{"id":9568,"date":"2023-10-13T18:45:38","date_gmt":"2023-10-13T14:45:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/katsbling.com\/?p=9568"},"modified":"2023-10-13T18:47:37","modified_gmt":"2023-10-13T14:47:37","slug":"the-secondary-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/katsbling.com\/en\/the-secondary-market\/","title":{"rendered":"The Secondary Market"},"content":{"rendered":"

A few weeks ago, I was chatting with a friend on WhatsApp. We were catching up after ages. Originally from India, he now calls Dubai his home. He knows I love watches and writing about them. He goes \u2018I just bought a watch.\u2019 He knew I would ask \u2018which one\u2019 and \u2018please share a pic\u2019 and was waiting for me to say it. We go back a long way, having attended boarding school in Singapore during the mid-nineties. Aspects of our behavior are predictable to each other. What followed was a picture of a beautiful Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Chronograph in Rose Gold. I was impressed, and not surprised, as my friend is a hugely successful technology entrepreneur, having founded a handful of technology ventures straddling India and the US, and then selling them for millions of dollars.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

He shared how the boutique insisted he must build a relationship by buying another model or two, engage with them on their social media, and simply wait indefinitely. Aspects that are typical of luxury and haute-horology watch brands, and those that collectors take for granted. Frustrated, he went ahead and bought his desired watch on a well-known preowned platform. This made me realize that \u2013 like my friend \u2013 there is an entire world of potential watch customers. Not all as successful and wealthy as him \u2013 but those who have little idea about watches and how the world of luxury watch-retail works.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Luxury products are as much about the \u2018community\u2019 they create as they are about \u2018physical products\u2019 themselves. I have experienced this myself as a boutique customer of a Holy Trinity watch brand. The themed events, cocktails and dinners, opportunity to socialize, the thoughtful gifts (often part of the theme of the event), all serve to create an ecosystem of networking, lifelong friendships, and a closer relationship with these brands. This community aspect keeps the halo and prestige of these brands alive. The creation of such a community cements stronger bonds between brands and collectors. Those passionate about luxury products are more likely to seek such a community. Often, the community experience is as or more important than the products themselves. For passionate collectors, the physical product is a means to membership in a community or exclusive club which offers an enriching experience. In the case of watches, being a brand\u2019s boutique customer or through an authorized dealer (AD), enables the collector to get priority access to new models and limited editions, often before they are revealed to a wider public.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

For many, the boutique or AD experience, and the community they provide is not so important. Certainly not for my friend. He is not a watch-guy or WIS (Watch Idiot Savant). And there are many others like him. People who want to buy a watch, who can afford them, are not so passionate about horology and uninterested in being part of such a community. My friend certainly views watches as status symbols but was not interested in making the effort required to become a boutique or AD customer. His experience at the boutique left me thinking. If any brand or AD knows him and his accomplishments the way I do, they would let him have any watch he wants, even the ones one must qualify and wait years for. This is just my (blind) bias towards my friend. But the way the industry works, his accomplishments mean little in the \u2018ladder\u2019 one must \u2018climb\u2019 to qualify to purchase certain pieces. Not everyone is as accomplished as my friend, yet there are many who have the means and can afford them.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

What does all this mean?<\/p>\n