Feature: 5 BIG beginner watch mistakes to avoid in 2023

This year, if you’re thinking of getting a watch, make sure you go into that purchase armed with all the knowledge you need to make the right decision for you. The easy way to do that is to watch this video. Stay to the end because the last tip might even earn you some money.

Holding Out

As with a lot of hard-to-get things, we’ve experienced a bit of a bubble these last few years as supply chains, material costs and other factors have made them even harder to secure. It’s a pain for fans of watches who’ve been saving up to get their dream timepiece because, despite setting aside a bit of cash every month to go into the watch kitty, that purchase doesn’t seem to be getting any closer.

But here’s the thing: if you wait and wait and wait, you might never get that watch. You could spend decades sitting back and hoping for that golden opportunity to get the watch you want for a song. And it might happen. But what’s the cost of that compared to the missed time not having it? It pays to be patient for sure, but does it pay to be so patient that all the time and effort spent saving are, basically, for nothing?

Here’s the thing: if you plan on buying a watch and keeping it for a good few years—say five or so—what you pay for it now doesn’t really matter. We’ll see peaks and troughs in prices over the years—we always will—but the general trend is very unlikely not going to be up. So if you’ve got the money, you’ve waited for ages and you’re thinking about waiting another age more: consider the balance of now versus then.

As of the publishing of this video, watch prices have dipped back down to where they were projected to be a few years back anyway, so any further loss is really speculation at this point. But like I said, if you buy it and enjoy it for a long time yet, resale value doesn’t really matter anyway.

Know Your Limits

But if that savings jar just can’t quite keep up with the watch you’ve been pining after, and it seems you’re at a stalemate, then there’s something you need to hear. Yes, it’s important to keep our eyes on the prize and yes, you don’t just want to take the easy route out and buy something cheaper just to get a quicker hit, but if that watch you want truly has left the atmosphere and become massively out of reach, then there’s always going to be a limit at which it’s time to change your focus.

I don’t say this lightly at all, but it’s important to know the limits of what you want to spend on a watch, and if the watch you desire most has crept outside of that, it makes sense to leave it well alone. After all, no watch is perfect, no watch is going to leave you completely, one hundred percent fulfilled, and so pinning that risk on the extra stretch just isn’t going to be worth it.

I don’t suggest a flippant course adjustment to whatever’s most convenient, but there’s always going to be another watch that gets you just as good, if not better, within the bracket that makes sense to you. It’s worth entertaining the idea at least to avoid hyper-focussing on the thing you can’t have, because sometimes that can be misleading, where the more you can’t have something makes your desire even greater—a hype the actual watch can never live up to.

Blindly Indie

In recent years there’s been a marked shift in perception between the traditional and the indie. Independent watchmakers are great because they offer a slice of personality from a small and usually highly passionate brand that also weaves in excellent value for money into the equation. Online reviews from an interconnected community make it easier than ever to pick the good from the bad to get that next hot watch.

But that’s just it. It’s easy with these independent brands to get hyped into a purchase just because everyone else is talking about it, and yeah, they might all be talking about it because it’s genuinely good—but it may just be because it’s new. The news cycle moves very quickly these days and it needs hype to keep the gears nicely greased, and the last thing you want is to be left a week later holding a hot potato.

That isn’t to say you shouldn’t buy independent—you almost certainly should entertain the idea—just don’t buy blindly. Let the dust settle so it’s easier to sort the wheat from the chaff. Granted, the super hype brands will probably be sold out by that point, but if they are, at least you know come round two that you’re going to have a better understanding of what it is you’ve signed yourself up for.

Spec Focussed

I see a lot of times when reviewing a watch people saying things like, “This watch doesn’t have X,” or “If only this watch had Y, I would’ve bought it.” Often X and Y are usually minor specification elements that, on paper at least, hold a lot of weight—but I think in reality it can do more harm than good holding out for the watch with the perfect specification.

When you think about it, we aren’t really buying these watches because we need a good, functional timekeeper. Only a few really know how accurate their watch even is. Yet a higher proportion will dismiss an otherwise fantastic watch because it’s lacking a date window or doesn’t have hacking seconds.

Let’s be real for a moment: the primary reason to enjoy a watch is the way it looks and feels. Obviously, I don’t speak for everyone, but that is patently true of most, and so it can be a fool’s errand to dismiss what is otherwise a stupendous choice over something as banal as specification.

I’m certainly not saying you should compromise in any big way, but just make sure to consider that you’re ticking the right boxes for you. If you buy a watch with all the right specs that you don’t really like the look of over one that looks fantastic but is missing a small element of functionality, do you really think you’ve made the right choice? Maybe you have, but it’s worth considering before parting with your money.

Missing A Trick

The last point is one that needs to be clearly caveated: I am not a financial advisor and so I recommend doing your own research when it comes to financing your watch. Nevertheless, here’s something worth considering: As savings rates start to climb back up again, it pays to take zero percent finance into consideration when it comes to buying a watch.

There will be many of you who choose to purchase with cash only, and that’s a fine and sensible thing to do—but that doesn’t mean finance is automatically unsensible. If interest rates in savings are higher than finance, ultimately, you’re going to be better off with that money in the bank. With zero percent finance, it’s an easier decision, and the higher the savings rate, the easier that decision becomes. You may end up with more money than if you’d paid outright with cash.

Once again, it’s something to consider. If the payments are entirely affordable—after all this in on the presumption you had the cash in the first place—then, a little money management aside, there’s little to deter from the benefits of keeping that money with you for longer. As time passes, you can draw from those savings to pay for the watch and ultimately end up in the same place anyway, if maybe a little better off.

So, there we have it, five top watch-buying tips that I think you need to hear when you’re buying your first watch. What tips have you got?