Buying My First Luxury Watch

I have just bought my first luxury watch this is a surreal moment for me let's just pause this for a second before you get the wrong impression I just want to say that this video is not me trying to flex that couldn't be further from the goal here yes of course I am fortunate to be able to afford a ice watch but it's also something that I've been saving up for a long time I actually started to develop a lot of interest in watches and I wanted to share with you why I decided to get this particular watch the story behind it which is actually quite fascinating and to offer my perspective on this iconic watch okay with that said let's resume this is the stunning Cartier Santos medium featuring a Steelcase polish bezel and the iconic Square Santos dial but this was not the watch that I initially wanted to get like many aspiring Grail watch owners I initially set my eyes on a Rolex after stalking many watches and playing around with the customization op options on the website I built my dream watch the Rolex datejust with the Jubilee bracelets fluted bezel white dial and Roman numerals a thing of beauty and the retail price stood within the budget that I was willing to spend so being my naive innocent firsttime luxury watch buyer I simply go into my local Rolex store head high smile on my face determined to buy my Grail watch that day little did I know I was going to face a swift rejection from the sale assistant took me all the way back to seventh grade anyhow I was quickly told that I cannot in fact buy this watch or practically any Rolex watch and I got put on a waiting list the only way to get one immediately was to buy it secondhand for 3 to 5K above retail price which I absolutely was not prepared to spend that much let alone for a watch that wasn't even brand new so 1 month goes by I don't hear back 2 months 3 months 4 months go by I check in with the dealership and and still nothing after 6 months I start losing my patience little did I know some people wait for years and I decided to start looking at other potential watches the four things I look for in a watch Are One Design obviously as a fashion Enthusiast I like things that look nice I appreciate good design and wanted a watch that fit well with my style two craftsmanship I'm definitely a Late Bloomer on this one but reading more on the differences between quartz watches and mechanical watches a self- winding versus an automatic movement it made me understand more the art aspect of watches because watches truly are a piece of art there're these little tiny cases with a whole bunch of Gears Springs and jewels minutely placed together in a way that makes these little hands on the other side tell you the time accurately and that made me want to get a watch with the mechanical movements rather than the cords ones that I was used to three Heritage the World of Watches is so rich with history and Heritage and many of these watch brands have incredible stories behind their watches and how they came about so I wanted something meaningful a reason to buy the watch beyond simply wanting something that looked nice and was wellmade number four value retention my little encounter at the Rolex dealership made me realize just how much certain watches can hold their value and even appreciate and value tremendously in fact if I had managed to get my hands on a Rolex day just at retail price I could literally sell it the next day and immediately make a profit now I'm pretty sure if I did that I would get banned from ever buying from the brand again but that's a different story I realized the value retention and the appreciation capabilities of watches and that made me want to get something that would gain value or at the very least hold its value reasonably well if I ever did decide to sell it so with that in mind the second watch that I started eyeing out after the Rolex dayjust was a grand Seiko snowflake I bet that made a few of the watch Enthusiast among you smile but for the rest of the people chances are you might not even know the gr Seiko brand you probably know of Seiko however so the quick explanation is gr Seiko is to SEO what Lexus IS to Toyota they both belong to the same parent company the Seiko group but gr Seiko is the high-end luxury version everything about gr Seiko watches is more premium from the materials to the assembly by hand but where the real magic lies in Grand Seiko watches is the dial a lot of grand Seiko watches have remarkably stunning dials with subtle yet intricate details inspired by nature and one of their most famous models is the snowflake which is inspired by the hotaka mountains and those mountains are actually the ones that surround the studio in which the very watch is made in Japan and the subtly textured surface of the dial is meant to capture that delicate snow that covers these mountains and on top of that the watch is empowered by what we call a Spring Drive movement I don't want to bore you with an in-depth I don't want to bore you with an in-depth explan explanation bro this is such a hard an in-depth explanation that only I don't want to bore you with an in-depth explanation that only the watch geks will appreciate but basically