6 Things to Consider When Building A Watch Collection..

hi everyone teddy baldustart here now watch collecting i think at the end of the day it should be fun i think that's what watches is all about and i don't think that should get twisted in any manner but when you start throwing hundreds if not thousands of dollars in the direction of building a collection or just getting into watches in general and just having some enthusiasm for it i think things you have to kind of have to think about it a little bit and i think it is good to at least have some parameters or things to consider around building a watch collection because we're talking real money here and significant money at that if you are getting into it so in this video we're gonna be looking at six things i think are just points of consideration as you're building a watch collection or maybe some food for thought i think you shouldn't necessarily make rules around a collection because again it should be for fun but wanted to just offer up some things that i've learned in my own collection collecting journey as i've made plenty of mistakes as well as just conversations i have on a day to day basis with hundreds and thousands of collectors out there so before we jump into this video i do want to mention our store teddybaldthestar.com full authorized dealer of over 30 brands we have dedicated customer support fast fulfillment so you can get your products on time all the products are in stock all of our products also come with a full factory warranty so if something happens inside that warranty window you're not having to pay the bill for it also we have price match that is offered for other authorized dealers if you see something for cheap or another authorized dealer fill out the form we'll give you a call we can talk through it and finally nine out of every ten dollars that we make from our store teddybaldust.com goes right back into the content that we're creating trying to create a new generation of watch enthusiasts we have some awesome things planned for 2021 as a result of this team baltimore.com check it out now to start us off here i want to look at a very i think important point and i think a bit more of an obvious one but develop your tastes but also develop a theme following that now what i find very frequently happening and especially what's true with me is when you get into something you have a crazy amount of enthusiasm and you just start buying things like crazy left and right and i think this sometimes can come back to bite you when you are considering just building a collection because in those early stages you haven't really developed your taste and when building taste i think you almost have to take it in chunks rather than all at once it sometimes can be a bit difficult to develop that taste if you just buy things all out the get-go and sometimes a double-edged sword too because hey you can slow things down but you can also speed things up and you'll ultimately get to handle a lot more watches so you kind of have to find that balance what you can do physically responsibly and also just be kind of miscalculated and of course do your research in developing those tastes following developing those tastes and it's a constant progress in terms of developing them i think it's important to eventually develop some type of just theme or philosophy for collecting there's a lot of different ways to look at it i think for myself early on i was a little bit all over the place and sought more as a numbers game i know a lot of people will throw out like hey i want to have a 10 watch collection or a three watch collection or whatever number they want to throw out there i know people also look at styles so they want to have one dive watch they want to have one chronograph they want to have a dress watch and kind of just check off the boxes there are people that want one watch of every brand or want all their watches to be one brand maybe they're just a huge fan of just one manufacturer that also exists as well whatever it is you just kind of have to determine at the end of the day you know what is that philosophy also there is just the ability to acquire and what speed or velocity are you acquiring and how do you set that up do you set a budget are you thinking about maybe just adding one to two watches per year or whatever you want to set up for yourself or more it all really depends on your situation but i think it's good to have those types of just conversations with yourself because watch collecting as much of it much as it is a very just i think a nice community your individual journey is sometimes very isolated and in those moments of isolation you get very consumed with what you think is the right thing to buy next and it could ultimately lead to just buying just for the sake of buying and not really acquiring taste or really even building a collection and i don't think building a collection was what watches are nestled all about but i think it is just something to kind of just consider as you're going about this the next point here will be looking at the fact that your tastes are going to change i will use myself as an example and it's something that i think everybody should just accept you're going to fall out of love with watches you're going to totally shift in what you're into i i remember buying a datejust it was a gray dial 1601 and then i sold it and then i got another 1601 it was a two-tone and then i sold that so and then i don't have any datejust then i went from buying a ton of vintage watches i i purchased a ton of vintage dress watches but i eventually just found especially after i shifted into doing you know being in the industry for watches full time that a lot of the more dressed up type of attire that i was wearing was no longer really necessary anymore i was i became a little more casual with my tires so my taste shifted and i kind of now have just been really falling in love with tool watches sports watches a bit more especially tool watches that's really where my tastes have been gravitating towards so i think you just kind of have to keep this in mind i don't know if you necessarily need to overthink this i don't think there's any way of really seeing or forecasting how this is going to change as you're going about your journey just kind of just be thoughtful the fact that it could change another aspect that i don't want to oversell but and i think a lot of people get the wrong idea about this and have unrealistic expectations but value retention i think you hear about watches as investments which i totally just shoot down because if you want to invest in watches i just think there's way better places to go and at the end of the day there's really only like three brands that truly retain their value and of those brands there's only select models in there a lot of them also do tank and i'm talking about rolex patek and ap i would say you're probably the best value retention in terms of watches overall but i do think looking at at least maybe considering when you're going into watch especially when you're developing your taste and you're in the earlier parts of this just looking at what you can get on the secondary market have realistic expectations if you are going for say a more entry level watch know that you're not going to be your watch is not going up in value i'm sorry to tell your hamilton is not going to go up in value but you're not going to get completely decimated