Why does so many people on this site worry about price?

[jamestucker]

Originally Posted by Tools

It's not a lot, just a few who are vocal.

They aren't watch hobbyists/enthusiasts, they are deal chasers. Once they have their "deal", they lose interest; then are off again to another "deal".

So true. It is not all, only a few

I am new to the forum and I have been reading old posts. I read one member saying how much he loved the Patek 5712/1A and he was ranting ADs were not selling it to him because of flippers. The guy had finally got one and flipped it!

[wisguy]

Agree with OP, too much focus on resale value, premiums, prices are dropping.

Many people just buy to enjoy, never thinking of selling or how much is a watch worth today.

Buying at a discount, buying at a premium, makes no difference to many. I understand here we are not the average consumer too, we care too much about this!

[dummykid]

The resale value only applies to like new condition watch. If you have a modern sub, and it is your daily beater for 10 years+, I believe it won't keep the resell value, but you are happy and enjoying it for 10+ years.

[Ocog]

Originally Posted by marc2828

I just had a conversation with my teenage son about sneakers and fake sneakers from China. I showed him a replica 116519LN...he said, looks just like the real one I showed him earlier. He said, buy that one and save 28K. I said, I don't buy nice things to impress others...I buy it for me to look at. It would bother me to look at a fake Rolex on my arm. And that brings me to the overpaying from a Grey Dealer...every time I looked at the watch, I would be annoyed about the over payment. I would rather wait, buy it from an AD and feel that I did not contribute to the current problem of AD's selling hot watches out the back door.

You should get your son off the fakes. His aspiration is going to disappear and he's gonna be like all of the other "fake" culture the youth is currently going through.

[Mervynilous]

An intrinsic part of any hobby is evaluating pretty much every aspect of the hobby. Pricing is just one of the many components that can be discussed, and you'd think that if anyone cares about it, it would be a group of people dedicated to that particular hobby.

Honestly, it's kind of baffling that people have a hard time understanding that or acting like money is somehow a disgraceful aspect of the horology. I've never seen car enthusiasts ignore relative pricing of options (otherwise everyone would just talk about Ferraris and be done with it), nor have I seen cycling enthusiasts ignore the cost element when comparing the pros and cons of titanium versus aluminum. Why would/should watch enthusiasts do differently?

[GGGMT]

Originally Posted by porschejeff

Everybody likes to save money regardless how much one has.

This


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[GGGMT]

Originally Posted by Mervynilous

An intrinsic part of any hobby is evaluating pretty much every aspect of the hobby. Pricing is just one of the many components that can be discussed, and you'd think that if anyone cares about it, it would be a group of people dedicated to that particular hobby.

Honestly, it's kind of baffling that people have a hard time understanding that or acting like money is somehow a disgraceful aspect of the horology. I've never seen car enthusiasts ignore relative pricing of options (otherwise everyone would just talk about Ferraris and be done with it), nor have I seen cycling enthusiasts ignore the cost element when comparing the pros and cons of titanium versus aluminum. Why would/should watch enthusiasts do differently?

Exactly


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[GGGMT]

Originally Posted by Bsmith73

I got into the watch hobby because I liked them. Seems every 10th thread is about how much my watch is worth and did I pay too much. If you need to ask these questions DO NOT BUY WATCHES.
Drives me nuts and is kinda killing the hobby for me.......

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Originally Posted by Bsmith73

Sorry for the vent guys.

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Pricing is part of this hobby, which I’ve enjoyed for 25 years, And a truly fascinating part of it for a lot of true watch enthusiasts like me. If you don’t like that part of it, slide over those posts And don’t participate in them. It’s an interesting position you take that others need to enjoy the hobby the same way you do, or they should get out of the hobby.


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[interestedwatcher]

If a Rolex lost 80 percent of value when it walked out the door, no one would be on a waiting list to buy one would they?

[Frank McKay]

Totally agree with you. I’m frankly sick of it. If you can’t afford to comfortably buy the watch twice without thinking, then don’t buy it and move along. Pick up a lesser watch. Rolex ain’t for you.

[aleeboy]

I have been a member of this site for over a decade. I wore Rolex as my daily for two decades. Since 2015/16 I began to lose interest in watches. I now don't even look at watches and am fully satisfied with my Apple Watch. I think moving earlier was a very good move and I am happy to not have put my time and money into this business.

I can see most of the posters now are new members. There are still long time members chiming in, but some may evolve to accept the current situation. Others, like me, have already left.

I still come back to see if there's any interesting topics, but like you said, most are about pricing... or stock.

