Checklist for Buying your First Luxury Watch [Tips & Guide]
Buying your first luxury watch can be perceived as a daunting and difficult thing. After all, a luxury watch normally comes with a hefty price tag, and with such a large purchase, you want everything to be perfect.
But when you have thousands of different watches to choose from, selecting which to purchase can feel difficult. Where do you even start?
Moreover, you also want to avoid any pitfalls or mistakes that you may regret further down the road. It can even cost you quite a bit of money.
With this in mind, it’s advised that you do the proper research before you buy your first luxury watch so that you avoid any mistakes and are 100% happy with your watch. You don’t want to stand there a few months after your purchase regretting the watch you chose. You want to make sure that you are completely satisfied for a long time ahead.
In this article, we’ll go through everything you need to think about and consider for your purchase.
What to think about when buying a luxury watch
Naturally, there are a lot of things to think about when buying your first luxury watch. And the general rule is that the more expensive the watch is for you, the more research you should do. It doesn’t have to cost tens of thousands, but think about what is a big financial decision for you. Everyone has different perceptions and opinions of how much is “a lot”. So even if you’re buying a 500-dollar watch and it is the most expensive watch you have ever purchased, you want to make sure you do proper research before.
Here are the most important things you should consider.
1. The brand
If you can define which brand you want for your luxury watch early on, you will make the process a lot easier from the get-go. That way, you will have narrowed down your options tremendously and ultimately make it easier to select the perfect watch for your needs. At the very least, try to narrow it down to two or three brands. That way, you’ll make this process a lot less overwhelming from the start.
2. Type of movement
Wristwatches primarily have two types of movements: mechanical or quartz. In turn, these can be divided into a few different categories. The most common type of movement for mechanical watches is automatic. This means that it is powered not by a battery but by the movement of the wrist. An automatic movement has a rotor attached to this movement and when the watch moves, it will rotate and wind the mainspring, thus generating energy.
Quartz watches, on the other hand, are powered by batteries. In turn, quartz watches can be divided into digital or analog. Digital means that the watch has a screen, analog means that the watch has hands that indicate the time in a traditional way.
For a more in-depth understanding, read our guide to automatic vs quartz here.
Both automatic and quartz watches have their pros and cons so there is no right or wrong here. It ultimately comes down to your own tastes, needs, and preferences.
In general, most luxury watches are mechanical and have analog displays. This is because it is much more complex and requires a greater deal of craftsmanship to make them. This is also one of the most important reasons why people buy luxury watches in the first place. Quartz watches tend to be much more affordable and are mostly done in mass-production at low cost. However, that is not to say that there aren’t any luxury quartz watches, because there are.
3. Type of strap or bracelet
The type of strap or bracelet is an important component of your watch as it affects how the watch looks and wears. It can also affect the comfort of your watch.
First, you need to decide whether you want a metal bracelet or a different type of strap. The most common are leather or various types of fabric straps. However, it’s worth pointing out that on most watches with bracelets, you can exchange them for a different strap. You just need a spring bar tool and the strap of your choice. This is great news as it means it is not either-or. But with that said, It’s much easier to buy a watch with a metal bracelet originally than to try to find a bracelet that fits your watch afterward. So if you intend on changing the strap regularly, it’s advised that you buy it on a metal bracelet from the beginning so you can change it at a later stage.
Different straps are suitable for different occasions and purposes. A rubber strap, for example, tends to work best for sports-or dive watches. Leather straps, on the other hand, result in a more dressy look more suitable for formal occasions. Metal bracelets are versatile and work well on most occasions.
4. Watch functions
The functions of your watch are an important thing to consider when buying a luxury watch. Most watches display only the time but they may have many other different types of functions and features. Digital watches are in general much more advanced than mechanical watches and can have lots of digital features incorporated. Mechanical watches do not have the same number of features, but they’re also much more mechanically complicated for each function that is added.
The most common functions in mechanical watches are date functions, day indicators, and chronographs. When you decide which watch to choose, think about whether or not there is any particular function that you absolutely need or would enjoy having. The most common function is definitely the date function. This allows the wearer to know the date just by glancing at the wrist.
5. Type of watch – purpose
Elaborating on the point above, it’s important that you consider the type of watch that you are looking for so you can narrow down the options. Ultimately, this comes down to the purpose of the watch and on which occasions you will be wearing it. For example, there are dive watches, sports watches, everyday watches, dress watches, and everything in between. Obviously, you don’t want to be wearing huge and chunky sports watches with a suit. But you also don’t want to wear a sensitive and elegant dress watch to the beach or on other demanding occasions.
This is why many people who buy a luxury watch for the first opt for a versatile watch that can work on all kinds of different occasions.
Further on, a lot of people choose to build a watch collection with multiple watches for different occasions, but if you’re looking to buy your first luxury watch, you want to choose one that is versatile and that you can wear on any occasion.
6. Water resistance
Water-resistance is also something you want to consider when buying a watch. Naturally, this ties into the type of watch you opt for but different watches will have different levels of water resistance, regardless of the type of watch.
If you frequently go swimming and want to wear the watch whilst doing so, water-resistance of at least 100 meters is advised. However, if you don’t have any intention of taking your watch anywhere near water, then this is something that you can disregard. The most important thing is that if you need water resistance in a watch, you keep that in mind and select the watch accordingly.
