Second-hand watch refers to the watch that has already been traded, including the old one with some defects and the new one without being worn. Watch, for most people, is a luxury. Therefore, second-hand watch is a good choice for those who would like to buy the watch of excellent quality and reasonable price.
During the recent years, the second-hand watch market has been growing. It is reported that the annual sales of Singapore second-hand watch market had reached 4.7 million U.S. dollars in 2003, with ten percent increase per year since 1998.
In fact, second-hand watch is also very popular in Hongkong,Shanghai and Beijing. In Hongkong, there are some specialized shops for used watch exchange, where you can sell your old watch and the experts will evaluate, polish, clean,grind and then resell it. If the old watch is only worth 20 or 30 percent of the the original value, after the careful maintenance of the experts, it will reach 60 or 70 percent.
Why do more and more people tend to buy second-hand watch? First, the low price. The general price of used watch only equals to 50 percent of the same type being sold in the market. Second, it is more worth to put more investment in the watch with the style of more classic that has been less seen in the market, and this type of watch is always sold in the second-hand watch market. Indeed, the watch that is limitedly produced or already extinct in the market is worth of investment, and the auction house related to the second-hand watch spreading worldwide has been the goal of those investors.
In fact, there is not much risk in this kind of investment, since there is a large number of men who hope to have their own watch which is a symbol of identity and reputation. For men, the watch can be worn in daily life, or passed to the next generation as the collection.
However, not all the second-hand watch can be invested in. Some watches are new from the appearance, but once opened out, they have another look: maybe the grease and components are glued together, or some mechanisms have been lost, etc. These watches can not be a good choice for investment even if their original price is relatively high.
In addition, the high price of the watch does not necessarily mean high value of being invested. In general, nearly all brands will take some adjustments in the price once or twice per year, which has been the industry’s unwritten rule. Therefore, what the auction house really focus on is the inner value.
And what kind of second-hand watch is worthy of investment? “The mechanical watch is one of the good choices,” Ruan Jianhua, the manager of the Watch Maintenance Department of Hangzhou Plaza, “the movement of this watch is small, in this limited space, however, the calendar, week, month, timekeeping and other complex features have been displayed. From this point, this kind of watch has been well made, therefore, the value can be preserved.” And those through complex processing and once owned by celebrities are also of good choice, he also suggested.