Hi Ian, Jack here, and thanks so much for writing in.
Well, those are really two questions – the first, whether you’ve made good choices and the second, whether the watches you have bought will hold their value. To the first, the person best equipped to answer is really you and you alone, but I think you’ve made solid choices in terms of getting things that are going to give you a lot of personal satisfaction. Your mail has the sound of someone who’s having a lot of fun with what he’s got.
The second question is essentially impossible to answer; as an investment in a college fund, though, watches are probably kind of a terrible idea, I’m sorry to say, and looking forward to 2023, which is 8 years away, the only thing we can say is that anyone who says they know what the watch market is going to be like then is a terrible liar. Chances are of the three brands you’ve mentioned the Patek is the likeliest to hold its value, but to what extent depends on so many variables we can’t in good conscience make any sort of prediction, especially eight years out. Depreciation – sometimes significant depreciation – is the rule rather than the exception. (You can make money investing in watches, don’t get us wrong, but that requires so much time commitment and such a considerable amount of networking, education, and specialist knowledge that most folks realistically shouldn’t expect it.)
That doesn’t mean you should avoid luxury watches and fine watchmaking; just bring realistic expectations to the table and make sure you’re buying because you like the watches, not because you expect them to be a viable investment instrument, and you won’t have anything to regret. And if your collection does zoom in value by 2023, you will have the satisfaction of both having a great college fund for your granddaughter, and having had the last word with us!