On Watches: Pre-owned Versus Brand New

If you want to be happy, be.

Leo Tolstoy

Following a reader’s email asking if I’d advocate more for pre-owned or brand new timepieces, my answer to that is my answer. The secret to success, like I always tell people, is a secret. Jokes aside, what I mean really is that one man’s sunset is another man’s dawn. I believe in brand new watches for myself, but that does not mean that it is the gospel truth. In fact, it is unfortunate that I cannot quite get over my own demons forbidding me to commit to pre-owned watches which often come at a better price and most of the time, a better watch than what we have in the market at any given time. Read again like how Damien Rice would have repeated. Most of the time.

Through my journey in horology, I made many cool and good friends. Most of whom are into vintage timepieces. Chances are, they are pre-owned too. Yet till date, my pre-owned timepiece was one which belonged to my uncle before he went on to become a monk. True story. The thing is that the demons in my head put weird questions into my thoughts.

WHAT IF A RAPIST WORN THIS?

WHAT IF THAT GUY WHO WORE IT IS A TOTAL JERK?

Yeah, those demons ask in full caps. Too many what-ifs although it’s not like I’m a Saint. It’s just that I’d rather the lesser of two evils. And in this case, I choose Brand New. Unworn. New Old Stock at best.

The game is very different.

If you decide to go with pre-owned, you’d probably need to acquire much more knowledge in horology so as to better inspect, or more accurately, to avoid being conned. It’s a wild world out there. Mr. Big warned you. There is also a higher chance of you being a Flipper. However, depreciation had already seen its peak and that means that you will not lose that much. And in many cases, you probably can make money out of your pre-owned watches. But look, it’s a zero-sum game. Someone needs to lose. Question is. Who?

If you follow my path of Brand New, the problem is that if you spot the wrong watch, it’s like women, if you fall in love with the wrong woman, you are fucked. Not in a good way, believe me. Every stock trader has their trade secrets. If I were to tell you simply ‘buy low, sell high’, you will probably spit at me when you see me in person. But truth is, there are too many conflicting opinions when it boils down to different brands even. There is no ‘one-size fits all’ kind of method to make money out of brand new timepieces. There is no guarantee even though it happens.

So my advice is to always buy the watch which you love. Not the watch whereby it may be sold at a good profit later. Because one can never be too sure unless we are talking about being allocated a rare timepiece where market is transacting at premium prices.

Before the take-over by Invicta and before the Grand Seiko new logo.

Take Grand Seiko for an example. They used to make their dials with ‘Seiko’ at the 12 O’Clock as the main logo. You have to have the acumen and belief that younger pre-owned-collectors will want to have the ‘old logo’ someday. And that these young dudes will have the money to pay for it. And that your very watch is not exactly available everywhere. In the case of Limited Editions, go for something with an eight in the serial number. The Chinese with deep pockets will be your target audience. But you have to always look at the Grand Seiko target audience as a whole.

Take Glycine Airman’s target audience as an example, where the Airman has attained some cult status, the pieces to really go for were the ones before Invicta’s invasion. But how long will that last? And back then, how will you know if Invicta is taking over Glycine? There are many predictions and assumptions you have to make. It’s still a gamble. But at the end of the day, like I said, if you love your watches, it really doesn’t matter.

The old proverb goes, “Even a broken clock is right twice a day.” That said, even if I am wrong mostly, there’s some truth in my honesty.

The broken clock is a comfort
It let’s me sleep tonight
Maybe it can stop tomorrow
From stealing all my time
I am here still waiting
I still have my doubts
I am damaged at best
Like you’ve already figured out
I’m falling apart
I’m barely breathing
With a broken heart
That’s still beating

♫ ~ Broken (Lifehouse)

Bane

In order to understand the world, one has to turn away from it on occasion.

Albert Camus

Three ‘W’s. Watches, women woman, whiskies. The world-wide-web has a whole new meaning altogether as far as a web of vices binding generations of men, and in the singular tense for woman’s case, me inclusive. Maybe I should add two other ‘W’s and a ‘H’ to have the 5 ‘W’s and a H (who, where, what, when, why and how). Except that the other two ‘W’s are wines and whores, and the ‘H’ refers to hedonism. After all, women and whores are two separate segments if you know what I mean. Don’t go ape-shit on me and start flinging your bras, going all feminist. Because like I always said, you are free to read other stuff on the Internet.

I love my single-malt whiskies when appreciating them watches. I like to pair a Yamazaki 18 with a Grand Seiko SBGM033. A Dalmore 18 with a Patek Philippe Nautilus 5711.

Women and whisky the same. Preference is always 18 years and above.

What’s your poison?

A wise man once told me never to trust any man who does not drink. Then again, that wise man got gout later in life and became someone whom I could no longer trust. My joke to him was that gout is the ultimate status symbol. Rich man’s disease, they call it. I mean you can be driven in a Rolls Royce, wear a Tourbillon, and have all the things money can buy, but mind you, you can never buy gout.

