After the Christies November watch sale finished I had a few days to reflect on what happened. My impressions and analysis can be found here. But lately I have been doing some more thinking. A reoccurring thought has been entering my mind- that a profound shift might be taking place in collecting vintage Rolex watches.
Let me explain.
Before I go into detail- lets take one step back.
Rolex as most of you are aware of is a foundation set up the founder Hans Wilsdorf. It is a private company and releases no financial information. Rolex is known to be very secretive and provides very little information in general. Their attitude towards their vintage watches is more or less the same. They will not verify if a watch is correct if you send it in for service. Unless it is a complete forgery (in which case all Rolex signatures and numbers will be crossed out) Rolex does not comment on their old timepieces. Not so with Patek (who lead the way in this area) or Omega, Jaeger Le Coultre, Vacheron – all will provide information when the watch was made and sold. With Rolex providing no information collectors are left to their own devices.
The absence of Rolex openly protecting the vintage Rolex market has unfortunately attracted sophisticated criminals that are seduced by the vast amounts of money to be made. Some of the most forged Rolex watches also happen to be some of the most expensive; vintage models such as 5513 Explorer dial, the 5513 British Military, 6538 Big crown, Paul Newman Daytona, 6200 Submariner. All these models go for between CHF 100′ooo -500′ooo (depending on which configuration).
So who helps vintage Rolex collectors from this minefield? There are several actors.
The auction houses have played an important role in the past. But the fact is – even though they have some experts – they are not adequately equipped to protect collectors today. The recent November auctions have demonstrated this. There were many questionable Rolex watches on offer. In the past dealers have offered to help their clients- but the fact remains that many top dealers have their list of valuable clients leaving the ‘small collector’ unprotected.
However with the rise of social media and blogs – a new source of ‘information protection’ has emerged. The protection is not perfect and the collector still has to do their homework but it is extremely valuable. Forums like Rolex passion report, Vintage Rolex Forum, Hodinkee and PuristSPro all are valuable tools to help the collector, experienced or not, learn and improve. What is interesting to note is that two of the best forums (at least in regards to vintage Rolex) namely VRF (Vintage Rolex Forum) and RPR (Rolex Passion Report) are owned by dealers, men who make their living from selling vintage Rolex.
Both Eric Ku – owner of the Vintage Rolex Forum and Philipp Stahl- owner of the Rolex Passion Report are influential in helping collectors navigate the vintage Rolex world. Of course both have their own ‘Agenda’ when advising collectors and their comments and opinion should be double checked. But both do their homework and analysis when looking at watches (that can include a Geiger counter for radium levels, UV light for Lume glow etc). In fact both dealers have grown so powerful that just one negative comment on their Instagram account can destroy a potential watch for sale at auction (something similar just happened a few weeks ago, a powerful dealer made some negative comments on a watch that caused a Rolex big crown to go from 7 registered phone bidders to zero).
In my opinion dealers with their own platform like RPR and VRF are becoming the new power players within the vintage Rolex market. These platforms especially the VRF are powerful tools that educate and allow fellow collectors to learn from one another. For collectors who don’t have the time to do their homework and rely on information by an expert, the RPR is becoming a useful tool with a wide following. The big three auction houses still will be the primary market for vintage watches (including Rolex) to be sold and many of the worlds top dealers will use them as an additional sales channel. After all the auction houses have the brand, network and global marketing power that dealers cannot match. But in terms of collectors being educated and learning, new channels of social media like Blogs, Instagram and networks (like VRF) are becoming the primary source of information gathering.
Since information is power especially when it comes to vintage Rolex collecting, the new power players are the likes of VRF, Rolex Passion Report (and to a certain degree PuristPro) with their respective owners Eric Ku and Philipp Stahl. Hodinkee and other blogs are are also likely to become more important and powerful over time.
Which leaves us wondering if a shift in power is taking place from the auction houses to open ended platforms (VRF, PuristPro) and blogs (RPR, Hodinkee) as it pertains to accurate information on vintage Rolex.
For an interview with Eric Ku please see here.
(Credit main picture: Philipp Stahl – Rolex Passion Report).
