日批在线视频_内射毛片内射国产夫妻_亚洲三级小视频_在线观看亚洲大片短视频_女性向h片资源在线观看_亚洲最大网

Luxury watches remain a timeless investment

Updated: 2010-12-24 07:07

By Ann Williams(HK Edition)

  Print Mail Large Medium  Small

Top-notch watches have long been a passion of many Hong Kong people, especially men. In a city where you can't show off a flash car in a driveway, as you can in London, New York or Los Angeles, an expensive and finely crafted timepiece is the perfect status symbol. And many have turned their love of watches into a collectable habit.

Hong Kong watch aficionado Antonio Arancio says he's been fascinated by watches since he was 12 years old, when he became intrigued by the gold color and decorative dials of his parents' watches. Today, he's particularly attracted by the movement contained within the watch. "I have one of the first Chopard L.U.C. movements; it's a lovely watch and stunning movement and overall finish. I feel every collection needs a Jaeger-LeCoultre and I have the Reverso Day Date - the case can be reversed so if the user was playing polo and got hit by a ball the watch would not get damaged. Another watch that I really had to get was the Co-Axial movement by the English master watchmaker George Daniels."

Luxury watches remain a timeless investment

Sam Hines, head of sales of Christie's Watches, says that a number of key elements affect a watch's value. "They include the rarity - how many examples were produced; the condition of the case, dial and movement; brand recognition; the complications; and what accompanying items does the watch retain such as original certificate and presentation box," he explains.

"This year we have seen our biggest year of watch auctions at Christie's," he adds. "The market is extremely buoyant and at every sale we have sold over 90 percent of the watches offered. In 2003, our world-wide sales totalled $18 million. This year we achieved a record breaking $91.2 million. We have more buyers than sellers, which is a terrific position to be in."

Not surprisingly, Asia is one of the strongest and fastest growing markets, particularly in terms of Chinese buyers. "Brand recognition is huge in Asia," says Hines. "The more limited the edition the better. There is also an extremely strong demand for pocket watches of all types with a main focus on enamel works of the greatest quality."

Auctions are not the only source. Arancio buys his watches from shops that offer good service along with reasonable prices. "This is important when a watch needs servicing," he says. "There are second-hand watch shops in Hong Kong, some better than others. The most important thing when buying second-hand as an investment either online or in a shop is to be knowledgeable about the watch you want, its movement, date of manufacture, dial hands and so on, as there are many fakes around."

However, he feels that the market is becoming too expensive for a variety of reasons. "I guess the huge bonuses in the financial business in the past (have had an effect). This probably drove designers to create new watches but the price made many of these stunning watches prohibitive for the normal collector."

He keeps up with trends and designs through studying websites and books. "Good watch sites include Timezone.com, the Seiko and Citizen forums and watchuseek.com," he notes.

However, he says that for most collectors it is the love of watches rather than investment opportunities that drive them. "The investment side can mean buying watches way outside most people's price range and maybe watches they do not really like. A few days ago I saw an old but lovely Rolex Sea-Dweller for HK$79,000, which is more than the new one and I find that hard to understand. So here is an investment watch - but would I buy it just for that?"

And do collectors wear their watches? Arancio does. "I mainly wear my Rolex, but I do rotate many of my watches. I like to wear the Chopard at the weekend and the Zenith when I need a timer."

(HK Edition 12/24/2010 page2)

主站蜘蛛池模板: 欧美日韩一区三区 | 黄色一级视频免费看 | 国产91精品一区二区 | 精品视频久久久久 | 偷拍女澡堂bbbbbccccc | 狂野欧美性猛交 | 亚洲天堂视频网站 | 亚洲69av | 日韩精品视频观看 | 免费一级做a爰片久久毛片潮 | 九九久久免费视频 | 看av网址| 亚洲国产网址 | 成人免费视屏 | 四虎影视在线 | 99视频国产精品免费观看a | 影音先锋av影院 | 99久久久精品 | 色综合天天综合网国产成人网 | 黑人精品一区二区 | 伊人网av | 日韩第六页 | 岛国中文字幕 | av在线播放免费 | 久热精品视频在线播放 | 欧美亚洲天堂网 | 午夜影视av | 成av在线| 波多野结衣中文字幕一区二区 | 黄色一二三区 | 男女囗交大图片26交 | 丝袜美腿在线 | 国产成人精品免费视频 | 日韩欧美国产一区二区三区 | 国产一线在线观看 | 精品一区二区在线播放 | 三级国产在线 | 成人做爰100部片视频 | www天天干| 97超碰在线免费观看 | 手机在线毛片 |