What jobs do luxury watch collectors have?

Cirrus Incus · 08-10-2020 9:37pm #1

I see all these amazing luxury timepieces on here. I personally could never hope to afford a Audemars Piguet or A. Lange & Söhne for example. Made me wonder what kind of income do you need to support this hobby.

Do you work in a high paying profession such as a doctor, lawyer or investment banker?

Do you have a more regular job and just save specifically to buy higher end watches?

Did you inherit your wealth?

I'm not begrudging your success, just curious.

banie01 · 08-10-2020 9:38pm

Tiger bank robberies, but it's gone a bit trickier nowadays.

893bet · 08-10-2020 9:39pm

Hi Mr Revenue,

Mine are all fakes.

Thanks.

bobbyy gee · 08-10-2020 9:41pm

the Dail
i use my expense account

banie01 · 08-10-2020 9:46pm

bobbyy gee wrote: »

the Dail
i use my expense account

Would you not just be not declaring those Rolex and other lovely bits the sheikhs gifted you for help with passports

Just a little bit of graft

no harm at all sure.

banie01 · 08-10-2020 9:50pm

893bet wrote: »

Hi Mr Revenue,

Mine are all fakes.

Thanks.

Fitz will not be pleased! :P

Wibbs · 08-10-2020 10:06pm

Depends on someone's focus C. A mate of mine is into motor racing, which if you want to get the feel for it, stand in a muddy field in winter ripping up money.

But he's not rich by any means, runs a small business and anything spare after family and expenses he fires into that. Car guys would be a fairly good comparison. The guys and gals in everyday average careers that love cars and buy a new mid luxury car every few years will see depreciation over a year or two that would cover a fair range of very fancy watches. Classic car restorer guys can fly through the cash. Few good restorations of an old car would be under 10k when finished. Not including the purchase price.

Plus you get different types of the higher end luxury watch lads. You get the dunno much about watches, never mind the quality feel the width/price guys, then you get the guys into watches who have enough over to spend on their hobby and then you have the flippers. Guys who make a one off big chunk of change on a [insert brand here] hang onto it for a while and sell it on, for little enough loss and in some cases a gain, so the next purchase is not nearly such a big whack as the first. I'd say most everyday guys with luxury brands are a mix of some of the above.

Then you get the cheapskates(and often jammy gits luckwise) like me. In vintage stuff anyway, where I rarely paid more than 200 quid for a watch. However I've been doing it since the 80's on and off, so a fair number of watches I got within that budget would be much higher costs today and those often paid forward to buy other stuff.

Cyclingtourist · 08-10-2020 10:39pm

I only collect ****ters.

Fitz II · 08-10-2020 10:44pm

I think we come from all sorts of backgrounds, but most I know would be: male, in technical professions, slightly weird. Having said that I know a few builders with savage Rolex collections, farmers with heavy hitters. It really is just a matter priority. Obviously it helps to have good disposable income in watch collecting if you fancy the more expensive pieces. Most of us work up and trade watches adding in a little money at each trade to climb the ladder. Watches unlike a lot of collecting hobbies doesnt really cost you anything to own, and can often be sold for similar to what you bought it for. The cost of entry is high, but the cost of ownership is minimal. In a way watches are a store of money (but not investments, good god never think that).

I am a dentist, but that is the short story,my work life is a little more complex than that and I have a good few side hustles.

893bet · 08-10-2020 10:57pm

Fitz II wrote: »

I have a good few side hustles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sN83yuOXi_o

hitemfrank · 08-10-2020 11:23pm

The easiest way for me to describe my job is a draughtsman.

That does get more and more met with the response of 'What's a draughtsman?'

Not a large salary but I don't currently have many bills so that helps when you're saving for a luxury watch

W0LFMAN · 08-10-2020 11:32pm

My dream is to have a "Rolex Pepsi steelseries sports GMT master" when I'm rich I'll get one.

bobbyy gee · 08-10-2020 11:34pm

i tarmacadem drives there's a lot of money in it

tax free

banie01 · 08-10-2020 11:39pm

On a serious note.
I'm not sure any of my pile can be called "luxury" but in the short while I've been in to this hobby I have had some nice pieces.

Fitz's description is a good one. I have had a few turns but nothing I'd call a career really.
From security, to hospitality, to manufacturing, then quality engineering and lean implementation, to a few years in regulatory compliance and GDPR officer role.
Now I'm a student, chilling out doing the auld college thing.

