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Why your Grail watch may not be....

2K views 42 replies 24 participants last post by  jizzle 
#1 ·
Just had a fascinating chat with an old friend of mine who is involved with an independent jewellery shop that has a few decades experience in selling new and pre-owned watches.

We got chatting about "grail" watches and it was interesting to hear it from a dealers perspective. So it does seem that the concept is broadly alive outside of the WIS world with buyer saving/waiting years sometimes for the "appropriate" moment to buy the watch. From this dealer , the most "Successful" Grail watches are Omega Planet Oceans, Rolex DateJusts, Breitling Navitimer and TAG Carrera.

Amongst the often "unsuccessful" Grail watches ( ie those that fairly soon were brought back and traded back in or sold elsewhere and the customer buys another choice ) are :

Omega Speedmaster Moonwatch, Rolex Submariner, Breitling Chronomat and Longines Heritage Diver

Obviously this is just one dealers experience and its nothing more than an anecdotal example, but I did find these lists kinda making logical sense really.

Has anyone here bought their "grail" watch only to realise afterwards that it was "not for them" ?

I thought for a decade that a Breilting Navitmer was my Grail and was a twitch away from buying one a few years back but didn't... But that was me sailing close to the wind on this....
 
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#3 ·
Funny enough no.

I always wanted a complicated watch that encompassed a chronograph, triple date and moon phase plus a good quality in house automatic movement. Took me years until one day I saw this in Fraser Harts window at a special offer price and the rest is history.

Watch Analog watch Clock Grey Watch accessory
 

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#4 ·
Interesting, mine would be a Russian 'Urofa' Chrono, but not for wearing. As an everyday it would be the Carrera with the Zenith movt. so that's ok, but I would have to sell all my other watches first. Which won't happen because I can't even bring myself to sell my 'fashion' watches, never mind my long sought numbers!
 
#6 ·
to be honest i think my grail would be a vintage Navitimer or toptime of some sort, and the latter are fairly affordable sub 1500 quid often, ive had what i thought might be my grail like longines lld and tudor oyster date which is near enough the dj for me, but soon got bored. One was too big and the other too small and crappy feeling, i find the less i pay, the more impressed i am. like the Mappin I bought which is a dream boat in looks and only cost a fraction of the lld and tudor. The more i pay the more i expect and the crapper they end up feeling when they dont live up. Though this wouldnt transcend into being impressed by an Alpha and not by a Rolex, though it might well.
 
#16 ·
got mine too to and to some it may be nothing special but a daily wearer but to me was a big investment ( Explorer II 216570 ) , but I could not be happier , certainly no let down , feels special to me when every I wear it which is not that often cause its special and I want to keep it that way . mind there are four or five others that run it a close race , at this moment in time there is only one I covert that may give it a run for its money but that looks like it wont happen anytime soon due to its limited production run ( a GS)

deano
 
#29 ·
Just had a fascinating chat with an old friend of mine who is involved with an independent jewellery shop that has a few decades experience in selling new and pre-owned watches.

We got chatting about "grail" watches and it was interesting to hear it from a dealers perspective. So it does seem that the concept is broadly alive outside of the WIS world with buyer saving/waiting years sometimes for the "appropriate" moment to buy the watch. From this dealer , the most "Successful" Grail watches are Omega Planet Oceans, Rolex DateJusts, Breitling Navitimer and TAG Carrera.

Amongst the often "unsuccessful" Grail watches ( ie those that fairly soon were brought back and traded back in or sold elsewhere and the customer buys another choice ) are :

Omega Speedmaster Moonwatch, Rolex Submariner, Breitling Chronomat and Longines Heritage Diver

Obviously this is just one dealers experience and its nothing more than an anecdotal example, but I did find these lists kinda making logical sense really.

Has anyone here bought their "grail" watch only to realise afterwards that it was "not for them" ?

I thought for a decade that a Breilting Navitmer was my Grail and was a twitch away from buying one a few years back but didn't... But that was me sailing close to the wind on this....
I can't recall a single watch I have lusted after and then been disappointed with.
Maybe the Seiko "Pogue", but that wasn't one I particularly desired, I just felt like it was an iconic model I should try. FUGLY though. :laugh:

I have similar experiences with customers though. The Speedmaster tops the list but the most surprising was at the Rolex place I worked at - a chap waited 6 years for a Daytona and then brought it straight back the day after! :yes:
Weird story that one - the paperwork was already stamped and signed so we couldn't offer it to the next buyer on the list as a new watch, so we had to put it in the second-hand window. At the time RRP was £6100, but market value was around £7500. Trouble is, as a Rolex AD we weren't allowed to sell it above list! Broke my heart to let it go for RRP but that's what happened, it didn't last the day.
 
#30 ·
I have similar experiences with customers though. The Speedmaster tops the list but the most surprising was at the Rolex place I worked at - a chap waited 6 years for a Daytona and then brought it straight back the day after! :yes:
Daytona seem really Marmite. My Rolex buddy sold his two after they sat in his safe for best part of a decade unworn , he just "didn't like them" !? He has another turning up in the next few months which no doubt he will sell in a couple of years but he ordered that one before he realised he "didn't like them". I tried one on early this year after being offered a VERY good price on it , and just did not get on with it at all , very underwhelmed on the wrist even though off the wrist it was beguiling to be honest , stunning.

I have two more mates that over the years have bought Daytonas only to sell them within months.

However , when they are the right watch for the right person they tend to be properly cherished. I know someone who has had one has his daily for two decades and another who wears one for events and only owns two watches , his Daytona and a Chronomat.....

Many people who do lust after them have not ( I suspect ) ever tried one one !?
 
#31 ·
Sorry to be boring, but I have never understood the concept of a "grail". There are so many fine pieces out there, many of which can become objects of desire.

I know I am lucky, in that I have been able to acquire a few, and they have very rarely disappointed - but I distrust the "all eggs in one basket" approach implied by the word "grail", which almost invites disappointment.

Far healthier, IMHO, to spread the budget over a few (nearly as) nice pieces . . . . .
 
#32 ·
Sorry to be boring, but I have never understood the concept of a "grail". There are so many fine pieces out there, many of which can become objects of desire.

I know I am lucky, in that I have been able to acquire a few, and they have very rarely disappointed - but I distrust the "all eggs in one basket" approach implied by the word "grail", which almost invites disappointment.

Far healthier, IMHO, to spread the budget over a few (nearly as) nice pieces . . . . .
This is what happened to me that day some years ago when I realised my Grail watch .... was not. I left the concept on the table there and then and never picked it up.

Ironically ( and this is YOUR fault ) , the only watch I hanker after now ,,, is a ( yet to be chosen and/or discovered ) quality hand winding piece of luxury from the land of Lederhosen and sublime Sausages....
 
#39 · (Edited by Moderator)
Admired this thing for months, finally got round to trying on on and again yearned after it for months... Finally took the plunge about a year after it being brought to my attention.

Still loving it after owning it since last November, it doesn't get too much wrist time, just on occasion....

IMG_20181225_081630

I'm thought, or think it was a grail watch but at only 40years of age, I'm tjiy there may be one more (or maybe two more) special purchases to come. No idea what yet tho, I'm loving a few bremonts, mayba VDB, a blancpain would be a dream and despite not liking Tag, a Monaco is really appealing too, as are some of the new mont blanc range... The more I look at watches, the more I find myself liking them and setting my standards higher!
 
#42 ·
I have a number of grail watches currently, navitimer, seiko springdrive, and pam 676, i will probally buy one wear it for a month or so then go back to the GMT pepsi and put the "grail " in a box , thus i have a collection :biggrin:
 
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