Time is Money, Quiet Wealth: An Asset Protection Strategy
Time is Money, Quiet Wealth: An Asset Protection Strategy
By The Sovereign Investor Updated on Nov 12, 2021
I’ve never worn a watch. I flatter myself that’s because of a high school Latin teacher/lacrosse coach named Thurber who, when asked why he didn’t, responded that “a man who wears a watch worries too much about time.”
That quote has always stuck with me. Its philosophical brevity is almost Hellenic.
My real reason for going watch-less is simpler, however. I have a hard enough time keeping track of my keys, wallet, eyeglasses and anything else I need during my daily journey to worry about a watch as well.
In fact, I’m pretty sure the only watch I ever owned was one that had belonged to my grandfather, that my Dad gave me when I was about 5 — what was he thinking? — that I promptly dropped and broke.
My relationship with timepieces, in other words, is Thurberesque in another way entirely.
But there are people for whom watches are an asset protection strategy …
Watching the Big Money on Lake Geneva
Last week in Lausanne, Switzerland, auction house Phillips sold 164 watches by makers such as Rolex, Patek Phillippe, Longines and Piaget. All were from the 20th century, the oldest from the ‘20s, but many made as recently as the 1990s.
The sale prices impressed me for two reasons. First, who knew that someone would deem a simple wristwatch to be worth almost $5 million? Apparently someone does. A 1927 Patek Philippe Stainless Steel Model 130 fetched that much. There were several $1 million-plus items as well, and dozens made it into six figures.
The second thing that struck me about the auction results was that in almost every case, the sale price significantly exceeded the pre-auction estimate, sometimes significantly. The lucky seller of the 1927 Patek Philippe doubled his or her hoped-for gains, whilst the prior owner of a 1969 Piaget Montre-Manchette 9850 in 18-carat yellow gold got five times what Phillips thought he or she would.
I’m no expert on watches, but clearly, there’s more to these things than telling the time. The values reflected in the Phillips auction derive from a combination of outstanding craftsmanship, rarity, and an artistic je ne sais quoi that watch aficionados must surely understand. The 1931 Longines Lindbergh Hour Angle in silver, to the right, is clearly a gorgeous example of human creativity.
Quiet Wealth: An Asset Protection Strategy
My colleagues and I often refer to items like these watches as “quiet wealth” — an asset protection strategy quite unlike conventional stocks, bonds, metals and other financial instruments.
Quiet wealth is largely synonymous with collectibles, such as stamps, coins, fine wines, historical artifacts and similar rarities. But they can also include such little-known items as comic books (a Jeff Opdyke favorite) and vintage guitars (my personal weakness).
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