Luxury watches are a financial and emotional investment

Global Business

Luxury watches help men make a statement

When most people hear the word investment, they think stocks and bonds. But our “Where’s the Money” feature is meant to explore unusual investment vehicles.

CGTN’s New York correspondent Liling Tan introduces us to a couple of gentlemen who say luxury watches are assets that do much more than tell time.
Follow Liling Tan on Twitter @LilingTan

David Kaplan joins CGTN’s Rachelle Akuffo to discuss luxury watch trends. Kaplan is the chief marketing officer with Watchbox.

An introduction into the world of high-end watches begins on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue, at Swiss luxury watchmaker Hublot. And the man on the mission to educate is one of the world’s foremost watch expert Ariel Adams.

“Hublot is a very modern-themed watch brand and they’ve really captured a lot of attention because of their boldness and these five watches represent different elements of the brand’s personality. We have here the Big Bang Unico 45. This is the newest generation of Big Bang.  This is inspired by motor sports, modern materials. This is not an inexpensive timepiece. Most of these cost about $25,000,” Ariel Adams, watch expert and founder of aBlogtoWatch said.    Twitter: @aBlogtoWatch

If you think $25 grand is steep. We’re only just getting started. A watch modeled after the engine bay of the Ferrari Laferrari costs over $300,000.

“The entire case is synthetic sapphire crystal, which is delicately machined. And it’s designed so you can fully inspect the movement from all angles,” Adams said.

Watches can pack way more punch than just being able to tell us the time. But what about return on investment? Why drop a few hundred grand or even a few million dollars on a watch, when the value goes down the moment you leave the store?

“It’s really a matter of being smart and losing as little value as possible. More conservative designs tend to hold value in a stronger way. More avant garde, risky, modern, artsy – however you want to call it – designs tend to be more risky just by nature of the fact there’s less people out there who not only share your taste, but also perhaps understand the source of value,” Adams said.

Adam’s advice is to buy what you like if you can afford it, and think of it as both a financial and an emotional investment.

DIGITAL EXTRA: Luxury watches make a statement

In the quest to impress, men are sporting luxury watches as a status symbol.  Nothing says wealth like a pricey time piece on your wrist.