and you will have some retention another thing i will mention as well is if you are still developing your taste i would probably avoid microbrands i love micro brands i think they give a nice fresh taste into i think a different approach to watches when what a lot of major brands are doing but i would probably go away from it just because the overall market is much smaller from them the brand equity is not as strong as say a more mass-market brand so i would probably avoid that in the early stages until you really dial in what your tastes are those tastes are going to become more clear and but they're going to constantly be changing so just be cognizant of this as you're going forward collecting now this next point here i think is one that a lot of people just overlook overall and i certainly have as well and that is cost for ownership i think many people just look at the price tag and the point of sale is the only cost associated with the watch sometimes and it's honestly not true especially in certain instances that we'll get into in a moment but things to consider mechanical movement is it a three hand is it a chronograph or is it some type of uh you know high complication that you're dealing with that's all going to greatly affect uh when looking at servicing costs and just what it takes to actually own that watch and maintain it i don't want to create a scenario where it's like a doomsday scenario everything's gonna go wrong but when those days happen when something does go wrong it is important to know what it's going to cost to fix it also looking at maybe looking at third party movements as well as in-house movements i am a huge believer in third-party movements and i think many people hate on them and i totally get hey if you're just having a basic at a caliber in a seven thousand dollar watch i think we got a problem there but if we're talking three even four thousand bucks and say it's either a higher grade etta or selena caliber and they're doing maybe some modification to it to be honest i will take the serviceability the ease of regulation over a lot of the perks of in-house calibers i think there's a certain threshold i think other people will have where that threshold is in terms of accepting a third party movement versus an in-house but i think in many instances in-house movements are not always made out to what they're maybe potentially are in actuality especially when you send one in for service i notice when somebody does send in one of their made more complicated watches that has an in-house movement for service i think they're they're tuned in terms of how they see third-party movements changes a little bit so that's just something to consider also looking at warranties when you're buying into service history talking from a pre-owned perspective spending a little bit more on a more up-to-date service history or a seller that actually provides a service history and can prove it i think is way more worthwhile because i think a lot of people overestimate hey i'm getting this for 500 or less then they get the watch the thing's not running that well or maybe there's some problems with it they don't have the best warranty or coverage from that seller you're kind of out of luck and you're going to have to drop either the difference between getting a better example or one that you know that you would have more confidence in so you kind of have to just figure out what those costs associated with owning that watch and really look for all of these types of scenarios if you're buying new does it come with a factory warranty understand where you're buying from know the different types of seller authorized dealer great market you are going to have to make the decision in terms of what is best for you especially with the watch and i think it very much depends on the type of consumer that you are and where you're going to go and what you value as a consumer but i think you just have to be cognizant of you know what what are the risks involved and what are the upsides involved going with each location and figure thing figuring things out i think that's very important when thinking about it and just looking into that warranty for some of these unauthorized sellers one thing i noticed is like it'll say it's coming uh with a full factory warranty one thing to consider is if they're not authorized to sell that product what goes on when you buy from an authorized dealer the warranty card is going to be stamped and registered with the brand if that is not happening and that's happening at the point of sale that watch is not going to be registered for that warranty so that is something to consider a full factory warranty that has not been documented by the brand is not going to be covered by that warranty just so just something to consider and some food for thought there but certainly a point that is is overlooked just cost for owning a watch following that initial sale now for number four we have buy the seller and condition again now i think just condition overall let's talk from the pre-owned perspective first because i think this is even more important when you're dealing with an independent seller or just any dealer out there i think it's important to get backstory of all the information you can of the watch consider all of the variables involved what are the reviews of this seller one thing that i always check is going on twitter if they're a large seller or you know a large retailer and they're not necessarily selling new product or they're not an authorized seller just going on twitter or going on like you know better business bureau and just seeing the reviews and complaints and just filtering by newest and just looking at the honest just real time feedback of what is going on there i think that's a great indicator you can also look at the reviews that they have typically for maybe you're on a place like chrono 24 for example or some other place where there's other dealers involved and they have a rating system you can look into that just do your research find the seller figure out you know everything that you can before purchasing and just be very thoughtful about that especially going pre-owned maybe cross-reference from other sellers of what's there making sure it's authentic of course the other thing i will say here is condition is very important i don't think you should be afraid to overpay a little bit for one that you know is fully just authentic it's in the best condition possible without of course being reworked or say like a read dial for example look out for things like that if it looks too good to be true it probably is and most likely is one final thing to consider here is just boxing papers i hear that getting thrown around a lot i do think a lot of dealers charge sometimes more than what they probably should four boxes and papers or sometimes premiums for this but does give you some peace of mind boxes versus papers i'd always go papers i think papers serve way more as an ability to authenticate a piece because it is directly attached to that watch and that serial number when it comes to a box quite frequently a practice that you'll see all the time is getting a box putting a box that was not associated with that watch to any other point but hey it's of the same brand you'll put it in there and most people just say hey it box and then now it has papers or just say hey it comes with a box so just look out for that just know what you're paying