We all have our vices. Men, especially. I know of plenty who are consumed totally into cars. Me, on the other spectrum, I’m totally not into cars. Cigars, yes, but not cars. Not guitars too.

What’s your poison?

A small bar on a cloudy afternoon in Salzburg, Austria.

I love an occasion gin & tonic. Hendricks. With Japanese cucumbers, no less. Makes it more pretentious.

I hate the First World and detest all the so-called First World problems. I like Third-world countries but I know I can’t live in them for long because I am too spoilt. Yet I prefer the people there. But the First World is my poison. It’s a love/hate affair. Which is why I’d rather stay a recluse. Because at the end of the day, I’d rather detach, just so maybe I can feel more when I’m around them. Too much of anything is always bad.

So what is your poison?

What is your bane
Do you feel the same
Is it me or have you gone insane
Distance lost and gained
A soft heart will never be broken
Yet a gentle voice may not be heard
(composed or decomposed by yours truly)

Sometimes, I just wish that I can disappear.

I have drank the pint of no return. That’s like the eighth pint for me right about now. It’s like if I were to stop, I’d feel the killjoy but if I were to go on, I won’t know if I will stop but I know that it will stop.

So what is your poison?

Although we both lie close together
We feel miles apart inside

♫ ~ Every Rose Has Its Thorn (Poison)

Patek Philippe & Grand Seiko

Our lives can only be lived forward and understood backwards. Living a life and understanding it occupy different dimensions.

Hanif Kureishi

It is Twelfth of September, year twenty-nineteen. You are still ahead if you are looking at getting your first Grand Seiko. Well, barely, that is.

There is no secret that I am a Patek Philippe fan but when I first got into Grand Seiko, there were mixed reactions from both friends and ‘frenemies’. At my previous blog (about watches), I also received loads of emails, both genuinely good and insincere queries which border-lined on sarcasm.

As an avid watch-connoisseur, if I may, I am used to such reactions. All the more better, if you were to ask me. And I’ll gladly enlighten you why.

Back when I was pursuing the Patek Philippe Nautilus 5711, it was a matter of having enough money for the purchase. And when I finally did, there were even questions like why did I not put my money on a full-gold Rolex Day-Date. In fact, there were more naysayers than those who truly appreciate horology at its finest per se. Today, that same piece could fetch me more than 3 times the price that I have paid for. I jest you not. I was offered. But of course, I didn’t let go of it.

Fast-forward a little, through much persuasion from a brother-from-another-mother, I went into Grand Seiko’s booth at Baselworld. Mind you, I’m not a watch trader but I am crazy enough to fly half around the globe to attend watch events like Baselworld and SIHH. There, I was blown away. I don’t even want to go into how amazing the Spring Drive movement is because there are lots on the Internet that you can actually read up about. Instead, my posts on timepieces are always leaning towards practical outlooks than geeky information on their accuracy and what-have-yous. Yet, in one sentence, I will say that even at Baselworld, the Swiss were fascinated by Grand Seiko as much as they tried their best not to drool.

Zaratsu polishing on Grand Seiko meant that only selected few craftsmen are tasked to have those sharply defined edges and distortion-free mirror finishing. It takes three years or more of training before a craftsman is skilled enough to polish every surface of each case and bracelet on a Grand Seiko timepiece. This ancient technique of hand-polishing on metal was first used on Katanas, that of worthy ninjas’ or samurais’.

Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of good luxury watch brands out there. A. Lange & Söhne, Jaeger-LeCoultre, F.P. Journe and I can go on. But if you are more a connoisseur than a collector or hoarder for that matter, or if your cash is limited so to speak, then I’ll rather you go for either or both Patek Philippe and Grand Seiko. Sure if you want to be loud, then you belong to the Rolex and Richard Mille group. Then, you are reading the wrong blog. Screw that billionaire-handshake or what-milkshake, I don’t give a shake.

It’s all about aesthetics marrying precision engineering at its best. Immaculate finishing with form and function coming together in a wholesome manner where the language of design is aligned seamlessly with the thoughts put into making timekeeping and time-telling going beyond mere accuracy. Because if you really want a +0/-0 second, get a Casio G-Shock. You don’t belong here.

Understated. “Just another Seiko.”

One may argue that Grand Seiko doesn’t have the history like Patek Philippe. Not even other Swiss brands. Apparently, Napoléon Bonaparte used a Vacheron Constantin timepiece. And if you were to say that to my face, I hope you better be a history professor. Else you’re just pretentious or a follower. Before the modern-hype, it was all Rolex, wasn’t it? Patek Philippe’s Nautilus 5711 was at $30k thereabouts brand new before it commands over $100k today. If you follow ‘trend’, you will always be, in Def Leppard’s immortal words, “Two steps behind”.

