The Breitling Watch Source Forums

I realise that this has the potential to be slightly cryptic, and I apologise for that. I have just bought a piece that fits into a part of my collection that I don't generally share, but I may make an exception when this arrives because it is such a unique piece - we'll see.

We all know that the economy is suppressing prices of timepieces, but in my experience it is also pushing people to quality and / or unique pieces. I have been looking at one particular piece, the market price of which is fairly well documented; and while every watch is different there are some pieces that you just know are going to be at the high end of the range - the condition, the metal, the history, etc.

It also takes quite a lot to really get me genuinely excited about buying a watch - in some ways that's sad, but I guess it's because I'm lucky enough to have bought quite a few. Today however I sealed the deal, and I really am very excited.

If you think of the published market price of this piece in mint condition as 100%, then the price for a good condition, serviced piece from a dealer should be about 67% and a dealer will likely offer a buyer about 38 - 40%. I was hoping to get the piece for 65 - 70%, and was prepared to pay 85 - 90% - even in this economy.

Well, it's now mine - for less than 45% of the mint condition market price.



It really does feel good to find a real bargain - I don't remember the last time that happened

and the piece is?????

_________________

Read the first sentence.

I'll have a think about it over the next week or so until it gets here and may show you guys what it is.

very cryptic I cant sleep until I know what it is?

_________________

This is killing me. What could be so phenomenal as to get the Professor "excited" again. I am DYING to know. Please share!!!!!!

_________________
Chronomat, Steel/Gold, MOP Dial, 2-tone band (2008)
Super Avenger Black Baton Dial (2009)
Bentley B04 GMT Silver Dial (2013)
Avenger Blacksteel Baton Dial (2014)

Congratulations Roff. It's fantastic that you are genuinely excited about your purchase; always a wonderful feeling. The price sounds phenomenal as well - double the reward

The axiom out of hardship comes opportunity certainly rings true in this situation. I look forward, with everyone else no doubt, to maybe seeing it

_________________
Happines is Good Health and a Bad Memory.
"Ingrid Bergman"

hmmm.....I assume it's not a Panerai though Roff?

Very exciting, you gotta love that new watch buzz

Really hoping you do share your new aquisition, which is probably a vintage piece from one of the big three?

_________________
Certified watch nut.

I know what it is but I ain't talking

_________________
Rolex DeepSea, GMT Master II TT, Pres 18038, DJ TT 16013
Breitling Chronomat 39mm (bullet+UTC), Starliner SS/MOP (wife)

back with ROLEX

Roff I was the same waiting for my first Timex too

_________________
"It's not how it's written it's how it's read"

Er, no - safe guess



Well yes, and no.



I can think of one possible way that you might think you know, but you shouldn't necessarily assume. Sometimes my online identity is not as obvious as you might think for the same reason I don't share everything - I don't want the 'Roff's bidding therefore I'll bid' activity.

Roff, you are evil... in Sweden we have a saying - "if you say A, you must say B", I think you can get the meaning of that.

_________________
Blue Baton Super Avenger
Black Avenger Seawolf

I’ve received some PMs on this topic asking me what I bought, and I guess I should have predicted that given that I wasn’t more open in my original post. I have tried to explain this before, but not sure how clear I’ve been, so let me try and explain more fully why I don’t just openly reveal my watch collection. I’m sorry if this is boring, feel free to stop reading now and put it down to eccentricity. I haven’t yet decided whether to tell you more about this piece, and likely won’t until it arrives.

For those of you still reading, I guess that it’s obvious that I have a love of watches, and I enjoy sharing what little knowledge that I might have. I’ve been flattered by some of the responses to my posts recently on some of the aspects of watch making – I very much appreciate the kind words. However, I have also received some PMs telling me that they don’t know why I bother and that no one’s interested. My ego can handle that just fine, but it doesn’t inspire me to make an extra effort. Additionally, as BreitlingSource has grown (a good thing) there seem to be ever increasing expectations – I am truly happy to assist, but the 2% of people that diminish the fun are becoming a larger number and sometimes make it harder to put in the extra effort.

I see some people provide a list of the pieces they own and then have the topic brought up by others over and over again. I’ve lost count of the number of irrelevant posts I’ve read saying “I want to see <insert name of member>’s collection”, just because they happened to list their collection. Well maybe they don’t want to share it – there’s no automatic sense of entitlement.

I also see people try and claim connection to me – in this thread someone claiming to know what piece I’ve bought, and I very much doubt that’s true. I have given people contact details for Canadian ADs and some of the people who have contacted them have been more interested in questioning my ADs about the contents of my collection. I can’t pretend to understand what it is about me that’s so fascinating!

Just because you ‘know’ me through these forums, doesn’t give you a right to see every aspect of my life, just what I choose to share, and when the small minority think that I don’t share enough it makes me pull back further – I personally think I do give enough. As I have said before, there isn’t much of my life that’s private. I run my own business, my website has a lot of information about me and it’s easy to access from my profile. I write for publication and those articles also link to my website. I do speaking engagements and am always exchanging business cards with strangers after that. I teach, and always provide my students with a way to contact me. A lot of my life is accessible to strangers, and to me that makes it even more important to keep some of my life private – after all, it is my life.

Additionally, as I look to expand my collection, I have to be aware that (whether I like it or not) people will follow my lead. I get a lot of PMs and e-mails from people asking about vintage pieces, and I’m happy to provide advice, but if I openly say something like ‘wow, look at this amazing piece, I’m thinking of buying it’ then all I’m doing is attracting more attention to the piece and pushing the price up. It doesn’t hurt that not everyone knows what I am looking to buy at any given time – not just pieces, but even whole parts of the market. If I were buying to sell then it might be different, but I’m not.

I do enjoy sharing my knowledge, and I am tempted to share this latest piece because it is somewhat unique – as was noted above, if it makes me excited then it has to be slightly unusual (although part of the excitement was the deal). That said, it will reveal an aspect of my collection that no one on here knows that I have and will undoubtedly lead to more questions about what I own.

Maybe this post has been a little self indulgent, and maybe I’m revealing a little more of myself than I should, but I’m just a watch fan. I’m not anything special, and I don’t want people to have this misguided impression that I am, or that my collection is something truly spectacular – trust me Antiquorum aren’t going to be selling ‘The collection of a Canadian gentleman’ when I start pushing up daisies!

I just choose not to share everything because I don’t want to, and I would ask the 2% to respect that the same way that the other 98% do.

Apologies for the long and selfish post.

thats just no acceptable and damn right rude, personally i think if thats your opinion keep to your self as the rest of us are interested in the informative posts.



yeah thats just weird and a little creepy

chin up mate just take the genuine requests as flattery that people are interested in what you have as they know its likely something a bit special and liklely not something we have seen before or many of.

I meant what I said, but I said it with respect Roff, just so we are clear on that. Your input to this forum is one of the reasons I am here, and I am very honored to be able to share your knowledge and views of things.

All I am saying is that when you "tease" like you do in this thread, be prepared to be bombarded by the masses... it´s like when Altair had his "mystery watch" incoming, people get very interested in sharing the happiness. Its both good and bad I guess.

Anyhow, I will be patient until you share your bargain, and if you don´t - I hope you enjoy it yourself!

_________________
Blue Baton Super Avenger
Black Avenger Seawolf

I wrote my diatribe before I saw your post hnb - don't take it personally. I just slept on it before posting