Tourbillon Watch

This is a stainless steel skeleton watch with a Tourbillon, likely made in China, Price is affordable for me. The tourbillon is copy exact of Blanpain design. Time taking is quite accurate, size of about 38mm.
HK Snob

Mint Plus Rolex Ref 16018 Oynx Dial Yellow Gold with paper

This is a mint plus condition Rolex Ref 16018, friend of mine is asking for HK$45K! The Warranty paper states the watch comes with leather strap, the Rolex Label is firmed stuck on the bottom of the watch untouched!
What HKD$46 K could buy now is Probably a Stainless steel watch that Contains an ETA movement Packaged with a Swiss Brand name! This is a Solid Gold Rolex with Onyx dial Date Just for men!
HK Snob
PS Sold at 2130 18 Aug 2012

Most Beautiful Patek Philippe Chronometer

I met one gentleman who showed me one of of his collection, this is his watch.... I compare it with book of Patek Philippe and I found out that there are something different. Can you tell what is that!? How Much the one on the left should value!?
HK Snob

Some of the killer Rolex watches

These are rare killer Rolexes I have seen, have worn and always wanted to possess in the past two years.
The Lapis Blue Dial Rolex Yellow Gold Submariner, very rare, someone asked me to buy but I was late to reply and was gone... Recently sold in auction for HKD$700,000.00
Rolex Ref 1803 Stella Red dial, friend of mine always show me but never want to sell.
One Dutch Friend showed me his Red Coral dial Rolex, asking for about USD$25K or more, mint condition!
Light blue Rolex DD Ref 1803.
One Dream Day Date Onyx dial With 24 rectangular Baguettes of almost idential size mounted on the bezel.
Ref 1803 Red dial with a lot of diamond on dial!
DD is my favourite... how can I resist them? 
HK Snob

The Most Successful Sales Slogan for Watch

Patek Philippe has been very successful selling the Watch to the rich and famous celebrities, Politicians, business men with a Sales slogan:

“You never actually own a Patek Philippe; you merely look after it for the next generation”

As a good mechanical watch can last a few centuries with good services and maintenance.

Patek Philippe is still maintaining the watch record back to 1896 years, they are still maintaining spare part back to watch of early1900.  Even the part is used up, the make it.

So when you buy a Patek Philippe, it is a real Investment. It will last forever, value is always there! Of course, it is not cheap to maintain a watch like this!
HK Snob

Tag Heuer Monaco

The original Tag Heuer “Monaco” racing watch worn by Steve McQueen in the 1971 film Le Mans was sold at the Los Angeles “Profiles in History” film memorabilia auction. The timepiece, which is both an iconic piece of film memorabilia, as well as an important part of the Tag Heuer brand history, and watchmaking on the whole, sold for a final hammer price of $799,500. If you think that is a bit too expensive, why not buy a retro Monaco with about USD$5,000.00?
Steve McQueen was also a lover for Rolex Submariner.
HK Snob

Design In HK, Made in Hong Kong, Watch for Export

Designed in HK, Made in China Factory under HK Management, watch for export to Europe: Italy, Germany, France...etc
The Design is unque and fashionable...
HK Snob

Seiko and the Grand Seiko

Will you spend HKD$40,000 to buy an Automatic Stainless steel Seiko!?

Yes, there are people who are truly watch collector as they are not ordinary Seiko, it is grand Seiko Hi beat, the frequency of the watch is 36,000 cycle per minute which will bring a mechanical watch to a higher accuracy than ordinary Watch.

In Order to move at such high frequency, there are a lot of challenges such as lubrication, wear and tear of the jewels and pin-lever-encapement. Seiko has successfully solved this problem by introducing the GS Seiko in 1970’s

This is the beloved item for Japanese and now they are open to Asia and US market.

Go and see, find a plain, stainless steel watch in a form of Pure Mechanical Art.

HK Snob

Collecting Rolex Watch

When we buy Rolex, try to keep all document and invoice as it can tell the history of that watch probably can last for generations.

This is Ref 1601 Date Just two tone Pink Gold bought in 1976, at that time the price was HKD$1,872, now this new watch is about HKD$70,000,  Capitol was a big watch shop that time, now it has been the history, but the watch can be a witness about the time.

Another one was Ref 15000 stainless steel only HKD$9,090 when it was sold in 1989., now it become a collectible watch as it is made of the famous cal. 3035, a superb watch made by Rolex,

Now a new watch of this likely about HKD$50,000.00.

The Precious metal will keep value better as there is less units were made, if there is a White Gold Rolex Day Date 1957 with Blue Dial, by now it can be a big fortune for sure.

Next time when you buy a Rolex, Keep everything, including the warranty card, box, Rolex Chrometer Seal and Invoice. It is about passion of being a Rolex lover and a passion to appreciate one of the Finest Swiss Watch! And a passion to keep the best value of your investment!
Look at that Size comparison with the Daytona!

HK Snob

KL Watch Market

Rolex is still the most popular watch. Other than Rolex Cartier , Rado, Tag Huer is the frequent watch we can see in Malaysia, and as similar as  Thailand Rado had a rather good promotion in the 60’s to 70s;. They are quite popular in the mid range.

