What Makes A Watch Collectible?

A highly collectable vintage watch is a seemingly rare combination of factors. Many aspects should be considered when buying any vintage watch: originality, authenticity, condition, provenance, and documentation, to name but a few.

Add into the mix the $64,000 question; “What makes a watch collectable?” and even more factors come to light. Watch collectors compare notes and collections to identify models of potential value. As this information spreads, it leads to hype around certain models, often for fairly abstract reasons such as an evenly faded bezel or some discontinued snowflake hands.

These following elements will affect if a watch becomes a popular collectable:

Heritage

Watch brands with the strongest heritage and lineage of popular models make the most collectable watches. The most obvious examples include Rolex Oyster and Oyster Perpetual watches, which have remained in continuous production for almost 100 years. This makes the Rolex Oyster Perpetual the most collectable and collected watch.

The Rolex Datejust is another example. The first waterproof automatic wristwatch to include a date function was launched in 1948 and has remained in production ever since. Likewise, the Rolex Day-Date, GMT, Submariner and Daytona fall into the same group and are highly collectable.

History

A watch which has witnessed a moment of history or a record-breaking attempt only adds to the cachet. Such examples include the Rolex Oyster Perpetual, the Rolex Submariner and the Rolex Explorer. The Explorer gained fame when Rolex provided a prototype for the team to wear on the successful 1953 Everest expedition and it’s benefited from that legacy ever since.

Huge collector kudos went to Omega when the Omega Speedmaster model 105.012 went to the moon with the astronauts of Apollo 11 in July 1969. From a collector’s perspective, one of the interesting features of the 105.012 was that it was the first model with the word “Professional” on the dial, and because it went to the moon, it’s incredibly collectable.

29.12.2023