for what actually matters and you know just do your research there when really looking into sellers now for number five and i think this is very important and i don't think we're reminded of this enough but forget the fanatics nobody cares about your watch now when you get into watches i have been there you get totally consumed into the world of watches maybe you're watching a ton of videos maybe you are shopping around at different places you're going on different websites shopping around looking at different watches for sale you really start to become very consumed in this overall hobby and i think sometimes you forget what it's like to be on the outside once you get fully immersed into this world and i think that's sometimes a difficult thing because we put so much value into what others in this community think are cool that we allow it to influence either our opinions or our collecting journey and once we're in this group i think we just forget that nobody's going to notice your watch and unless you're maybe in you know your watch meetup or something of that sort or around people that are into watches nobody gives a damn about what you have on your wrist they're not going to notice it most people don't know anything about watches unfortunately watches for many people are not relevant and i know for fact that many people even on the age of 25 don't even know how to read the time on watch so if you ask them to tell the time on an analog watch they're not gonna know but that's okay and but i think it's important to have that context when you're collecting because i think sometimes especially in the social media age that we live in we buy things based on trying to impress people we don't even know or even like and that's i think a deadly thing when you're talking about hundreds if not thousands of dollars to be spending and you're looking for a gratification from it and it just creates this vicious cycle you buy you bought you buy you don't get the satisfaction from it it's insatiable and i think it can never be satisfied you just fall in love more with the purchasing rather than you do actually collecting and enjoying the watch so i think it's important to have that context i know for myself people ask me all the time why don't you do more collection videos it's really for this reason i do not want to have my own personal journey with watches be affected by people that don't either know me or don't i don't really care for them their opinion on it i just i love watches i just want to do this for myself and i don't feel like i have to put on a show by putting out a video so that's my overall perspective on it i think more people should consider it even when you're watching me just because i like a watch doesn't mean it's right for you i talk about a ton of watches and i think at the end of the day you have to make the decision on what is best for you and you should enjoy it and that's what it's all about and finally collecting is a marathon again that whole idea that once you get into something you start just going diving head first into it 100 and then you end up maybe making some stupid decisions and you maybe buy too many things i think many people rush this world of collecting and they fall more in love again with the idea of acquiring or buying watches then they do actually enjoying them on their wrists and i think that is a huge just disconnect from what i think this should all be about but i get it i think you almost fall in love with consumerism your obsession is not watches but it's consumerism and i think that is what gets twisted sometimes in this hobby unfortunately uh and i mean i'm in the business of selling watches and i'm even saying that because i think it is a very serious point that many people i think overlook at times also the best collections that i have seen are the ones that are the most sentimental and they've taken a ton of time to develop and just build uh you know actually trim down and go through a total just transformation process to eventually get to the point it's those stories it's all that just kind of attachment that people have to the pieces that they wear i think that is what really makes a sound collection and makes it connected to the individual that wears them it's an expressive expression of individuality your individual self will change depending on your experience and so will your collection it's a marathon and remember that when you're developing it even for myself i acknowledge that i am very early on my journey this is something i'm going to probably take to the grave with me in terms of just loving watches till the very bitter end so you just kind of have to take it to stride i think it's a little bit healthier with that context and not trying to maybe just build a collection just to show other people how to watch meetup or on your instagram just have some fun with it understand this is a long journey and you know live your life enjoy the pieces that you have because acquiring a new piece after peace after peace that's not what's going to give you the satisfaction uh for anything what's going to give you satisfaction i think is just embracing that idea this is going to be a lifelong thing and you're meant to enjoy these things as you go and experience life but all right guys those are six things that i think everybody should consider when building a watch collection again i think it's all about having fun at the end of the day i don't want to necessarily make these crazy rules that everybody should follow when building a collection but i think it is good to just keep things in mind when you are again spending a significant amount of money over an extended period of time if you guys did like this video thumbs up subscribe hit the bell icon also did i miss any specific things that you would recommend in the comments down below i know there's people that follow this channel they've been collecting way longer than me as well so i love to just see what you guys have to say i'm certainly sure that there are other things to consider those are just some of my big ones that i think come to mind when i'm thinking about this idea of collecting also guys check out teddybaldstar.com full authorized dealer of all the brands we carry check it out in addition follow us on instagram stay up to date with the content see some cool photos of watches follow my second channel i actually have two channels i have a spanish channel as well as my review channel where i do individual reviews of products that we do offer as an authorized dealer so great way to kind of just see get some insight on different products you might be looking at and then also i've been releasing some great written content as well which i can link to down below check out different buying guides and things of that sort which should be a great place to start maybe in some of your research but guys thank you again so much for watching be well and i'll see you all very soon

Channel: Teddy Baldassarre

Views: 188,678

Rating: 4.9460616 out of 5

Keywords: Things to Consider When Building A Watch Collection, watch collecting tips, watch collecting, watch collecting mistakes, watch collecting 101, watch collecting strategy, watch collecting for beginners, watch collecting addiction, watch collecting guide, teddy baldassarre, building a watch collection, watches, wristwatches

Id: OB-g4r3K9Is

Length: 18min 5sec (1085 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 03 2021