Far from rich, but I'm lucky enough to have been able to buy my house with a small mortgage that's long cleared.
So apart from that most expensive of accessories, in a teenager

My costs are low and my wife is far more patient than I deserve

After the initial buy, it does become a stick or twist kind of thing with twisting not costing all that much in the overall cost of ownership.

con747 · 08-10-2020 11:40pm

bobbyy gee wrote: »

i tarmacadem drives there's a lot of money in it

tax free

I hope you can lay it better than you can spell it.

Pablo_Flox · 09-10-2020 9:21am

I work a pretty normal office job and thanks to Covid and 6 months of saving money on petrol, dinners out, drinks in the pub, summer holidays, etc. I was in a position to get myself a nice luxury watch for the first time in my life last month. But when the time came I couldn't pull the trigger on it and decided to knock a few years off the mortgage instead. I listened to my head instead of my heart!

But this forced isolation has made me realize that if the average person really wanted a nice watch (and was willing to save and sacrifice other parts of their life) it is attainable. It is just a question of priorities.

OldBean · 09-10-2020 9:27am

Sole trader in a creative industry. Grafted. Have an interest in design and love watches, and wanted to treat myself for the hard work and some good years business.

893bet · 09-10-2020 10:14am

I run a YouTube channel where I buy mostly ****ters watches from Amazon, review and then return. I try to shill brands in the hope of something free. I don’t make much money from it though as I reinvest in the channel in the form of fake subs and views.

Fitz II · 09-10-2020 10:14am

Pablo_Flox wrote: »

I work a pretty normal office job and thanks to Covid and 6 months of saving money on petrol, dinners out, drinks in the pub, summer holidays, etc. I was in a position to get myself a nice luxury watch for the first time in my life last month. But when the time came I couldn't pull the trigger on it and decided to knock a few years off the mortgage instead. I listened to my head instead of my heart!

But this forced isolation has made me realize that if the average person really wanted a nice watch (and was willing to save and sacrifice other parts of their life) it is attainable. It is just a question of priorities.

Side note - a bug bare of mine - I remember when my parent were paying off the last few years of their mortgage they were paying 80 punts off a month. Those are the years you took off the mortgage, the years where the repayment is basically nothing thanks to 25 years of inflation. Paying mortgages off early is a move you make with your emotions not your mind. A mortgage is the cheapest money you will ever be given. Banks love it but its not the canniest move unless you can totally clear it in one go, it does give the feeling of being less indebted, but a feeling is really all it is.

HerrKuehn · 09-10-2020 10:34am

Fitz II wrote: »

Side note - a bug bare of mine - I remember when my parent were paying off the last few years of their mortgage they were paying 80 punts off a month. Those are the years you took off the mortgage, the years where the repayment is basically nothing thanks to 25 years of inflation. Paying mortgages off early is a move you make with your emotions not your mind. A mortgage is the cheapest money you will ever be given. Banks love it but its not the canniest move unless you can totally clear it in one go, it does give the feeling of being less indebted, but a feeling is really all it is.

Unlikely we will have the same level of inflation as the time when your parents bought though. Over payment should really be thought of as an investment, say you are paying 2.75% on the mortgage, you would need to be beating this after tax from some other investment after CGT and fees for it to not make sense.

Fitz II · 09-10-2020 10:51am

HerrKuehn wrote: »

Unlikely we will have the same level of inflation as the time when your parents bought though. Over payment should really be thought of as an investment, say you are paying 2.75% on the mortgage, you would need to be beating this after tax from some other investment after CGT and fees for it to not make sense.

Any EFT or pension fund will beat 2 to 3 times over that over that sort of time, inflation over the last 30 years averages over 2% (calculate of the CPI here). Inflation is fairly predictable over long periods. 2k in 2091 in spending power term would need 3400 euro today to buy the same goods or services. My point is that I understand why people do it, but it is an emotional thing to do, you take hard earned now at a time when our expenses are high and use it to avoid repayments later when your expenses will be lower and those repayments will seem on average 60% lower than they seem now, or you are dead anyway. Sorry to be a bummer.

HerrKuehn · 09-10-2020 10:59am

Fitz II wrote: »

Any EFT or pension fund will beat 2 to 3 times over that over that sort of time, inflation over the last 30 years averages over 2% (calculate of the CPI here). Inflation is fairly predictable over long periods. 2k in 2091 in spending power term would need 3400 euro today to buy the same goods or services. My point is that I understand why people do it, but it is an emotional thing to do, you take hard earned now at a time when our expenses are high and use it to avoid repayments later when your expenses will be lower, or you are dead anyway.

