SINGAPORE: It got Mr Jay Realisieren almost two years of deliberation before this individual bought his first luxury watch within 2018.
The S$16, 480 Rolex Sea-Dweller, typically in his possession, began him on a trip that has been “hard to stop”.
The 35-year-old has considering that spent more than S$300, 000 on these timepieces. He now sees his timepieces, now valued at about S$400, 000, since not just a passion, but also an investment.
“I don’t just like timepieces for the value. I like the watches for that different movements, various intricacies of the actions itself. It’s very intriguing … It’s like art in my experience, ” he explained.
“Whichever purchase I want to buy, specifically for watches, the numbers must make sense 1st. But of course the particular piece must be something which I like. ”
For luxury timepieces like some of the ones Mr Tun collects, demand far outstrips the supply. Timepieces from brands for example Rolex, Patek Philippe and Audemars Piguet are among the most popular.
Buyers can not just walk into stores and purchase these timepieces. There are usually long waiting or interest lists, especially for well-known models, watch sellers and collectors stated.
Mr Jarod Ng, co-founder of retailer Watch Capital which sells brand new and pre-owned high-class watches, said plenty of people find the waiting time too long.
“Let’s just say that you want to buy this particular as a wedding anniversary present or you want to buy this for your son as a graduation present. You can’t be waiting for two years whenever he graduates in the next six months, ” stated Mr Ng.
Getting your name in the list also in no way guarantees you a view.
“With the authorised dealer, I think a lot of people feel the exact same frustration as I did. You go there and they’ll give you the standard SOP (standard operating procedure) – that this is really a highly sought-after piece, there’s this interest list, ” said Mr Tun.
“If you don’t follow up, if you don’t buy anything more from them, likely you will not hear from them actually after. ”
Even VIP customers have to wait a couple of months for a watch of the choice, said Mr Tan Khai Hsiang, who runs an internet shop on Carousell called KHF Watch.
Mr Suntan started out as a watch collector himself, plus started buying and trading luxury watches on the e-commerce market in 2019. This individual also purchases watches overseas on behalf of some other dealers in Singapore.
OPTING FOR GREY
New clients are often told the watches they want are out of stock and so they use the grey market, Mr Tan mentioned. The gray market is made up of retailers who are not officially authorised by manufacturers to sell their timepieces.
Mr Color likened the process to purchasing an exclusive bag like the Hermes Birkin. “For normal people, it is impossible to get, ” he said.
Mr Charles Shelter, founder of Good Time Luxury at Asia Plaza, said that it became harder to obtain watches amid the particular pandemic as clients could not travel overseas to buy them.
“Even if they walk into the boutiques, you can’t get the popular models. You can’t have the Rolexes, the racks are empty. That’s why people have to buy from grey dealers like us. ”
And some clients do not mind spending more to get what they want immediately.
Popular brands and models can cost between 20 and thirty per cent more on the grey market, although some can command nearly double the store price.
Checks by CNA on authorised seller websites found that an entry-level Rolex Submariner model is detailed for about S$12, 1000. On Chrono24, an internet marketplace for watch buyers and sellers, the same model costs about S$22, 500.