Hey guys, it's Q&A Tuesday.
[intro music]
♪♪
I'm gonna jump into some questions.
First one, from Rico Suave.
Go ahead, Ian. I know you want to.
["Gerardo" by Rico Suave plays]
♪♪
♫ Rico ♫
♪♪
♫ Suave ♫
Of course, you did.
"Hello, can you talk about
wearing ceramic watches?"
I actually like that song from back in the day.
And anybody-- and anybody that
remembers that song and tells me
they didn't like it when it first came out,
you're lying;
everybody loved that song.
"Hello, can you talk about wearing
ceramic watches, like Hublot black magic?
How careful do you have to be,
with cracking the case,
if you smash it against
the door or a wall."
Short answer: You don't have to be
very careful.
Now, let me give you the long answer
because I'm not about short answers, right?
I've had ceramic watches.
I've worn ceramic watches.
I still wear ceramic watches.
Hublots and APs, I'll use those as an example
because those are the ones
that I pretty much wore.
Ceramic, in itself, is a very durable
material. Before I get into the bezels,
because this is what you're referring to,
I'm gonna talk about a watch my wife owned.
Remember the whole craze when
the Chanel J12's came out, the all-ceramic
watches, right?
The case, the bezel the bracelet.
I'm not gonna generalize all women,
but I'll talk about my wife--
she beats the crap out of her watches.
The one watch she's never managed to
beat up was a Chanel J12.
When I took the watch back from her,
the only thing I really did is I washed it--
literally, washed it with soap and water--
and it looked brand new.
The only way you could tell that a watch
was pre-owned is because--
due to the flaw, I should say, in the design
of the bracelet, the bracelet loosens up.
You ever see those old Rolexes
that are kind of like a rainbow?
The same thing happens to those
Chanel watches, but a lot faster.
The bracelet starts to rattle;
it gets loose.
But again, that's irrelevant.
I'm not the guy to take an AP
with a ceramic bezel, and scratch it against
the pavement and see if there will be scratches.
But according to their manufacturer,
it's supposed to be very scratch-resistant,
or even scratch-proof.
Have I banged my watches?
I'm also one of those people
that bangs their watches around.
I walk into door handles.
I walk into walls. I drop my watches off
my wrist, onto the payment,
and I've done that a couple of times
with ceramic bezel watches.
Picked them back up,
sort of did one of these things,
wiped up the little smudges,
and the ceramic bezel was perfect.
Now, this is the part where I say
don't try this at home: don't go
throwing your watches against the wall;
it's not good. And don't go dropping your watches;
it's usually not good for them,
in general, right?
But in my experience, a ceramic bezel
has withstood the test of pretty rough wear,
so you don't have to worry about it.
I'll give you a quick story: I have ran into
a cracked ceramic bezel on a watch.
It was a Barrichello in titanium.
I took a watch in trade from a client,
took about a $2,500 hit
because the bezel was cracked.
And when I gave the watch
to my watchmaker to service, and so on
and so forth, to order the new bezel,
I asked my watchmaker.
I said, "How did that happen?
Ceramic is pretty durable.
Did he drop the watch so hard?
Did he drop a dumbbell on it or something?
Like, what what happened?"
And my watchmaker said, "Very simple."
He was like, "No, somebody else has
opened this watch before, and they
over-tightened the screws."
And by over-tightening the screws,
what happens is such tremendous
pressure on the part, itself,
and that's why it cracked.
And, oddly enough, the crack
was right where the screw was, right?
And now, remember, the screws on top of
the bezel of AP's are not the actual screws;
the screws are actually from the inside.
But it's irrelevant.
So, yes, if you drop a dumbbell on one of them,
the pressure from dropping
a heavy dumbbell on to a watch
will crack that bezel.
I also think that by dropping it
hard enough--
by that, you'd probably have to slam it
against the ground--
that would probably create enough pressure
for the bezel to crack, as well,
most likely at the part
where it's screwed on,
or where it's thin--it's where the screw goes in,
because there's a hole inside it.
Right? Other than that, I don't think
you should worry.
Your regular wear and tear, your daily
wearing and bumping into things,
it's not gonna crack that bezel. 
I hope that answers your question.
The next question is from Ches Lew.
"Hi Roman, great videos as usual."
Thank you.
"You often mention the 2008 crisis.
We know that there is an economy
downturn, and it's definitely affected
the watch buyer-seller.
But can you give us more insights
on what really happened
until it hit the market so hard?
Thanks."
I do talk about the crisis.
I refer back to it quite often
because that was a major shift in a watch
market correction, downfall--
however you want to call it.
And there's really not much more
I can say other than what I have said already,
but I will tell you exactly
what happened
the day it happened.
