Obviously we all have our own circumstances, so I’m generally wondering: there is a difference between the watches we dream of and the watches we wear.
When I wear mine, I need to be not too flashy for clients while keeping it professional. I earn $105k as a middle manager in wealth management (MCOL), and the nicest watch I own is an Omega Seamaster ($5.9k).
Affordability aside, I’m weighing how much “nicer” of a watch can I get without “out-wearing my wage”.
I’d love to hear how others have approached this intangible; I can make my own decisions just looking for anecdotes.
My rule of thumb is max 10% of my savings and not my wages to spend on a watch. Patek is still not even in the neighborhood of the Milky Way to be added to my collection.
You’re the first person to give a rule of thumb 😂 even though our circumstances are different i appreciate hearing your approach!
I have a colleague that wears a gold Rolex listprice eur 24.000 and he is just a sales assistant. Talk about out-wearing his wage.
Except for few specific watches, most watches will fly under the radar for most people in my area. So I don’t worry about it and generally wear what I like.
But I do recognize there are situations where I don’t want to be wearing something too nice due because of safety concern or message it might send. I have more affordable watches or obscure vintage watches in the collection for this purpose.
Additionally, I don’t like things to remind me of work during off hours, so I have a separate watch to be worn for work. If your clients are the type to recognize watches, then maybe have one appropriate watch be your work watch. The rest of your collection could be worn after work and off days when you really live your life.
It depends a lot where you live. When I was working in the Middle East, I could be in meeting with someone having a $50k watch on their wrist. Now in Germany, working on the same industry, that never happens. Between the two countries there is at least a 10x gap in the average price of the watches on a room.
Meh, the amount of people I’ve met with even reasonably nice watches is few in far between. That’s from working in finance to nuclear. The amount that care at all about watches are even less than that.
Unless it’s got a ton of gold and or diamonds idk if anyone would really realize the difference between a seamaster and something nicer.
No one outside the very small group of watch geeks will ever notice.
Unless you wear something glaringly ostentatious, > 99% of people will not notice nor care what’s on your wrist. Those that do notice won’t be judging you, they’ll be geeking out with you.
No one is going to notice or care. Even if they do notice, you can’t predict their reaction. In your case, if a client sees you wearing a nice watch, are they going to think that you’re successful and worth trusting, or are they going to think you’re gouging them on fees? Who knows? I’ve worn watches worth thousands of dollars and had people ask me, “Is that a Seiko?” On the other side, I wear a cheap Citizen and have people ask me if it’s a Rolex. Story short, it’s such an unknown that you can safely wear whatever you want.
I manage money for high net worth people. Their investment fees pay our salaries. If I have too much on my wrist it would ruffle feathers.
You’re overthinking it. Do you apply same logic for the car you own? Or a part of the city you live in?
You might, but why… You’d never be able to control it all and people will judge either positively or not, there’s no an universal rule.
To be sure have a neutral watch or the one you mentioned, for the specific meetings when seeing those clients in person.
Yeah I my therapist says that a lot. Not about watches, other stuff. I worry about people questioning my priorities or jumping to assumptions about how I present myself.
I have one watch I really can’t afford because I inherited it from my dad (he died bankrupt, so it’s actually the only thing I inherited from him). I really enjoy wearing it and no one has ever really noticed it. Ironically, the only time I got noticed for “out wearing my wage” was when I was wearing my MoonSwatch and someone’s mind was blown that I had bought an Omega. I had to explain that it was actually more of a swatch. Very funny.
Inherited watches don’t count, if it’s a casio or an AP it can be worn whenever with with whomever IMHO.
So is it your own perception or your clients that you are concerned about? How is your client going to know your AP is inherited unless you tell them?
If it’s not inherited I wouldn’t say it is. If I wore an AP & a client commented on it, the best response (if it’s true) is it being bequeathed by a loved one. Anything else could make them curious to start watching your pockets.
Most watch guys have Main Character Syndrome (MCS). No one care what watch you are wearing unless they intend to rob you.
I manage money for high net worth people. The self-made ones generally don’t like to see expensive jewelry or clothing on their advisor. The investment fees from the client’s accounts literally pay our salaries.
MCS exists but this is not it.
It seems like the rule of thumb in that case would be ‘loudness’ of watch rather than actual cost. So blingy, high polished pieces, two-tone, attention-drawing pieces, and of course Rolex.
E.g. I don’t think they’d bat an eye at a moonwatch on leather or a reverso. Or my favorite, on an Erika’s originals
I had a chat with an old coworker not that long ago. He asked me why I just don’t save up $2k - $3k and buy a Rolex.
When I was in Mexico, I was complimented on my “nice and expensive watch” when I was poolside. It was a Citizen BN0151 that I got years ago on Amazon for like $99.
The average person has no clue.
I don’t think there’s any rule when it comes to luxury goods except if you can’t afford it. Don’t go into extreme debt for something as silly as a watch.
I feel like I would be quite self-conscious wearing a Rolex, even if it was “basic” (Oyster bracelet, domed bezel, all steel, no diamonds) in case anyone caught a glance of the logo. But I am still attracted to it.
I honestly get more questions about my Seiko SKX013 diver than my Seamaster. Maybe because it’s so chonky on me.
If you bought a watch that you’ve been saving for quite some time that is “outside of your wage” just wear it. No one is going to care and most of the time they are not going to spend their time looking at your wrist.
I made just over you in like the past couple years and I did like a collection speed run, sub date, sub no date, moon watch, Batman, planet ocean. It didn’t affect my finances and in the end made me a few k for selling and resetting my personal intentions. Point is I was a tradesman with a dirty man job and watches no one gave af about. Do you
I’m always in jeans and a tee shirt and i’m the most unpretentious person you could ever meet. I’ve done quite well for myself and could easily afford a rolex but i know anyone seeing one on my wrist would straight away think it was a fake…
Life is too short to gatekeep yourself