Pricewise is complex, many friends told me cheaper, 5 -6% than HK, and Of course that may be the time lag when Rolex Increases price by 4% and KL is slow to respond on the change of price, but this can be significant if we are buying Gold Rolex… 5% is a great Saving! Watch Out!

KL Snob

Breguet Watch at HKIA

Watch has been changing from a time keeper instrument into an accessories, personal identity and status. See these Beautiful Naked Breguet watches and their mechanical movement hand crafted in Switzerland, I took these pictures every time when I passed by HKIA arrival Hall.
HKIA Snob

Omega and Omega Constellation

Came Across a Super Blog about Omega Constellation. From there I can learn a lot on Omega and many other things about watch. Worth your time to go and look at it. There are a lot of interesting way to maintain and service your watch too!

http://omega-constellation-collectors.blogspot.com/

PS. The bottom left Omega is Fake!

HK Snob

Cartier

In 1847, Cartier established his name in providing jewelry to the Royal family in Paris. Cartier's jewelry was characterized by a light, airy touch, in contrast to the overly formal and overwrought ornaments of the period. In early 20^th century, watch was produced

In 1904, Louis Cartier met the Brazilian aviator, Alberto Santos-Dumont, who complained of the unreliability and inconvenience of pocket watches in flight. Cartier rose to the challenge, designing a flat wristwatch with a distinctive square bezel. This watch was not only a hit with Santos-Dumont, but also with Cartier's many clients. Thus, out of this timeless design, the "Santos" watch was born. Incredibly enough, this Cartier “Santos” watch is still produced today in much the same form.

The introduction of the Baignoire and Tortue Cartier watch models (both of which are still in production today) took place in 1912, followed by the Tank model's debut in 1917. In 1932, the watertight watch, made especially for the Pasha of Marrakesh, raised the bar even higher. Needless to say, the innovations, both in terms of design and technology, continued apace.

Today, Cartier's best-sellers is "Tank" watch ; the hot and fashionable "Tank Francaise", a distinctive sports watch similar in concept to the Santos; the "Pasha" watch, which has become a very fine watch for ladies; and the "Panther" watch , which features a beautiful bracelet available in 18K gold, stainless steel and gold, or stainless steel. The Santos 100 is also one of the hot models for Cartier.  

Amongst the recent Cartier watches, Santos 100 solid Pink gold is my favourite, it is priced at HKD$184,000.00.

HK Snob

Rolex Platinum Day Date Ref 118260

Platinum is the rarest of all the major precious metals. It is the heaviest and most dense of all precious metals. It will neither oxidize nor easily deform by itself.

When the Metre system was introduced, the standard reference for both the meter and the Kilogram were produced in a platinum-iridium alloy so as to make them as impervious as possible to chemical and physical deformation. Twenty tons of ore must be extracted at depths ranging from 3,000 to 5,000 metres underground to accumulate enough platinum to make one Rolex Day Date Ice blue watch case!

Platinum is particular heavy and resistant, it is extremely arduous to work. The Hugh specific gravity platinum makes great demands on the skill and experience of watchmakers. To ensure a fully watertight oyster case, for instance, they must adjust its parts to within one-hundredth of a millimeter! 

The fabrication of a mere five watchcases in platinum results in as much wear on tools as fabricating some one hundred gold cases. Though they are milled and cut by CNC (computer numerical control machine). That is tedious to monitor the tool life and also take much work to perfect the final polishing by hand.

In short, a Rolex stainless steel Oyster Perpetual Date Just watch is selling $X, a solid yellow gold Day Date is selling 4X, and a platinum Day Date Ice-blue is selling about 9X! You can see what value is Platinum is!

Rolex Ice Blue Day Date is my dream Rolex watch, as it is Grey-white, purity, sleek look on smooth polished bezel, low-profile, solid and elegant, heavy, and Most of all, it can be used in all occasions!  

Ref 118206-83206 Rolex Day Date Ice-blue Platinum is now selling at HKD$430,000.00, subject to 5% discount in HK Rolex AD.

HK Snob

Vacheron Constantin dress watch of the 80s

Vacheron Constantin was one of the lines of hi end brands in HK in Early 80s.  Patek Philippe, Audemar Piguet, Cartier, Vacheron Constantin, Rolex and Omega,

2^nd line is Chopard, Tag Huer, Longines, Jaeger LeCoultre, Tudor, Ebel, Juvenia, Sarcer

Followed by Ernest Borel, Titoni Cyma, Rado, Seiko, Sandoz,

There are many many good watches available but the advertisement and the marketing media of the watch dealer will more or less determine how successful the watch sales could be accepted by their target customers. Of course, there are no short cut for success, Quality!

Vacheron Constantin is one of the say top Four in 80s’ PP, AP, VC and likely Rolex.

ThiS is a watch fully planted with diamonds VC 25510/000R 8.1272, price is about HKD$680,000 bling bling! 

HK Snob

Glashutte 22 Jewels Vintage Automatic

This is another chronometer made by early factory house of Glashutte in Eatern Germany, where the current Glashutte is still there.
This is a high quality watch in the early 60s' gold plated, very large size of 38mm. It belongs to Stephen who is a collector for early Glashutte!
HK Snob