Viel besser kann man es nicht sagen, finde ich. Aus dem VRF:
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The beginning of the end.....
September 14 2007 at 2:00 AM Simon Debrux (no login)
from IP address 195.93.21.97
Response to Well Lou, the funny thing about Rolex "fad" watches...
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"The "old school" approach of buying a watch because you "like it" is dead.... For the record, the chocolate dial will NEVER go the way of the bubbleback."
I have a feeling of deja vue. I have been around long enough to remember the "investment clubs" that pooled their money to buy shares of vintage Ferraris in the 1980s. The idea was that low net worth (ie less than $10million in cash) individuals wanted a slice of the then fastest growing investment : vintage Ferraris of the 1950s and 60s.
Even if they could never afford to buy a whole car they could buy a share of one or just a few nuts and bolts and reap their reward in the massive profits being made.
So they buy these cars, wrap them in bubble wrap and park them in a hermetically-sealed "storage unit" and wait to get rich(er).
I can still hear the words "this is an investment that will never go down, they will never make any more and every one wants one". Quite true: until the price did start to go down. Then no one wanted one or at least not at the price the investors needed to sell at just to get their money back.
One staggeringly wealthy peer of the realm ended up a guest of Her Majesty (ie in prison) as the only way he foudn to recoup his investmant was to break his vintage Ferraris, sell them for parts, then claim they had been stolen and get the insurance money.
When ordinary investors who don't really know what they're doing and don't even know what they like, start to bump up prices it really is the beginning of the end.
I am sure many here have made a small fortune on vintage Rolexes. They could probably have done the same with property or Google shares if you had had the benefit of foresight. But tastes change and collectors are fickle and it only takes a few fakes or a change of fashion and "chocolate" could become a very bitter taste.
Simon
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Don't we all wish we had a time machine...
September 14 2007 at 11:42 AM Simon Debrux (no login)
from IP address 195.93.21.97
Response to Simon, it is how you look at......
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...and could pay a visit to 1985 when trays of ex-MoD Submariners were selling for a few hundred pounds apiece!
It's easy with hindsight but you could not have known when you bought those watches that they would appreciate as much as they have. You may have had a shrewd idea, but then so did all those collectors who bought Bubblebacks and Explorers when they were flavour of the month. You don't hear quite so much from them these days.
There is another difference between buying then and buying now: you took a risk, but not an absolutely enormous one. But whoever invests in those same models today will have to stump up enough money to float a small third world country.
I know it sounds like sour grapes but I really hate the idea that my hobby has been taken over by speculators and investors, whose main priority is to make sure I can no longer afford to enjoy it. I don't want my watch to be worth as much as some people's houses. If I did I'd wear more diamonds.
Simon