I detest "which watch" threads - but...

[mapalfa]

I really don't see the point of asking other people what watch you should buy. It's such as subjective matter, but in this case I'm going to break my own rule - to a point at least.


A bit of background will help you see why I'm struggling. My wife and I live a pretty comfortable life. She's a dentist and earns well above the UK average and I run my own small business. The house is paid for and neither of us have any debts other than monthly bills. On the face of it I should be able to go out and drop £5k on a watch with very little thought, but for one problem.

About 15 years ago I got into serious financial trouble and ended up going bankrupt and homeless. Everything is back to normal now, thank God, but as a result of this I've resisted every suggestion made by my wife that we should treat our finances as joint. I won't even have my name on a bank account with her. I can't see the same thing happening, the circumstances and personal issues are well in my past, but I don't want even a 1% chance that I can hurt her financially.

Because of this her bank accounts are nice and fat and mine are a bit on the thin side! She's never stopped me from spending my money on something I want, from cars to watches, but in return I make sure I can justify the money I spend to myself before I even raise the issue with her.

When I got back into watches a few years ago I knew there was a risk that I could get carried away, so made a deal with myself that I'd limit my serious watches to a small list all from my birth year (1968). That list has coalesced into my grail list - Stainless DateJust, Grand Seiko, Pre-moon Speedy and a Tudor Sub. Partly due to my business doing a little better than I expected, but mainly due to you bunch of enablers, I'm looking at a new watch. That's where the confusion starts.

I'd made my mind up, as much as I could without actually trying it on, that I wanted a blue dial 39mm OP. At the moment I've got stainless/silver dialed 1603, GS and De Ville plus a couple of divers watches for, you've guessed it, diving. That meant I was thinking about adding some colour while also trying to stay in the region of £4k. Then the new Air King came out! OK, it's not a big thing, take a day trip to Cardiff and try them both on back to back and buy the one I like the most. I don't have all the cost in the bank at the moment, but as long as I can get 0% on about half the cost I can pay it off within a few months. I've done that sort of thing over the last few years and know I've got the self control to not let that cause me problems.

Unfortunately I have a search set up on ebay for 1968 watches and a Speedy came up a couple of weeks ago. It stopped taking bids at just over £1k and, given that it had a bad lume job and needed a new dial, I hoped it might not go for more than a couple of grand. It jumped to £2k a couple of days before the end and I decided I'd go for it if it stayed under £3k. In the end it went for £4.5k, which was a pretty good price considering the condition (excluding the dial) and a recent service, but I know when to let things go and I did. It got me thinking, though, about adding a new Speedy to the collection instead of a new Rolex. Cheaper and a lot less flashy, but a possible duplication if I get the '68 in the future. That led me to considering a Tag Monaco Steve McQueen after seeing one on a celeb being interviewed on TV and that led me to reconsider the Tag David Guetta special edition GMT.

So, do I add a brand new watch to the collection? Newer, manufacturers warranty, better build quality than late '60s models, give the vintage watches a break from time to time. There's a lot to say in favour of this, but if I do what to go for? The possibility of a UK Rolex price rise happening soon has to be taken into account, but that's offset by my very nice credit card company who've given me a year of interest free purchases to stop me closing that particular card. If the prices go up before I buy then they're most probably off the cards.

I wouldn't pay full retail for an Omega or Tag, but might have to for a Rolex as I have no AD history, so based on Rolex.com/Chrono24 prices it leaves me with:

OP39 - £3,750.00 retail
AK40 - £4,150.00 retail
Monaco Steve McQueen Cal 11 - £3,150.00 grey market
Speedy Moonwatch - £2,500.00 grey market
Speedy Racing chronometer - £2,750.00 grey market
Speedy auto chronometer - £2,850.00 grey market
Tag F1 David Guetta GMT - £1,300.00 grey market from Europe

I nearly bought a Moonwatch last year, but didn't want to charge it at the end of a holiday that had been quite expensive diving-wise. I was also very tempted by the David Guetta this year, but ran out of time before having to run for a flight before I could make my mind up. I know it's a marmite watch, but I like the looks and a dive-rated GMT for under £1,500 isn't to be sneezed at. I wouldn't buy a Monaco without trying one on, but would take a chance on buying a different version of the Speedy unworn having been happy with the size of the Moonwatch.








I think everyone knows what an OP and AK look like and a Moonwatch is pretty well known too.