Part of the fun of owning a luxury watch is knowing how much it’s truly worth. After all, these are investment pieces, and many of them gain value over time if they’re well taken care of. However, knowing the value of a watch you’ve purchased sometimes requires careful analysis. There are quite a few factors that go into a proper watch appraisal, and guesswork isn’t usually sufficient to get an accurate estimate.
If you want to know the true value of your premium watch, it’s important to be asking the right questions. Once you know what questions to ask and what to look for, you’ll have a much clearer idea of how to value your timepiece. In this blog, we’ll give you some tips on what you should be asking when determining the value of your own luxury watch.
First and foremost, the best thing you can do to get a highly accurate estimation of your watch’s value is to bring it to a trustworthy appraiser. An appraiser will know exactly what to look for and will be able to get you an estimate much more quickly than if you were searching for the answers on your own. BQ Watches offers quick and reliable appraisal services to help you find the value of your watch.
Whether you just want to know the value for your own knowledge, you want to know the value for a fair trade, or you want to know how much to sell your watch for, an appraisal will be a great way to make sure you’re getting the best valuation for your watch. If you’re wanting to get a gauge of your watch’s value without an appraisal, there are some things you’ll want to keep in mind.
The metal used to make your watch will always play a part in determining how much it is worth. Platinum, gold, silver and steel are all worth a certain amount on their own, but when they’re part of a luxury timepiece, they become worth more than their weight alone. Obviously, when you’re comparing watch prices, you would assume gold is more valuable than steel, platinum more is valuable than silver and so on.
Although this is typically the case, especially when it comes to buying a new watch, it doesn’t always hold absolute. Certain brands can be worth more regardless of the type of metal, while vintage or rare pieces can be worth more if the metal is less precious too. There are many factors at play, so the metal type alone can’t tell you everything you need to know about a watch’s worth. That being said, it can be a good start.
Next, you’ll want to consider how old the watch is. Newer models might fetch a lower price than an antique or vintage model. Again, this isn’t always the case. For instance, if a newer model only had 1,000 pieces made, it could very likely be worth much more than a model that was mass produced.
Generally, the rarer the watch, the more you can expect to get for it. Also, when a watch is both rare and antique, you can expect it to fetch a fairly high price. All of these different factors must be considered when determining the true worth of your timepiece.
As with anything pre-owned, part of the valuation will be determined by the condition your watch is in. If it’s in pristine condition, has never been worn or was rarely worn and appears brand new, you’ll be able to get top dollar for your luxury watch. On the other hand, if your watch shows plenty of signs of wear and has scratches, scuffs and stains, then you can expect that it might not get the same price as the same watch in better condition.
Of course, if you’re not used to determining the valuation of luxury watches, it can be hard to pin a price on it yourself. You’ll need to consider everything we’ve outlined in this blog and make the calculations based on the condition. It can be more than a little bit difficult to do this type of assessment on your own, so it is worth considering a professional assessment if you have a valuable watch.
Now we start to get to the valuation questions that are a bit less ambiguous. If you’re buying a luxury watch pre-owned, it stands to reason that you’d want to have a similar buying experience as if you were buying it new. That means that you want the original box that the timepiece came in. Often, luxury watch brands put a lot of careful thought into every aspect of a watch, especially when they are doing a limited release. This thoughtfulness extends even to the box that the watch is sold in.
Simply said, if you have the box that the watch was originally sold in, you’ll be able to fetch a higher price than if you had a more generic box.
Just like having the timepiece come in the original box, you also want to have all of the papers to go with the watch to get the maximum valuation. This includes the manual, the bill of sale and anything else you would expect to get when you buy a watch new.
Generally speaking, the closer your watch is to the day it was sold, the more money you’ll be able to get for it on the open market. Although the papers and the box aren’t absolutely necessary for a proper valuation, it definitely helps the process and it helps you get a better price in the end.
If you’re in need of an expert valuation, choose BQ Watches. Not only can we get you an extremely accurate valuation, but we’re also able to do it quickly. You can either send us your watch safely through our mail-in program or you can drop it off in our showroom in London. We also are happy to make you a competitive purchase offer when the valuation is complete. Whether you have a Rolex, Patek Philippe, Cartier, Breitling, Tag Heuer or any other luxury watch, we can help you find out what it’s worth.
If you’re thinking of trading in or buying a new timepiece, we can help with that too. BQ Watches is your resource for all luxury watch services you can imagine. Come to BQ for professional valuations, buying a watch to add to your collection, selling your watch or even for repairs.
