Buying a luxury watch is an important decision, it is an investment that can be expensive. It is important to ensure that the watch is of good quality before making the purchase. This is particularly true for a hand sale as it will be easier to check its condition but it is also possible for an online advert to ask for all the necessary details.
To begin with, how do you define a good quality watch?
In order to judge the quality of a watch, it is important to look at the physical appearance of the watch and the different components that make it up.
The first mistake made by consumers is to think that price is the best indicator to determine the quality of a watch. Although the price is partly determined by the cost of manufacturing the watch, including the cost of materials and labour, or the number of intermediaries between the brand and the consumer, speculation has a big part to play. A watch that costs a few thousand euros to produce can be worth hundreds of thousands of euros on the market, as demand is very high compared to supply.
So let's look at what the right criteria are to determine the right quality of a luxury watch.
The materials used
For the bracelet and case, luxury watch manufacturers such as Rolex or Audemars Piguet use resistant and rustproof materials, unlike standard watches whose materials break, tarnish or scratch more easily.
The most common materials used in luxury watches are gold, silver, steel or brushed steel. These materials are heavy, so you can determine if your watch is authentic by comparing the weight with the original model, which you can find on the Internet. If your Patek Philippe is too light, it is probably a counterfeit.
The dial
The quality of the glass used in the dial is not the same between a standard watch and a luxury watch. The most common is to have sapphire or mineral glass which are cheap. However, this type of glass scratches more easily and is more likely to be scratched or impacted by a fall. For luxury watches manufacturers prefer sapphire. It is a much harder material to scratch, and virtually indestructible; it is rated 9 out of 10 on the Mohs scale, which indicates the hardness of a mineral.
Referral
Concerning the hands and their movement, there are 2 criteria which allow to judge the quality of the mechanism:
- Noise. A luxury watch must emit a regular ticking sound that is almost imperceptible to the ear. The mechanisms are sophisticated and well oiled, so they emit almost no sound.
- The accuracy of the movement of the hands. The shift of the hands should be very slight or non-existent. If you have to adjust your watch often it is not of good quality.
Other criteria
These other criteria are less important and not worth detailing. Nevertheless, you can use them to ask questions to the future seller. If he or she does not have the answers or if they are negative, it is better to be wary.
- Waterproofing
- Impact resistance, e.g. the G-Shock system or the "incabloc" system
- Anti-magnetism
Authenticity
Of course, before going through all the criteria explained above to judge the quality of a watch, it is better to be sure. With the Watch Certificate and its 45 points of control you will have all the information on the materials, the state of each part, the waterproofness of the watch... It will be a good starting point to evaluate the quality of the watch and either to make sure of its authenticity and hope to resell one of its watches at the best price.
