Fratello On Air: Balazs And Mike Answer a Reader Question About Sinn, Orfina, & Breguet

Hi John. You have some great watches and an enviable collection. I’ve been trying to buy classic, legendary (your word), iconic and timeless watches for many years. In my early years of acquiring watches I was absolutely terrible at it. I bought some of the silliest and trendiest watches ever made — all expensive mistakes made because I relied on trends, fads, and my own knowledge and “I love it” feelings. After misspending a large amount of money on watch fads and cool looking (but ultimately silly watches), I decided to stop relying on my intuition and instead rely on the knowledge, expertise, and resources of watch experts. I made a distilled list of watches identified by many, many watch experts of their picks for classic and iconic watches identified by the masses of collectors from the past 50 years. Bought most of these watches and most, but not all, have appreciated significantly and are still very popular today. Unfortunately, none of your watches are on any of these lists. In my opinion, watches are a fashion item (less a necessity today more than ever) and there will be trends and fads — that’s how watch companies make money. Let’s say the average trend or fad lasts 3-4 years or less. So if you bought a trendy watch (most watches are trendy watches) your watch would be out of vogue in just a few years. All your watches, although very cool watches, are all niche watches. Hope this makes sense. All the best to you.