How to build a collection with $10,000

(Photo courtesy of: https://squaremile.com/watches/luxury-watch-investment-tips/)

This is a great budget to put together a watch collection with a strong foundation. Our number one suggestion off the top, is to make sure that it is not wasted on trends or fads. $10,000 is a lot of money, but can surely go quickly if you want to cover all your watch needs but are not responsible with that budget. A recommended target with the budget can be to target at least three pieces. With three watches, you can cover plenty of ground in terms of style, complication, and give each one enough wrist time. A strategy often suggested is to spend 50-60% of your budget on a single fine luxury timepiece that can be versatile enough to wear for important occasions or even dressed down to a t-shirt and jeans. The remainder of the budget can be split evenly to target a specific want/complication/style based on your lifestyle and cover both dressy and casual situations. 

Another reason for not suggesting to spend it all on a grail piece, is that if you’ve caught the watch collecting bug, you will quickly find yourself wanting other timepieces and going over that $10,000 budget you’ve set. When you build a proper collection with multiple pieces, you’re less likely to get bored. However, when you do decide that it's time to move on from a particular piece, it will be much easier to sell and move onto other watches. This is largely due to the fact that there are many more buyers, the lower the price point, as well as more options for the next one. 

(Photo courtesy of: https://squaremile.com/watches/luxury-watch-investment-tips/)

Something else  to think about with a $10,000 budget is to keep an eye on the secondary market, by purchasing a used watch or a heavily discounted watch from a grey market dealer. This “sacrifice” can be an opportunity for you to save some good money that can be put towards a wider variety of pieces, or achieve a higher end timepiece that would have not been in your budget if new.