Well putting it into a pension fund would be better alright, as you have the tax benefit. If the hope is to shave only a few years off the 25 year mortgage it probably isn't worth it. I will have paid off my 30 year mortgage in about 10 years total though, which to me is worth it. I max out the allowable pension contributions too, so not missing out there.

Pablo_Flox · 09-10-2020 11:33am

The lump sum I paid off saved me almost the same again in interest that I would have had to pay over the life of the mortgage - so a risk free 100% return. Yes please!

It also means that I have a better LTV ratio and will qualify for a cheaper interest rate when my fixed rate is up... so further savings to be realised over the next 30ish years.

Maybe if I put that lumpsum into my pension I could possibly of gotten a better return over the 30ish years, or if I had gone with a Rolex it would be worth more in 30ish years; but I have my own reasons for choosing the mortgage payment

Lorddrakul · 09-10-2020 12:03pm

893bet wrote: »

I run a YouTube channel where I buy mostly ****ters watches from Amazon, review and then return. I try to shill brands in the hope of something free. I don’t make much money from it though as I reinvest in the channel in the form of fake subs and views.

Sir, I like your views and opinions and would like to subscribe to your newsletter!

blue5000 · 09-10-2020 12:34pm

I get paid a small fortune every month by boards for moderating another forum.:rolleyes: I just come over here when it gets quiet over there. Started by looking for a durable, accurate watch, 5 1/2 years later I have 2 watch boxes full:o mostly bought for around €200 or less, I'm a bargain basement lowlife who targets serial flippers.

I help them out by buying their 3 month old watch for about half what they paid new so that they can throw more money at the watch industry to acquire something new and shiny that I might be interested in next year when all the (mostly paid) youtube reviewers have also moved on to something just as shiney, with the exact same movement but might have a new dial or different hands.

It's a lot like the joke
How do you milk a sheep?
Launch a new iphone.

CalamariFritti · 09-10-2020 3:42pm

Reasonably nice job but nothing crazy. No stress but not amassing any riches. Like most others, paying a mortgage, trying to put a little into pension. What helps is I got no kids, they seem to cost a ton. After that I saved a lot of money this year due to no holidays, no petrol, hardly anything.

And I bought a nice watch for myself. Very nice watch and definitely well above what my friends and family would ever consider spending on a watch, but nothing crazy by watch enthusiast standards.

Other than that my 'collection' is very small. The nice new one, one other decent one, a vintage which was very cheap when I bought it and a couple of Seiko, Citizen types. Don't think I'll ever have more than that.

Fitz II · 09-10-2020 3:58pm

blue5000 wrote: »

I get paid a small fortune every month by boards for moderating another forum.:rolleyes: I just come over here when it gets quiet over.........e.

Ah Blue500 has reached level 8, Watch Industry is full of ****.....endgame for you soon sir.

blue5000 · 09-10-2020 4:04pm

Fitz II wrote: »

Ah Blue500 has reached level 8, Watch Industry is full of ****.....endgame for you soon sir.

I'm just waiting until Lidl have watch boxes on special offer again:cool:.

Birneybau · 09-10-2020 4:14pm

I play a millionaire at parties.

Pablo_Flox · 09-10-2020 4:50pm

CalamariFritti wrote: »

...And I bought a nice watch for myself. Very nice watch and definitely well above what my friends and family would ever consider spending on a watch, but nothing crazy by watch enthusiast standards.

What did you get yourself?

Eoin · 09-10-2020 5:22pm

I reckon that for the most part, the high end pieces are considerable outlays for most people; not items that can be bought on a whim without making a dent in their bank account. But the same goes for most cars, and the deprecation that goes with it and similar discretionary things that people don't bat an eyelid at.

With all the flipping over the years, I've deffo spent more than I've made back, but the net result is likely way less than what a lot of my peers spend in the pub.

Pablo_Fox wrote:

But this forced isolation has made me realize that if the average person really wanted a nice watch (and was willing to save and sacrifice other parts of their life) it is attainable. It is just a question of priorities.

Nail on head.

Fitz II wrote: »

male, in technical professions, slightly weird..

And nail on head here too for me anyway.

What jobs do luxury watch collectors have?

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