Why Are Vintage Watches Worth So Much?

Mrs. Rindt rocking her namesake piece.

Some Old Watches Are Worth Millions. Why?

It’s one of the pivotal scenes of 1987’s ‘Wall Street.’ Charlie Sheen follows an English ‘corporate raider’ CEO to the airport, and finds out his jet is headed to the headquarters of a company called Anacott Steel. Michael Douglas gets Sheen to purchase large blocks of Anacott options, then tips off the ‘Wall Street Chronicle’ with a phoned-in hint.

Once the tip goes public, the shares skyrocket. The same thing happens when a supermodel wears a pair of sneakers on the street outside a runway show, or when a famous DJ plays a rare disco record on Boiler Room; suddenly that record trades for $50 or $500 instead of $5. The shoes worn by the supermodel get trendy, and suddenly that company is worth hundreds of millions of dollars more than before.

This same type of thing happened with Universal Geneve Compax chronographs from the 60's and 70's when they were featured in the online watch magazine called Hodinkee. Formula One racer Jochen Rindt’s wife Nina wore one, and ever since then the timepiece became a cult classic with collectors.

Nina Rindt’s model was white with black subdials, so the Hodinkee article referred to the black dial/white subdial version as the ‘Evil Nina!’

A crispy ‘Evil Nina,’ maybe still underrated after a $20k price bump.

After the article was published, market forces went to work. Let’s say there are fifteen or 20 of these watches for sale at any given time around the world, and maybe only a thousand or so in existence. Hodinkee’s readership is around 650,000 individuals a month, so you do the math!

Suddenly some of these watches were worth as much as a fancy car or a cheap house. Good move if you got in when they cost in the low five figures.

So why are these old watches still flying up in price while the overall watch market is flat at best? Well, COVID-19 and the accompanying economic slowdown has really put the brakes on new consumer spending. And most people who buy watches do so in the same way that one might buy a new shirt; it’s something shiny and wonderful and fun to wear.

But a vintage watch (or even a fancy new piece) is at least in theory something that doesn’t lose much or any value after purchase.

The ‘Hodinkee bump’ affected even the other colorways, like this great blue example.

Tech CEOs and millenials have suddenly gotten into watch collecting, spurred on by smartwatches but intrigued by the prospect of a daily-carry item that doesn’t lose value over time. It’s a pretty easy concept to understand; if you buy a pair of hyped sneakers and wear them for a year or two, they’re not worth what they would be in deadstock/unworn condition.

A new iPhone 11 Pro is $1000. In two or five years, will it be worth that much? Surely not. But a vintage watch purchased around that price range still tells the time in the same way five years later. It isn’t hampered by software updates or planned obsolescence. And if you’re lucky, the watch might be worth as much or more than when you bought it.

You can’t say that about most consumer purchases!

So just like how fashion heads hit up thrift shops and DJ’s dig for records, watch collectors are always searching for the new ‘Evil Nina.’

Thanks for reading, and if anyone knows of any other info on the ‘Evil Nina,’ let us know!

Also we should probably mention that if you like fancy watches, fast cars, cool art, lovely architecture, or just interesting things in general; follow us on Instagram.

We are of course @curated.classics (www.instagram.com/curated.classics/) on that platform. Cheers.