it is a sort of hybrid movement that was invented by gr Seiko that takes the beauty of the traditional mechanical movement and blends it with the Precision of electronic timekeeping I'm I'm sure you can see why I was salivating over this watch but the one thing that I had not factored in foolishly was the size of the actual watch compared to the size of my wrist the watch only comes in a 40 mm dial which I realized was too bulky on my 16 cm wrist and after trying on a few different watches I realized I had to keep the dial under 38 mm so after some more exploring and watch Talking the third and final watch that caught my eye was the one and only cardier Santos everything about it made sense to me I mean it even has the same name as me the saint in French pronounced Des means Saints or in Spanish Santos so it was only fitting I had to get it all jokes aside I thought that was a pretty cool coincidence but let's dive a little deeper into this beauty the design is Flawless the steel case perfectly frames carder's iconic Square opaline dial featuring black Roman numerals blue sword shaped hands matching the seven-sided crown with the Brand's signature blue spinel I went for the medium size which I feel is more elegant and graceful than the large model so the medium case is 35 mm wide and 41 mm long which is perfect for a small wrist like mine I absolutely love the mixture of brushed and Polished finishes throughout the watch and I feel like there is even an element of wabisabi which in Japanese refers to the beauty in the imperfection of things and you can see that with some of its industrial elements like the screw screws randomly rotated throughout the watch that contrast beautifully with its more refined elements like the gentle curves of the case the elegant sword shaped hands and the fully polished bezel as you can tell from the different watches I was looking at I really wanted a full steel watch because well one I wear only silver or white gold jewelry as you can see and I think it looks better to match your metals and two I think that with my style of fashion the full silver look just suits the majority of my outfits more as opposed to a leather or fabric bracelet I can wear this watch with the vast majority of my outfits regardless of where they sit on the spectrum of formality now onto the craftsmanship which is premium in every way the Santos uses an in-house automatic movement the cardier 1847 MC with a 48h hour power reserve for all the mechanical watch newbies out there just like I was and kind of still am to be honest that means that it will run for 48 hours without you wearing it before it runs out of power and then you'll simply have to manually wind it by twisting the crown clockwise 20 to 30 times to Kickstart it but if you wear it every day the natural movement of your wrist will be enough for it to not run out of power the glass is sapphire crystal which is the most scratch resistant glass on the market and often used in high-end watch making one fun fact I love is there is a hidden secret signature on the dial to tell apart a real cardio Santos from a fake one from afar the Roman numerals look perfectly normal but if you zoom in closely onto the number seven you will see the word CER why am I saying it like a French for the first time in the whole video you will see the word cardier in fine print and in all caps hidden in the number this is a detail that is often missed on forged watches another thing I really like about this watch is the adjustment system The Links of the bracelet can actually be removed and added without any tools and without the need to take it to the shop so you can easily do it yourself each removable link has a nearly invisible button on its Underside you can press it carefully with your nail which releases a spring-loaded bar the bar pulls out only as far as it's needed to disconnect the two links allowing you to remove or add in the links as you please to make the watch tighter or looser and then it can be pushed back into place with your finger however the one downside to the Santos which many people talk about is that the bezel can scratch pretty easily which I must say is true even though I've tried to be super careful with it I already have a minor scratch on the right side of the bezel unfortunately and you can get it repolished to make some of the scratches disappear but from what I've researched it is better to avoid doing that too much as every time you polish it you're scraping away a tiny layer of the watch but also the way I see it scratches are inevitable they're bound to happen at some point and watches are meant to be worn so if it gets scratched up a little bit here and there I say so be it let's call it character building arguably the most fascinating part about the Santos is the history behind it so let's go back in time just a little bit this is year 1904 a time when wrist watches for men did not exist and there is this Brazilian Aviator Alberto who was annoyed and complaining to his friend a watchmaker about how unreliable and impractical it was to use his pocket watch while flying because the man is out there trying to fly a damn plane both hands on the steering controls and having