Insights
Forty happy years in watches – Aurel Bacs
Highlights from an exclusive evening with the virtuoso of vintage watches
On a cold January evening, Stonehage Fleming and Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo, welcomed guests into the beautiful London premises of Phillips’ London auction house.
Introduced by Stonehage Fleming’s Maria de Peverelli as “single handedly responsible for the way we look at watches today”, Aurel Bacs delivered a fascinating, fun and intimate talk, welcoming questions from the floor as he went. A few highlights are extracted below.
How a love of watches began
Growing up, I was surrounded by vintage motor cars – my father loved all things mechanical. He would buy trains, steam machines and cameras for us to fix up together. And of course, watches. It was the end of the quartz crisis and mechanical watches were making a comeback so it was something of a renaissance for watchmaking. Last year, I celebrated 40 happy years in watches.
On the ‘types’ of watch collector
Every world has its nerds and the world of watches is no different. There are online forums where people go to argue over the little wing of the font of a letter on a bezel to define whether it was made in the first or second quarter of 1969.
Then there’s the trophy hunters; always searching for the rarest, most impeccably preserved piece they can possibly find. It doesn't matter if it's a Patek Philippe, a pocket watch or a contemporary piece, they just want the best.
You then have the ‘lifestylists’ who simply want a high-end watch to match their high-end fashion, high-end motor car, and high-end homes.
And then there’s the ‘specullectors’ who half love a watch for love and half because it doubled in value in the last six months.
Top four indicators of value
Generally, more is more. A watch with two hands is likely to be less valuable than another, from the same maker, but which has a chronograph, a perpetual calendar and a minute repeater.
Naturally, aesthetics play a big part. While beauty is in the eye of the beholder, there is a general understanding among collectors of what is – and what is not – considered attractive in a watch.
Bearing in mind watches are created to be worn, condition is another important indicator of value. A watch that has been exposed to oxidation, has rusted, been repaired, restored – perhaps poorly restored – and restored again, will diminish sharply in comparison to the same model kept in a bank vault for a similar period.
And finally, rarity; the simple mechanics of supply and demand play a vital role in the value of any watch. Scarcity will always demand a premium.
Finally, some words to the wise…
Avoid talking yourself into buying a ‘bargain’: the dial is wrong, the case back is missing and the movement is rusty, but it’s yours for a special price. In my experience, that sort of compromise will not make you happy.
Ignore the hype; go against the market and be yourself. If your taxi driver or your hairdresser tells you it's a good investment, it is already too late. Far better to acquire things that you love for your own reasons.