When everything went down,
everything just paused.
Imagine a hamster in a wheel
and running full speed,
as fast as it can possibly run--
that was the watch industry, right?
Prior to 2008 crisis.
To include new brands that were popping up,
to include crazy retail prices
for the time--which, if you compare them
today, may be not that crazy--
to include seemingly unknown brands
popping out of everywhere,
to include the grey market world being
super hot and having the ability
to make  irregular profits because there weren't
that many of us back then, right?
Right now, you can buy Rolexes
on Walmart.com.
You got Rue La La's and Gilt's,
and all these flash sites.
You didn't have all that
back then, right?
So, this hamster wheel was spinning
as fast as it possibly could have,
and the hamster was going full speed,
faster than it's ever done before.
And, all of a sudden, somebody took a stick
and stuck it in that wheel--
abrupt stop. What happened?
If you do this to a hamster today--
my daughter actually owns a hamster--
If I did it to my hamster, whose name is Gelato,
by the way. Shout-out to Gelato.
["You Spin me Round" by
Dead or Alive plays]
The hamster would flip over, 50 times,
before it actually can come to a full stop,
and be very confused and dazed
and hurt, right?
And that's exactly what happened?
You didn't know what's going on.
You didn't know what to do.
You didn't know whether the Patek--
whether to look for a different business,
and so on and so forth.
And it was more hurtful to the watch businesses
because the watch business,
or I would refer to
as the "luxury goods sector--"
these watches are expensive toys,
I told you guys before.
What is the first thing
that you will not do
when there's financial issues, 
when you see people getting laid off,
when you see-- when you see your business
slow down in its revenue?
The last thing you're gonna think about
is buying an expensive item.
I personally think it was the grey market
that was a huge help in helping
the industry, sort of, start
that hamster wheel slowly,
and it did start very, very slow.
I wish I was in a position I was in today,
financially, back then,
to be able to buy up some of the deals
that were out in the market,
over the next six months to a year,
because it was tremendous.
And I guess the best example
I could bring forth is-- let's speak
a multi-millionaire, like, let's speak
of somebody that's super rich,
somebody, let's say, that's worth
$500 million, right?
It's not like you were sitting on
$500 million in cash, in a bank, right?
It was diversified investment:
stock market, hedge funds,
blah blah blah, whatever it might be.
And, all of a sudden, your net worth
went from $500 million to,
let's say, $350 million.
Boohoo, right? I feel so bad for you now
you only have $350 million.
But thinking about-- think about the mindset
of that particular individual.
This is a guy that, last year, was probably
at Christie's or Phillips auctions,
bidding up on some of the rarest Rolexes,
or just bought a new yacht;
and all of a sudden, are you in the mood
to go out there and spend tremendous
amounts of money? Or are you concerned
what's going to happen a year from now,
or six months from now? How quickly is
the economy going to rebound?
How quickly is your source of income going
to go back to where it was,
feeding that half-a-billion-dollar
net worth that you currently have?
You stop, and that's why the hamster wheel
stopped--stopped abruptly.
That's why I was very, very scared for me,
at the time, because I was still relatively new
in the business and I really didn't know
if I was gonna be in the business a year from now,
but I kept chugging at it.
I was lucky enough to foresee
some of the hype that's actually
going on today, and not have
the hyper pieces in stock,
or a lot of them at least,
so that if they did pop off
or if the bubble did burst,
I wouldn't take a humongous hit.
And I also didn't have a lot of stock,
at the time, in general versus--
in comparison to today, right?
So I was lucky in that sense.
I knew guys that had
a whole lot of stock, at the time,
and they were all the hype pieces--
Nautilus's, at the time; a lot of Pateks
were really, really, really hyped up.
And they took a big hit. And some of them
actually went out of business
because they couldn't pay their bills,
because the stuff wasn't selling.
And the bigger you are,
the harder they fall.
I mean, in my business, today if you drop
my sales by 50% to 60% to 70%
overnight, tomorrow
I will not last that long.
Because again, I do carry a huge inventory.
I do employ a lot of people.
I have monthly expenses
that are through the roof.
Yeah, granted I may not take my pay,
or I may not take my owner's draw,
my profits for the month, but again,
that can only last so long.
And you stick that into any business formula--
you can imagine how devastating
that was back in 2008.
I hope that answers your question somewhat.
Next question from Jean... Valjean?
[trouble pronouncing Valjean]
Jean, I apologize
if I got your name wrong.
"Hi роман," and he put that in Russian.
"I've been watching your channel for some time,
and I like your no-BS approach
on  a lot of the hot topics."
Thank you.
"I wanted to ask you,
what is your take on Swatch watches?
They were hot in the '90s,
and I personally love them.