to reach in into his pocket to read the time was not only a hassle but a safety hazard so his friend solved his problem by making him a flat watch with a square bezel that he could attach to his wrist the aviator's name was Alberto Santos jumo and his friend was Lou Cartier and together they brought to life the first ever men's wrist watch the Cartier Santos jimon the watch was then sold by cardier and eventually caught on with customers becoming highly successful since then the Santos has evolved and had a a few small design changes to adapt to the times like in the 1970s when the luxury sport watch was introduced to the market and seeing the successes of the odar P Royal Oak and PCH Philip Nautilus cardier redesigned and renamed it to Santos detier giving it an integrated bracelet instead of the traditional leather strap in 1987 it was completely revised renamed and relaunched as the Santos gal the case lost its boxy looks and became more curved around the lugs and most of the models became cords powered in 2004 cardier launched the Santos 100 collection to commemorate the 100-year anniversary of Lis gartier making a wristatch for his friend Santos Jon the Santos 100 was a true modernization of the Santos coming in a black strap and measuring a whopping 51 mm long 41 mm wide they even made a skeletonized Santos 100 with long Roman numerals formed by the bridges of the watch's movement and finally in 2018 cardier revamped the Santos after letting the collection lay dormant for over a decade they made 13 watches in two sizes medium and large including this one when something is 100 years old it's hard to make it feel new while also respecting its past but I think the 2018 collection has achieved that beautifully it relies on many of the design cues from the earlier Santos models staying true to its Heritage while giving it a fresh modern feel it strikes that perfect balance between modern and timelessness lastly in regard to Value retention that is the one area where the cardier Santos does just okay not exceptional if we were to compare them to Rolex for example the latter definitely has the upper hand in terms of value retention and appreciation cardier as a brand is definitely recognized as a major player in the watch industry and from my research some of their models hold and appreciate and value quite well notably the tank must the tank solo automatic and the SOS J limited edition in rose gold however the Santos medium is not one of those on the secondhand Market it seems like it's currently floating around the 5400 to 5,800 lb Mark which is around 80% of the retail price so definitely not terrible but not as good as some other household names and it does not seem like it's appreciating at least not right now all in all the Santos medium is simply a beautiful watch in my opinion that I will keep for a long time to come if you to have been eyeing this watch for a while maybe just maybe this could be the sign for you to pull the trigger but also if you like the style of the watch but not the price tag I do want to mention a few more affordable alternatives to the Santos that have a similarish design and are still very respectable quality time pieces so let's do this from highest to lowest prices first the cardier tank must with the steel bracelet has some similar design cues to the Santos Al bait it is more of a rectangular shape it comes in at half the price of the s SOS at $3,500 for under $11,000 big jump we have the tiso PRX the dial is a round one but I find that the bracelet and case give off a similar industrial feel as the Santos the only downside it doesn't come in a pure white or silver dial it's either a pattern white or a silver with rose gold details but personally I think it looks great in either the black or navy dial the automatic version sits around the $700 to $750 range depending on the dial size and the quartz is $3.95 for under $100 another big jump I would go for the Casio AQ 230a Casio is a g tier watch brand as niik Leonard would say Casio is goer will always be goer you definitely can't go wrong with the Casio and if you like the Santos the AQ 230a has that similar square shape stainless steel bracelet and it's just a cool looking watch you get that retro looking digital screen a nice minimal time piece that you can wear without being too precious about it I never thought I'd get into the watch game but it really is a fascinating world and I feel like it makes sense you know fashion clothing jewelry it was about time I got into watches so I hope you enjoyed the video my friends and I would love to know what your dream watch is if you have one let me know in the comments I wish you a beautiful day my friends and I will see you in the next one

Channel: Tim Dessaint

Views: 507,859

Keywords: Buying my first luxury watch, best luxury watches, cartier santos, cartier santos medium, cartier santos medium vs large, mens watches, watches for men, best watches for men, cartier, grand seiko, grand seiko snowflake, rolex, rolex datejust, casio aq230a, casio, mens fashion, mens style, menswear, tim dessaint, tim desaint

Id: fIAv2xOcDug

Length: 15min 22sec (922 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 03 2023