Baron - Mr Red
14613
Edmond....
Oct 29, 2014,02:40 AM
....you are an investor and a collector. You merge the two processes into one....and I can see that works with you well. You also adopt a philosophy that appreciates depth rather than diversity. You don't like my Sea-Dwellers, but you do like the fact that I have 7 of them and have obviously spent a lot of time researching those 7. Oddly, one of the things I am considering for 2015 is cutting my Sea-Dweller collection by 2 or 3 watches. Depth of collecting is one methodology, but actually it is one of many. Now, the philosophy of a collector can and often will diverge significantly from the philosophy of an investor. Spread your eggs across a lot of baskets or put all your eggs in one (but watch that one basket very carefully!). Investing vrs collecting. In this sphere, the mixing of the two can create a lot of obfuscation in approach. As an investor, I am like you....highly focused and with purposeful intent. As a collector, we differ....and that is because in my approach (imagine a Venn diagram), the collecting and investing circles do not really overlap. I buy watches that i know i will lose money on....for example the Rolex GMT Bruiser. It doesn'tbother me in the slightest...yet as you state, you would be more "worried" about my GMT Bruiser and 1019 than you would be about my 6542. Why worried? If it is about money return on the pieces, then yes, plausibly, the 6542 may procure a higher financial return. But actually, that issue was never a part of my process...separate circles.
Seeing as you are quoting from the classics (!), let me share one with you....to quote Agent Smith from the Matrix, "let me share with you a revelation I have had". The return I see from my watch collection has no relation to its financial value. Zero. I Have often paid way through the market price for a watch because I needed it in my collection. Take my Sea-Dwellers.....I would guess that at the time of each purchase, I paid way through previous highs. Reason? Because each piece was going to be extremely hard (and in some cases impossible) to ever find again. I love Sea-Dwellers....so i needed them. It was not about investing in future icons for a financial return.
Which brings me back to my revelation. I sat and looked at my Rolex collection recently, and my revelation was that my return came entirely from my perception of the collection. My perception.....not anyone else's.....I appreciate that you hold strong opinions, but of course strength of opinion often has little correlation with validity of opinion. Our own opinions are our personal truths...nothing more and nothing less. I love Sea-Dwellers....you don't. That doesn't make me right and you wrong...or vice versa. In fact, it is precisely because it doesn't that my revelation holds true for me. I am happy and content with my collection not because it is the best...the rarest....the most iconic.....the most valuable......No. None of this is relevant. I am content because my perception of it is where I want it to be. That really, is the only issue of importance.
As always.....very interesting to debate some of the philosophies adopted on these forums ... of which you bring many interesting and relevant perspectives. Appreciate your prior response...as ever...we grow.