Daveyboyz

IWC is a brand that no sensible person should be buying new. Its strange that a watch so highly regarded among those in the know should depreciate so heavily and be such a hard seller, but there you go... it means you can get amazing watches quite reasonably secondhand which rather takes the shine off a new purchase. Someone must be buying them for them to eventually reach the preowned market but it's hard to see how the brand can flourish.

It takes all sorts to make a world.

Nice pick up. I always lament I don't have anything made by them. One of the guys at poker has a paper thin Favre Leuba and I always admire it.

I don't know how big your wrist is but if its normal or small I would be steering you towards vintage. For under £1000 there a a host of decent offerings from an Omega Deville to a Universal Geneve. All are going to be great value and quality items plus they have a bit of character and history to them

Not the only one... it's an all too common phenomenon. Cartier it seems have decided they don't want to discount, the sales person would not even humour it when my mum bought her Ballon Bleu, this was not always the case. AP are now very difficult to buy, Rolex too... this has then had knock on effects to watches like the VC overseas which can be seen as an alternative to a Nautilus or Royal Oak. Much of this is psychology, especially in the case of machine made mass manufacturer Rolex. Limited output is understandable when you have as many man hours invested as the trilogy brands but is now clearly a deliberate tactic.

Shine on crazy diamond.

I agree with the above. What they do they do well, I would certainly buy my other half a "happy diamonds" but am well aware that this is a piece of jewellery and a bottle of perfume. When people say they are hard to move on I certainly can verify thats a fact and therefore trade will always low-ball offer on this brand and I wouldn't consider buying anything from the brand unless it comes at a real bargain price. I can see the appeal though of the mille-miglia and the pictured watch. I still consider it a "cool" brand even if the view of the market differs.

+1 for the polerouter. Cool story and cool designer.

I don't think many Rolex are cool but a "polar explorer" has to be cool.

The world has been shaken up by media interpretations of the world. The cure is simple, turn off your TV. There has been an awakening that what it tells you is only very loosely related to the real world. I think the effects of inflation will be felt further, I expected gold to do better this year but rather predicted the rise in watch prices from the outset, the powers that be held back gold and silver but I think it will take an upturn.

I always liked their dials but they were rather slandered for their movements and seemed to fall out of favour. Personally speaking I never found them to sit well on my wrist.

Frank Muller doesn't seem to have as much of a profile as they once did.

I don't think there is any harm in having a couple of cheap ones but I think they add up quickly and they are a waste of money. I generally believe that buying a few high quality pieces is a better approach in most collecting fields and watches are no exception. Generally the well established swiss brands are pretty safe, bought secondhand from a reputable source. Everyone needs to find their own way though and we all have our own approaches.

Engraving is a whole other skill. I did consider it but I considered numerous different things and dismissed for various reasons. I remember a blue wheel that sat on my grandfathers bench for sharpening stuff. I discussed where this went with my father and he has no clue. Had he unearthed the thing I might well have sharpened a graver and given it a try.

3 main purchases... The first I made myself The second was the Grand Seiko snowflake. And the last was the Patek Calatrava which I traded up for.