The Recent Psychology Of Owning Luxury AAA+ Replica Watches

Having been in the world of fine reproduction watches for more than 30 years, I note time and time again that established figures in the industry most often view luxury best replica watches as items of personal enjoyment rather than investment-class assets. Collectors and enthusiasts of fine watches can learn a lot from their takes.

Is watch collecting really “investing” in the classic sense? Most people I interview and talk to in the watch industry seem to think not.

“I’ve frequently gone on the record over the years with my view that cheap replica Rolex watches are not investments,” says Gary Getz, a prominent enthusiast watch collector and retired business strategy consultant. “That’s not to say that the values of some watches may not go up over time, but to me that’s both unpredictable and entirely secondary to the importance of watches as works of mechanical art and personal enjoyment.”

When Watch “Investing” Became “Easy“
As the digital era progressed, certain luxury watch models, brands, and even provenances became “hyped,” causing a new arm of watch “collecting” to open – one that was heavily influenced by marketing and a new ideal of rarity. It was chiefly populated by a newer consumer group with more discretionary funds to spend than ever before.

 

Capitalizing, major auction houses began placing focus on two blue-chip brands with high reputations for craftsmanship: Rolex and Patek Philippe had long been household names and the poster children of the Swiss watch industry, but these new circumstances elevated their status in unimaginable ways, culminating in Phillips’ 2017 sale of Paul Newman’s personal Rolex Daytona 6239 for $17,752.500 – a watch model that was somewhat unpopular at its birth – and the Tiffany & Co Double-Signed Patek Philippe Nautilus (Ref. 5711/1A-018, the so-called “Tiffany Blue Patek”) in December 2021 for a whopping $6.5 million (both prices including buyer’s premium).

Not to be outdone, in 2021, Swiss movement Audemars Piguet super clone watches set a record for an AP sold at auction with a unique-piece Royal Oak Concept Black Panther Flying Tourbillon for charity that hammered at $5.2 million.

“And it wasn’t just us,” Aurel Bacs, head of the watch division of the Phillips auction house, remembers. “There was also the 31 million for the top copy Patek Philippe Grandmaster Chime watches at 2019’s Only Watch auction. Watches were on everyone’s mind: the big press, TV shows, blogs, and social media. It was everywhere. It became popular culture mainstream to the extent that when I was in Cambodia on a bike riding through a rice field, somebody stopped me and said, ‘You are the man who sold the Paul Newman’.”

A Hyped Investment Era
“The digital era brought with it online enthusiast forums in which certain perfect Patek Philippe replica watches became ‘hot’ pieces that ‘serious’ collectors felt they should have, setting the stage for Phillips and others to create a sense of rarity around certain makers and references among a broader audience,” Getz, a serious collector for decades, explains. “It wasn’t very long ago that the discussion among enthusiasts wasn’t about making money, but about ‘not getting hurt’ by buying pieces that matched one’s individual taste but suffered badly in value should the need arise to sell them.”

From 2016, the secondary market values of stainless steel fake Patek Philippe Nautilus watches for men, a watch that has existed since 1976, upsurged in a way that hadn’t existed before, a true phenomenon that just three short years later saw these models selling on the pre-owned market for twice their retail prices and (much) more.

In my estimation, there are two big reasons for the extreme price rise: the new marketing directions of auction houses and other pre-owned sellers focusing on unique or low-volume series and provenance, and the evolving tastes of today’s consumer with a focus on luxury sport high quality fake watches. By 2019, Bitcoin was also surging, meaning that new wealth was coming into the hands of younger consumers looking for a place to spend it (and a place to show it).

The COVID-19 pandemic followed closely on the heels of Bitcoin, bringing about a perfect storm and solidifying a new feel for luxury watch collecting and investing: “pandemic spending” caused blue-chip brands to sell out just as production was grinding to a halt and supplied components were becoming increasingly unavailable.

A Mainstream Luxury Category Today
“I think we are seeing the effects of 1:1 quality replica Audemars Piguet watches moving from being a niche interest to a mainstream luxury category, with all that implies regarding the status associated with certain watches and the ability to profit from a manufactured sense of scarcity,” Getz explains. “We are seeing this cooling off, and I suspect that some portion of today’s luxury watch buyers will soon move on to their next categories of status purchases; but at the same time, as with vintage cars, it looks as if excellent examples from certain brands and important references have made a permanent and sustainable jump in value that won’t abate anytime soon.”


Should you get into best copy watches for investment purposes right now? You may have missed the peak of the unprecedented surge we just experienced, but there isn’t a bubble to burst here because watches have never truly “bubbled.” If you’re new to watch collecting and harbor an expectation for luxury 1:1 fake watches to hold their value, you will be best served buying Rolex, Patek Philippe, and Audemars Piguet’s Royal Oak models. This trio of historical blue-chip brands are three of today’s most desirable makers of luxury sports watches – a status they have enjoyed for years.

‘Yes, luxury top clone watches can be an investment, but not an investment like a pension fund, real estate, or even the stock market,’ Bacs says, clarifying his attitude, one that most watch industry lifers share. “The investment is a human one. As is the pleasure to engage with watchmakers and peers and to hang out with watch crowds. The pleasure of actually being all alone with your beloved watch. There’s the investment of your time and, of course, your hard-earned money. But the dividend is not cash. The dividend is the smile you get.”

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