Hunting Down Limited Run Watches
Hunting down limited-run or no longer available luxury watches can be a bit of an adventure. For those with a eye on watches and which ones serve as good financial investments, there are some real winners out there, and the list is slowly growing. Again, all of the items are no longer in production, which makes them automatically rare to some extent. However, certain qualities and brand names will clearly make some watches stand out as pure collectibles over the general crowd of choices available.
Patek Phillippe hit an eye-catcher with the Sky Moon Tourbillon. This wristpiece has a combined time and display system that shows moon phases as well as the lunar orbit. It also features a sky chart. For a cool $1.5 million the current owners will likely share their item, especially since only two of these watches are made annually. Otherwise it might be a good idea to become friends with the CEO of Patek Phillippe since he chooses the buyers personally.
Alternatively, there is the Audemars Piguet collection, well-known as the Royal Oak Offshore line. While the Royal Oak watches are not limited as a group of watch styles, the End of Days model is limited and highly desired. This watch was designed and manufactured as part of the press release for the movie, End of Days, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. When it sold, the watch was priced under $14,000. As a limited run and no longer available, this watch now trades hands at the price range of $85,000.
F.P Journe made some news with a run of 950 watches all for the same model. As soon as the watch line was finished, the prices skyrocketed on these items due to a perceived popularity.
Another choice piece to look for is the Tourbillon “Pour le Mérite tourbillon” from A. Lange & Sohne’s. This watch was made a while back in 1996, however, it’s been climbing in value ever since. One unit traded hands at over $260,000 in 2008 during a Christie’s auction. The original price was $103,000 when the last watch sold at retail.
The Swiss can’t be left out of the picture either. Greubel Forsey is well-known for producing watches that are extremely intricate in design and mechanism. The works takes so long, only 150 units are made annually. The Invention Piece One model sold for almost a cool $460,000 in a Hong Kong auction after it was first manufactured in 2007. This price point set the record for collectible watches from Greubel Forsey selling at auction worldwide.
So while there are plenty of watches available, sometimes going after an old treasure is far more interesting and fun in the line of luxury watches. After all, a buyer who owns one of these pieces really does own something unique given how limited many of the watches were in production runs. That makes the given watch both distinct and rare in one, a fine package to have when collecting a watch as an investment.
