising. In fact, a bit like Los Angeles incentivised filmmakers to flock there, Switzerland’s watchmaking reputation grew in much the same way, with low labour costs and high tax incentives.

Even today, Switzerland does not hold the monopoly for the best watchmaking. Albeit on a smaller scale, watchmaking from America, England, France, Germany and even Japan can meet and even surpass the Swiss standard. Take Seiko’s ultra high-end brand Credor, that achieves a level of quality so high it ranks amongst the very best in the world today and even wowed Swiss watchmaking legend Philippe Dufour.

Not All Watches Are an Investment

Whilst this next thing you should know is a fairly recent development, it feels like one that’s been around forever. Like how we were conditioned by DeBeers to think a diamond engagement ring was a tradition as old as time, the idea of collecting watches as an investment seems as longstanding as investment itself.

It’s reached a point where most conversations about watches with people just getting started or showing a bit of interest begin with investment. Which watch should I buy that will keep its money? Which watch should I get that that will go up in value? Ten years ago, investment and watches went together in a sentence as often as “Trump” and “President”. Now they go together as often as “Trump” and “President”. And it’s understandable. For a lot of people, a watch is an expensive indulgence that they want to enjoy safe in the knowledge that, should anything happen, they can be shot of it without a problem. I certainly don’t begrudge anyone that. Despite some very poor judgement on my behalf, even a financial clot like myself has benefitted from it.

But here’s the thing: the volume of chatter about luxury watches and investment and the number of watches that are actually worthy of investment is grossly mismatched. Most watches are not an investment, and many don’t appreciate at all. The ones that do best are too far gone into the financial stratosphere for us mere mortals to consider.

Rather than investment, what you should really be thinking if you are keen to buy a watch that won’t drop its pants the moment you put it on, is stability. Reduce depreciation by purchasing pre-owned—wink, wink—and choose wisely over the long term by selecting a watch that gently grows with inflation over time. It’s much more achievable and, while it won’t make you a gazillionaire, it can give you peace-of-mind on your purchase.

Price Doesn’t Correlate With Quality

The human brain, for the sake of efficient use of energy, is conditioned to think in simple terms. An example in this case is to think that something that is more expensive is better quality than something cheaper. With a simplified thought process, that would be true: more money paid is more money spent on quality. Even if that quality doesn’t grow linearly with increase in cost, it would still be expected to grow.

With watches, this is far from the case, and that’s because there are so many more factors to running a watchmaking business than a simple ratio of cost and quality. Think about it: if you had the investment to hire the people and equipment needed to make the number of watches Patek Philippe does per year to the same level of quality, you might find yourself spending less than the Swiss giant but then all you’d have is a pile of watches and no one to buy them. You’re going to have to spend some money persuading people to part with their cash as well.

And it goes even deeper than that: in the 1970s, when mechanical watchmaking was made defunct, Audemars Piguet got around this problem by changing a mindset. Overnight, a mechanical watch was no longer purchased to tell the time with, but to demonstrate status with. A crazy looking watch made in cheap steel with nothing fancy under the hood could fetch more than a solid gold high complication.

Let’s take two extremes. In one hand you have a D. Dornblüth & Sohn priced at £4,500 and in the other you have a Richard Mille that fetches well over a million. Does the fame, extreme scarcity, unmistakable looks and downright desirability of the Richard Mille warrant the price? Well, the proof is in the pudding. They rarely change hands, and when they do, it’s not for pocket change. Does D. Dornblüth & Sohn have expectations to expand into a multinational business sponsoring Formula 1 drivers and the like? No, it’s just a handful of people who want to make straightforward watches the best they can.

There Is No Right And Wrong

Above all else, and I cannot stress this enough, the biggest thing you need to know, whether you’re just getting started or if you’ve been doing this for decades—is that there is no right and wrong. Different people have different priorities, different tastes, different budgets even, and whilst it’s all very communal to offer advice and steer fellow collectors and enthusiasts towards choices they may not have considered or information they may not have been aware of—it is not down to any one of us to tell someone that they are wrong.

Some people buy a watch because they like the looks and aren’t fussed about the mechanics. Some people buy a watch because the brand is well-known. Some people buy a watch just to tell the time with. Remember that? There are so many different reasons why someone might buy a watch that, just because it doesn’t align with yours, doesn’t mean it’s wrong. So, if someone likes a Hublot, or a Daniel Wellington or any other watch that’s often vilified by those who deign to know better, sure, please do offer to inform, but for the sake of the future of this industry, please don’t berate.

With sales of luxury watches dwindling amongst younger generations, perhaps it’s best we embrace the freedom to choose and the joy of owning a watch that fits our personal wants and needs. I have, and perhaps you have too, felt the sinking feeling and lump in my throat from being told I’ve made a “bad” purchase, souring an experience that had no reason to be soured—and it doesn’t have to be that way. Let’s be inclusive and not exclusive.

So, there you have it, a quick-fire round of must-know knowledge for watch buyers both new and old. What do you reckon? Are there other things you think the community could do with knowing?

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