[faimag]

Everybody is interested into how much they are going to pay to obtain their grail, get a fair/good deal, and perhaps how much their watch is going to worth down the road, but beyond that, I don't think it's a lot of people who are so much preoccupied with future value. It's pretty much newbies or the same few people who post again and again.

[Ihatecheese]

The forum is predominantly full of posts regarding optimistic prices or sourcing a batgirl :)

[Rolex-istanbul]

i will be straight and honest here. From my childhood i do always enjoy watches.

For me Rolex was the impossible, and especially Bonds watch is my grail.

But in my country annual wage in total is around 8500 usd more or less.For over 20 years of working in various jobs - from military,photographer,Purchasing personelle and now over 10 year sales. just 2 years ago i am assisnged as sales manager. Finally started earning 14000 usd a year.

That when i pull the trigger and apply for a bank finance to buy a Omega speed master cause i did still dont have the money to buy the Rolex.

I wore the watch about 2 months or so. I sold it to the Rolex AD and they sold me the last submariner. My wife helped me with the finance.

Now majority of you is from USA where the average person earns 40 or 50 000 usd a year.

You dont need to use the watch as a investment saving, but we need to.

anyways i hope after this covid we can have a universal wealth share. Cause it mades me frustrated when i saw someone in London earing 6 times more than me working in a same global company and doing the same job.

[shalako]

If you go back about 5 years we predominantly had watch enthusiasts who wanted to discuss the virtues of different models, there was rarely a post about prices. This a recent phenomenon that only happens on the Rolex forums because the financial situation across the world has bought about a new breed of Rolex investors who aren’t traditional watch collectors but have jumped on the band wagon of buying up the collectable sports models for obvious reasons.
A watch enthusiast will typically have a collection from different brands and write enthusiastically about all of them, this new breed of Rolex Investor will only be interested in Rolex, particularly which model is the most desirable.
Some sweeping generalisations I know but those who have been into watches for more than 5 years will know what I’m talking about.

About two weeks ago I wrote this on the Omega Forum in relation to a Rolex vs Omega thread;

‘I own 4 x Rolex’s and three Omega’s so fair to say they are amongst my favourite brands, I enjoy this Omega forum considerably more however because here everyone talks about watches....on the Rolex forum - particularly with the ‘Johnny come lately’ newcomers to the brand - they are obsessed with talking about prices’.

[CasinoRoyale_007]

Agree with much of the sentiment here. I understand wanting to get into a purchase at a decent price and to understand the general pricing situation, but it is frankly astonishing how many people actually see watches as "assets" in the traditional sense...if a severe drop in watch prices really affects you, it is probably best to not purchase that timepiece for now! In addition, I don't even know where to begin regarding musings on watches as "investments"...I won't comment any further.

[sevykor]

What do you see when you look at your watch? Some see an investment and others see an unnecessary expense that needs justifications. For some it’s superficial status or maybe a right of passage (“new money” perhaps). Some think it will give them some confidence only to find it doesn’t work that way for long. Buyer’s remorse sprinkled here and there. Thrill of the chase to score a deal maybe and for some it pays for others it may not. At the far end of the spectrum, perhaps you find the superficial with insecurity issues. Perhaps a reminder of a special time or event in your life. Unlike most material items, it’s a constant reminder considering its location - your wrist. All I see is the time, and it’s late.


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[Phil t 32]

I personally dislike the posts about ‘investments’ and haven’t read most of them for the obvious reasons, I don’t object to folk asking about values as some enthusiasts (myself included) have to sell a watch to be able to afford another, in my case I had to sell my panerai to get my grail deepsea.

That said, I just did my own research for a ‘value’ on the panerai and I didn’t feel the need to ask on a forum

When I look at my watches I can honestly say I don’t see a value, the money is gone, they owe me nothing, heaven forbid but, if my circumstances changed and I needed money of course I know how much cash I could get for them

It’s the same with other ‘hobbys’, I used to own and raced a particularly sought after bike, always kept it in first class condition, people would always comment and say ‘how can you race that, I wouldn’t dare’ my reply was always, ‘it was built as a race bike, it’s owned as a race bike, it’s meant to be raced, people like to see it being thrashed.....just over an hour later it was in the back of the van after I put it down the tarmac...no drama, no tears, it just stayed in the garage till I could afford to put it back the condition I liked it to be in.

How could anyone buy a watch as an investment they will never get the true enjoyment out of their mechanical masterpiece by being afraid to scratch or damage it

Whoa, longest post I’ve written...must be the times we’re in, sorry


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[kwingy]

Originally Posted by Bsmith73

I got into the watch hobby because I liked them. Seems every 10th thread is about how much my watch is worth and did I pay too much. If you need to ask these questions DO NOT BUY WATCHES.
Drives me nuts and is kinda killing the hobby for me.......

