Timepieces as Investments

By Jack Davidson

As a youth, I would wind my mechanical watch, and forget to rewind it, and then reset it once again. Then the first battery quartz watch hit the shelves in 1969. Powering our clocks still required resetting the device on a regular basis. In 1990, the radio controlled wristwatch arrived, and resetting was no longer a problem. In 2000, the smartwatch arrived. A smartwatch is simply a battery driven laptop on your wrist. I own an Apple Watch and I simply put it on a charging pad once each night.
As a youth, and even today, I would encounter the value of a mechanical watch: a Rolex. The Rolex today costs approximately $5,000. There are many benefits to a Rolex watch. Vintage watch collectors may find your Rolex to be worth far more than what you paid for it.

Personally, I chose the Apple smartwatch based on cost and the need to be smarter. Often I would time playing 18 holes of golf which would show the distance, the time and my pulse rate when I decide to carry the golf bag for 18 holes. Recently, playing golf just before the snow arrived, I added a new smartclock to my collection. The clock only shows the day of the week. Why? I called a friend and said “our tee time is 9 a.m. tomorrow”. He showed up and I was not there. I had booked the tee time on Sunday thinking it was Saturday when I called him. I did not realize that I called him on Friday.

Age may not be a factor. Staying at home 7 days a week will, hopefully, go away and so will the smartclock. Hopefully, it’s a temporary investment.