Is Horology Dead?!
Are you in love with brands such as Richard Mille, Romain Jerome, DeWitt, Maitres du Temps, IWC, Audemars Piguet or do you love the actual watches?
Is an average watch collector looking for what is hot and popular right now, or are they interested in the inner workings and complications that make the watch unique?
We explore watches from both new watch companies and century-old watch brands to figure out if horology is dead.
IWC Grand Complication Watch
The IWC watch company has been around for over 200 years and continues to develop phenomenal timepieces.
The Grand Complication watch is a full perpetual calendar, minute repeater, and chronograph.
The minute repeater chime is absolutely amazing.
In terms of horology and craftsmanship, this watch is incredibly complicated and priced rather low at $283,000 (in platinum).
Because IWC makes their own movements, it allows them to keep their prices low. From another watch brand, this same grand complication would be much more expensive.
That being said, the market value (what this watch is selling for today) is in the low one hundred thousand. Less than half their original price tag.
Why is this? I feel it is because IWC’s average customer is not a quarter million dollar customer but more a ten to twenty thousand dollar range customer.
And a majority are even closer or under the ten thousand dollar range.
People have the sense of, “why am I going to spend 283,000 or even a 100,000 on an IWC?”
Romain Jerome Tourbillon Titanic Edition
This watch is absolutely amazing as it uses DNA from the wreck of the Titanic on its rusted steel bezel. Not to mention it is also a tourbillon.
So why is it trading second hand for around $35,000 when it retails for over $150,000?
The simple answer is that 9 out of 10 watch guys are going to say they are not willing to pay the high price on this piece is because it is a Romain Jerome. Even though it has a tourbillon, the second most complicated thing you can put in a watch.
DeWitt
This guy is a direct decedent of Napoleon and his company is very new. It is only about 15 years old.
They have two major claims to fame.
One, that Mr. DeWitt is a direct descendent to Napolean.
And two, that out of the 600+ watch companies out there, only 18 make their own movements and only 4 make their own dials, and DeWitt is a company that does both.
Retail value is $220,000.
You can get the watch on today’s market for around $35,000 — $40,000. This is totally crazy that a watch like this is going for 80% less than it’s retail price.
Maitres du Temps Chapter 2
These watches are some of the most complicated watches on the market today.
To design the watch, the company recruited top watch builders Peter Speake and Roger Dubuis.
When the Chapter 2 was in development they brought on Daniel Roth to help with the design.
Chapter 1 — The first watch the company produced, is a triple calendar, tourbillion, and is insanely complicated.
Chapter 2 — The second generation and less complicated model features month, date, and the day of the week (triple calendar).
Price starts around $100,000 at retail and is trading second hand for around $25,000. This is a huge markdown, especially for something so complex.
Audemars Piguet offshore ceramic bezel
After looking at Chapter 1 by Maitres du Temps, which is insanely complicated, you would think that this more basic chronograph would go from way less.
Wrong.
With a retail price of $41,000, you can get this watch on the second-hand market for mid to low $30,000's.
So, why is it that this watch is trading for higher than a complex triple calendar? The answer is simple because it is an Audemars Piguet.
Customers are looking for the popular brand names and the horology aspects that once made watches popular and more expensive is getting taken over by branding.
Richard Mille RM 007
With a retail price of $105,000 — and trading on today’s market around $96,000 to $100,000 — the Richard Mille watches are holding their value much better than other mores established watch brands.
Why is this?
Well, one theory is supply-and-demand.
Richard Mille is known for with doing only limited releases and therefore the market is never flooded with product. His watches are very sought after and dealers have no problem selling them when they get some in stock.
This is a 10-year-old company that is so popular that watches are actually selling for over retail when they are first released.
There is nothing extraordinary complex when you look at the RM 007. Especially when put side to side with something so complex like the IWC Grand Complication.
But yet the Richard Mille, which is half the price of the IWC, holds its value around $100k and the IWC is barely in that range — down from $283,000.
Horology is slowly dying off
As brands create supply and demand situations like Richard Mille has, customers are more eager to purchase these watches even while they could be snagging exceptionally complicated timepieces for 80% less or more off retail.
These brands are taking massive market share and slowly killing off horology by making it more about the brand than the complications.
You don’t often see US Weekly showing pictures of a celebrity wearing a Maitres du Temps Chapter 2, but they definitely highlight someone’s Richard Mille or diamond Audemars Piguet.