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I agree - but at the same time I do think its not unreasonable to keep one eye on value retention and how much your watch is worth in today's market. Just adds to the enjoyment of ownership in my opinion.
It's the people that buy watches but don't actually wear them and keep them in a safe that I frankly can't understand. Those people are not watch enthusiast.

[njduffer]

While the price discussions may not be interesting to some, I say skip over them.

In my opinion, we should recognize the fact that we are living history. The COVID-19 era is our 100 year plague. Part of that history, in our small corner of the world, is that there is a market in which people want to pay thousands of dollars for antiquated technology while people are dying, food insecure, and unemployed. Additionally, there are ADs and Grey Market sellers who are dealing with their business models during this pandemic who are asking the questions, “will I survive and/or thrive” and “is there still a market wherein steel Rolexes command significantly more than MSRP.”

The price issue while not intellectually interesting to some, for a few of us, the underlying issues related to markets and human psychology can be interesting and one can argue, historic (in a small, yet unimportant in the context of a pandemic, way).

Let the threads flow. Rolex may be one of a few brands that can command this type of discussion.

[Bingofrank]

I have only ever bought MSRP or below, I only spend a small percentage of my income on watches and buy for pleasure not for trade.

BUT it would spoil a used watch for me if I had paid way too much money for it so I understand why people worry at it.

You want a watch to be a treat for success, not a reminder you got a deal wrong.

[Speedbird-1]

Originally Posted by interestedwatcher

If a Rolex lost 80 percent of value when it walked out the door, no one would be on a waiting list to buy one would they?

People buy Omega, don't they?

[georgekart]

Well, I think it is good to know the current price to know how much stuff is worth. If you like a watch and want to pick it up, why pay more than you have to. Additionally, if you like a watch and think the current market price is too much (like on many SS sports models) knowing when they start going down (assuming they do) might push you towards buying them. And finally, if you're not enjoying your watch and want to sell it, knowing the value allows you to sell it for more.

[Brew]

I think the price/discount discussions are rude. I wouldn't discuss what I paid for a Rolex anywhere else in the world, including here. That's a private transaction between me and the seller. The discount, if any, will likely be based on factors and circumstances that are similarly private and that may or may not be relevant in any other member's acquisition/sale. There are Facebook groups available to discuss dollars and discounts.

[Ensign]

There are plenty of flippers; but, valuation tracking is interesting to some of us, too.

[Speedbird-1]

Originally Posted by Bsmith73

I got into the watch hobby because I liked them. Seems every 10th thread is about how much my watch is worth and did I pay too much. If you need to ask these questions DO NOT BUY WATCHES.
Drives me nuts and is kinda killing the hobby for me.......

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Don't let it wind you up.
None of it is REALLY important, is it.
It's just your hobby, other people views about it, do not matter.
Stress, is bad for your health.


Ps. How much did you pay for your......

[Harry-57]

The pendulum always swings too far in either direction.

It seemed to me that TRF was turning into a price trolling board and something needed to be done to address it. Taking the piss out of obvious transgressors in "Watch Out" is good spectator sport, but the General Discussion was looking dreary for non speculators.

Now, I am hesitant to say anything about cost and value for fear of being moderated.

In time, a balance will probably establish. You can't have a balanced forum without a broad range of topics, including cost, value and the market. Common sense will prevail, eventually. Then the cycle will repeat. Human nature and all that.

[zengineer]

Watches are not free. I can understand annoyance with threads that treat them as investments but it is ridiculous to try to separate any discussions about cost, prices and values.

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[icnbne]

those threads would often be so cringe (as are some of the posts here)

there are two types of people that actively partake in them:
-ones that stretched and bought, praying prices won't fall for when they need to flip (or just general flippers)

-ones that project their superiority by sayings "its just a watch and how you can't afford it if___" .yadayada "probably couldn't afford it in the first place" etc etc

either way, glad the admins stepped up, TRF hasn't been what it used to be for a while now

[Watchdaytona]

I don't really see the problem with discussing prices, I think many are concerned about getting a good deal and not over paying for a watch and like to track prices. Many collectors, speculators and grey dealers I suspect will be also trying to ignore the fact that Rolex prices are dropping as will be their stock and may be concerned that discussion could exacerbate the fall and therefore would like not to bring attention and suppress chatter to the new reality and the drop in prices that we are seeing. I for one welcome lower prices and the opportunity to buy overpriced watches in the coming years, paying lower prices for these watches will help bring new people to the hobby. It would be great if we could all get Daytonas at MSRP or the hot watch we desire that is out of reach.