Try be an opinion leader today. Read up more about Grand Seiko and argue within yourself (your true-self, that is.) why it is inferior compared to others. Good luck on that. And if I ever have a financial tip for someone, this is the time to get a Grand Seiko.

By the time it is too popular, I’ll remain rock and roll.

End of the day, it’s not about who knows what. If you are wearing it for others, then you are quite a miserable fellow. Even so, I have to add that, those who know, knows. Begs the question then, why will you bother about those who don’t? A lion never loses sleep over a sheep’s opinion.

Take the time
To think about it
Just walk the line, you know you just can’t fight it
Take a look around you’ll see what you can find

♫ ~ Two Steps Behind (Def Leppard)

Scars Are Souvenirs You Never Lose

It’s so hard to forget pain, but it’s even harder to remember sweetness. We have no scar to show for happiness. We learn so little from peace.

Chuck Palahniuk

But if you want your watch to be without a single scratch, my advice is to leave it in the boutique. Why pay for something that will end up owning you instead? If you have to be so careful with your wristwatch, isn’t the stress that came along with the wearing of it not worth the idea of acquiring it?

No one is perfect. Neither your kiddo, nor your future kiddo too. But does that mean he is any lesser a son to you if he comes home with a scar on his face?

The question is then, to fix or not to fix. Assuming that the scars on the watch are not too deep. It begs the conflicting schools of thoughts where a group of collectors believe that polishing brings down the value of the watch while the other will send in for polishing as soon as they buy their pre-owned pieces. Which is better? Like art, it’s subjective to me. Therefore, I won’t have the answer for you.

If you dig deep, some of you secretly admire those who are “one-watch-person“. That guy with that Rolex Submariner who wore it to work, swim, and even to war back when he was serving the U.S. Marines. His Submariner is the one you really wanted. Rather than your brand new piece where your story was how you bought 3 other Oyster Perpetuals just so the AD gave you a chance to purchase this piece.

Marlon Brando acquired a Rolex GMT-Master Ref. 1675 watch in the 1970’s and the Academy Award winner wore it throughout Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now movie. He took out the bezel and used a knife to engrave on the back. If you have OCD, you will probably faint reading up to here. But truth is, you don’t want to know how much more it costs today as opposed to another piece of his which may be in rather pristine condition.

The film-makers wanted him to remove his watch but instead, he took out the bezel.

It does however, in my humble opinion, defeats the purpose of having the GMT function as the GMT-Master’s GMT hand works on a 24-hr basis. Without the bezel indicating the 24-hr dial, trying to figure home time may be a little challenging. Then again, in this case (pun intended), it really does not matter.

Enough said engraved.

So there you are, feeling sorry for your watch which just truly became yours. Things you own, end up owning you. I say go for it. Scratch it. I say swim with it. Dive with it, it’s a goddamn dive-watch to begin with. Let the chips fall as they may. Tyler’s words coming out of my keyboard. The point is that at the end of the day, these are just things. What you need is a shift on perspective. It’s probably more valuable and sentimental if you know exactly how to put those scratches into your memory. Now that you are enlightened, go forth, and save the world. Help the unwashed masses. Emancipate them from the prison they spent thousands-of-dollars to incarcerate their minds.

And scars are souvenirs you never lose
The past is never far
Did you lose yourself somewhere out there
Did you get to be a star
And don’t it make you sad to know that life
Is more than who we are
We grew up way too fast
And now there’s nothing to believe
And reruns all become our history
A tired song keeps playing on a tired radio
And I won’t tell no one your name

♫ ~ Name (Goo Goo Dolls)

Rebirth

Smirk-on-Knuckle

All God does is watch us and kill us when we get boring. We must never, ever be boring.

Chuck Palahniuk

From The Møtørpsychö Diaries (not Che Guevara’s), my 8329811706^th blog, to smirkonknuckle.wordpress.com, my 8329811707^th blog, I will like to give you a warm welcome and congratulate you for following me up till this point. To the readers who have previously subscribed, and communicated with me via my ever-changing email addresses too, please update your contact list as you can now reach me at smirkknuckle@gmail.com.

Like Tommy Lee (not Tommy Lee Jones but Tommy Lee), Mötley Crüe’s drummer or more famously known as Pamela Anderson’s ex-husband, I like to have a ‘Reset’ button where I can basically restart. If only we can all restart whenever we fuck up in life, how wonderful will life be, or maybe not. Tommy had a ‘Reset’ button tattoo-ed on. I’m afraid of pain so I choose to restart blogs instead.

I re-invent myself 72 times a day. So that God will never find me too boring.

Like all cool Vikings, especially Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye, my new pseudonym ‘smirk-knuckle‘ or ‘smirk-on-knuckle‘ befits me when I have a smirk-like scar on one of my knuckles. Don’t ask.

If you cross the line, I will cross the Rubicon.