The Breitling Watch Source Forums

In general, watches are not an investment.

The exception to the rule are versions that become very desirable and appreciate (e.g. display back cossie). If you can spot these when they are first released then you are lucky. If breitling decided that all modern cossies came with a display back, the old ones would not sell for nearly as much as they do now.

BUT, if you buy one second hand, the price remains relatively stable. Say you bought your Navi for $2.5k as a used watch, if you keep it in tip top condition, you will probably never sell it at a loss. You're not going to get rich though...

Not even sure that the DB Cossie is a great investment. I bought mine a couple of years ago for GBP1,500 - a good deal, but that was market price at the time because it was an eBay buy. Maybe in the future it will be worth more, but not convinced.

In terms of other DBs devaluing it (not that Breitling are ever likely to do another DB!), I'm not sure about that either. It has the hand wound Lemania which is a large part of the appeal for collectors so unless a reissue had that too I think it would still be different enough.

May I ask the qualities of the hand would Lemania movement? This isn't the 1st time it's merits have been touted.

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

I'm no expert, but I've owned 2 of them. The following come to mind immediately:
- tough as nails
- super accurate
- beautiful to look at (if you have a DB)

As Otto says it's an extremely resilient movement, it is an inherently accurate design and it is an unbelievablygood looking movement in it's most decorated form. It's also an unusual movement for Breitling with the Lemania name being much more associated with Omega. Finally, the Lemania cossies were (until the B01) the last independent movements used in Breitlings (Lemania is now part of Swatch Group but Swatch didn't buy La Nouvelles Lemania until 2000).

Since were on the topic... Why does Breitling drop instantly in price after they are purchased versus other brands like Rolex and Patek Phillippe?

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Past: BlackBird, Navi World, SA, Rolex DJII, IWC Yacht Club
Present: CE, DSSD
Future: Changes daily

Well most watches will drop somewhat, but the problem with Breitling is the high discount level.

If I can buy a watch from an AD for 30% off - which isn't uncommon and frequent buyers can certainly do better in some markets then grey market pricing for new pieces has to be in that range as well or slightly better or they don't get the business.

So if you can buy a new $10,000 list watch for (say) $6,500 from an AD and $6,000 from grey market then what's it worth resale??? And if you want to sell it back to the AD or trade and they can buy a new one from the distributor for $5,500 what are they going to be prepared to offer?

Very true! NEver thought of it like that!

Thanks!

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Past: BlackBird, Navi World, SA, Rolex DJII, IWC Yacht Club
Present: CE, DSSD
Future: Changes daily

The value of your Breitling is like a roller coaster. Starts out high and drops like crazy in the first year (that's the "big hill").

Then it levels out, the popular styles change which bring your value up and down a little, but nothing like that first big hill was.

After 20 years or so of maintaining your watch you get back around to the bottom of the hill and start to steadily climb back up (ratchet..ratchet..ratchet..)

As time goes on your Breitling continues to gain and eventually you arrive at the height of that first "big hill" and surpass your initial investment.

At this time though you've averaged $100 a year in maintenance and experienced a ton of inflation. It feels good your watch is worth more than you paid for it, but really the first cost is now only half your investment.

So in the end the payback period on your "investment" is infinity unless you assign some value to the joy of owning Breitling watches. Most people here see this value.

And that is exactly why I'm personally against the crazy discounting that goes on in the States, especially for people who just walk in off the street with no prior relationship with the AD. Obviously I'd be only to happy to take advantage of it myself if I was in that position , but on the whole (and looking at the wider picture here) the practice of massively discounting at the drop of a hat, damages the brand's image, and ultimately the monetary value of the watches on our wrists. (Obviously the non-monetary value of the watches on our wrists are priceless! )

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Driver8

Site Moderator

This is why brands like Rolex are perceived to hold their value better. You can buy a used one for 20-30% off retail, but since it was originally purchased for probably 10% off at most, the depreciation is similar to Breitling/Omega/whatever (though maybe a bit less in some cases).
The people who particularly get the shaft are the ones who buy a Breitling at or close to retail.

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-RJ

i.e. Anyone who is European.

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Driver8

Site Moderator

I agree with that in concept, but if (like me) you don't sell the pieces it's completely irrelevant.

maybe a special limited series like this wouldn't loose value:

http://www.breitling.com/chronomatic/pr ... on_it.html

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Breitling Antares B10047
Breitling Chronomat B13050
Breitling Chronomat A13050.1 - pilot bracelet
Breitling Chronomat Blackbird A13050.1 - serie spéciale
Breitling Avenger Seawolf E17370
Breitling Chronomat EVO A13356 - pilot bracelet

Comparatively, but since you guys have a separate trading system your resale prices should be higher than our too.

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-RJ