7. What is my budget?
Perhaps the most important question to ask yourself of all. Ultimately, your budget will affect which watches you are able to afford. Therefore, defining your budget early on will allow you to narrow down your options and look at watches that you can actually buy. Luxury watches are luxury items, hence why they are priced accordingly. When you know your budget, you can do some research and figure out which brands fit into this price range. Luxury watches can vary a lot in price. There is no official definition in terms of price of what classifies a luxury watch or not. But some people argue that luxury watches start at 1000 dollars. Others would argue that luxury watches start at around 500 dollars.
Regardless, luxury watches can vary in price from a few hundred dollars up to hundreds of thousands of dollars. So knowing how much you are able to spend will definitely help you in narrowing down the options.
The most important part about your budget is that you set your expectations accordingly. Naturally, luxury watches can vary a lot in terms of accuracy, quality, finish, and prestige depending on their price. So when you define your budget, you can set your expectations according to that and know what type of specifications and performance you will get.
8. Size
The size of the watch is a crucial aspect to consider when buying your first luxury watch. Just like it is important to have a shirt that fits, the way your watch fits on the wrist will affect both how it looks but also how it feels. You can refer to our watch size guide here.
Just like with the size of clothes, there are no strict rules for what size you should have but there are guidelines for making sure the watch looks as good as possible on the wrist:
- The lugs of the watch should not protrude from the sides of the wrist
- On casual and sporty occasions, you can wear a larger and more bulky watch
- On formal occasions, you want to opt for a watch that is slimmer, smaller, and more discreet
The most important thing is that you find a watch size that is comfortable and works for your wrist. Keep in mind that different watches wear differently depending on their design. So you shouldn’t look only at the diameter to decide the size of a watch. You should also consider the lug-to-lug and thickness to get a better idea of how it wears.
Most men opt for watches between 36mm and 45mm. However, some men wear both smaller and larger watches than that. To a large extent, it depends on your wrist size. Moreover,w whilst most women wear 30 to 36mm watches, there are also those who enjoy oversized, men’s watches.
9. Dial color
The dial color plays a central role in the look and appeal of any watch. It is the face of the watch and the thing that you look at the most. Because the dial color affects both how the watch looks but also how much you enjoy it when looking at it, it’s something that you should consider.
Ask yourself: what color do I want for my watch dial?
Most watch dials are black, silver, or dark blue but there are also all kinds of different dial colors out there. To a large extent, you should buy the dial color you like. However, you should also consider the purpose and style of the watch and how well the dial color would suit the occasions on which you will wear it.
For example, if you’re wearing a watch with a suit on a formal occasion, it’s not ideal to have a bright pink dial that stands out like a sore thumb.
If you’re looking for a casual watch for everyday wear, you can opt for a more colorful and bright dial color – if you want. However, if you want something versatile that can work both on casual and formal occasions, opt for a more discreet and classic dial color like black, silver, or dark blue.
10. Metal
Luxury watches are nowadays available in a large selection of different materials. The most common is of course stainless steel. But there are also options such as titanium, gold, ceramic, silver, bronze, and many more.
When you start looking for your first luxury watch, you should also take into consideration which metal you want. Naturally, gold and precious metal watches tend to come with hefty price tags in the luxury watch space, so whether or not this is possible depends on your budget.
Different materials have different benefits but also downsides. Which you choose ultimately comes down to your own preferences.
11. Crystal
Luxury watches are available with different crystals. Most luxury watches use sapphire crystals but not all of them do. In general, more affordable watches tend to use mineral or acrylic crystals as they are cheaper. But luxury watches mostly use sapphire. Some people prefer acrylic crystals for a more classic, vintage-inspired look, others demand a sapphire crystal when they are paying thousands of dollars for a watch. It can be good to at least look at the specifications of the watch to see which type of crystal it uses.
12. Accuracy
The accuracy of a watch is naturally an important thing. Ask yourself: how important is accuracy for you?
As you may know, quartz watches are far more accurate than mechanical watches. As a matter of fact, cheap 50-dollar quartz watches can be more affordable than 1000-dollar mechanical watches. If the accuracy is of utmost importance, you should probably look for a quartz watch.
Moreover, because of the complexity of making highly accurate mechanical watches, they tend to come at price tags that reflect that. For example, Rolex watches are specified to accuracy of +2/-2 seconds per day which is considered great for a mechanical watch. However, they also cost thousands of dollars. And still, most qualitative quartz watches are more accurate than that.
With this said, it is good to research and look at the accuracy of the watch you are planning to purchase to know what to expect. But you should know that if you are going to buy a highly accurate mechanical watch, it will have a relatively high price tag.
Do luxury watches hold their value?
The answer is that it depends. Moreover, it depends on where you bought the watch. The general rule is that most luxury watches lose value when you buy them brand new from an official retailer for the recommended retail price. However, there are some exceptions, for example, Rolex watches, where some models sell for more than the recommended retail price on the secondhand market. The reason for this is supply and demand and the huge demand for these models. This is why it can be difficult to buy certain models from recommended retailers and they often have long waiting lists.
However, it’s important to point out that these are just exceptions to the rule. Just like cars, phones, or any other item that you buy brand new, most watches tend to lose their value from the retail price. How much depends on a number of factors including the brand and the model. Some watches only lose between 10-15% but others may lose up to 40 to 50 percent of the value.
With that said, a lot of people opt for buying a luxury watch on the secondhand market where the watch has already lost a chunk of its value, thus meaning that you are avoiding a bit of its value drop since it has already depreciated. You’ll also be able to save money and perhaps afford the watch that you love but cannot afford if you were to buy it for the retail price. This is why it is advised to compare prices on the secondhand market and see what savings you can make.