It seems they vanished in the past years,
and a lot of folks dislike them.
I think they have chorological value as well.
Some of the automatics were pretty cool,
namely the Diaphane lineup.
Keep up the good work.
Regards, from Србија."
Right? I'm guessing you're from Serbia.
I can't really read that.
It's like Russian but not Russian,
so I'm not sure what that last word is.
In either case, Jean,
I like Swatch watches.
I actually talked about Swatch watches
recently, and I referred to a video
that a gentleman by the name of CQ--
that works for Watchbox--
did on how the Swatch watch saved
the Swiss industry, as we know it today.
The Swatch watch and the Swatch group
played a tremendous role
in the watch business.
If it wasn't for them,
I probably wouldn't be in the business
today, because they literally saved
the watch industry during the Quartz crisis,
or the Quartz War,
as they called it, right?
Do I dislike their watches?
I told you guys before,
I like every watch. And I guarantee,
if you showed me a lineup
of a thousand different Swatch watches,
I'm gonna pick at least ten
that I absolutely love. My son has
a Swatch watch that I bought him,
actually, just recently. I was in Aruba;
they actually have a little boutique
in one of the malls.
It's a Swatch watch boutique,
and they have hundreds of
different Swatch watches.
I actually bought him one.
You still see them in every major malls,
so contrary to all belief, they are still popular.
They are still selling.
They're affordable, well-made
Swiss quartz watches, for the most part,
and they're "cool,"
for the lack of a better word.
They're just a brush of fresh air.
They're very, very cool.
You probably won't see
a lot of older folks wearing them.
To me, it's more about a young watch
nowadays, where before it wasn't,
but it's still a hip cool watch.
And I think it's here to stay for a long,
long time, and it's really not going
to vanish, as you said.
They haven't really vanished;
they're still around and they're still
selling pretty strong.
They may not be as much as in-your-face.
There's not a whole lot of YouTube videos
on Swatch watches.
Mm, maybe I should make one. I'm sure
I have a couple laying around somewhere.
If you happen to like the Diaphane lineup,
go out there, find yourself one.
I'm sure it's not going to break the bank at all.
Wear it and enjoy it.
Next question from Ryan Lintz.
"Hey Roman, I just watched a YouTube video
you did with Bob on vintage timepieces.
Very interesting and educational video."
Ian, if you could just link that up there.
"One thing that Bob said in that video
that really stuck me was "manufactured"
collectible watches that are being
produced today. They're just really
throwbacks to the real vintage gems.
I'm currently second on my AD's list
to get a ceramic Daytona.
While I really like the Panda Ceramic Daytona,
it doesn't necessarily sing to me
like vintage Rolex pieces.
Honestly, it has crossed my mind
to flip the ceramic Daytona
for a vintage Rolex.
I'm not a flipper or some big watch collector;
I only have one watch
and that's the Rolex GMT 16710.
If you were me, would you keep
the ceramic Daytona, wear it, live in it
for the next 20 years, and feel comfortable
that you made a solid purchase?
Or would you flip the Daytona for
a vintage Rolex to scratch the vintage itch
and potentially have a better investment?
I know Daytona's, in general,
are pretty darn good investments.
If so, what would you recommend
I should be looking at,
in the mid to low 20K range?
Thanks for any insight.
Cheers! - Ryan."
You've answered a lot of your questions
on your own there.
You know, "Do I keep the Daytona and feel
that I made a comfortable solid purchase,
and i.e. a good investment?
Or do I scratch the Rolex--
the vintage itch?"
Well, which is it that you like?
If you're not that crazy about the Daytona,
by all means, flip it.
And the fact that you said,
"I'm not a flipper or a big watch collector,"
you know, a flipper is not necessarily
a negative thing.
There's absolutely nothing wrong with you
getting the Daytona, taking a profit,
and putting it into the next watch,
if that's not what you want.
And if you're looking to scratch
the vintage itch, then by all means,
that's what you go with. I told you guys:
Buy what you like, first and foremost.
Then the question becomes,
which vintage timepiece you want?
You're obviously set on getting a vintage Rolex.
Then, by all means, I would tell you,
go for an older Daytona. Go for a Zenith
movement stainless steel Daytona,
or go for a Zenith movement gold--
yellow gold Daytona--
like that one I was wearing
in the last episode, right?
Something like that nature,
if this is what you're looking to do.
If you really want to go back even further,
look at some of the older Pepsi GMT's,
pay a little more.
Get one with box and papers.
If your biggest concern is the investment value
behind it, 20 years from now,
then obviously, you will most likely
do better with a vintage Pepsi GMT,
let's say, today, that's complete
with box and paper.
With a watch that's 40 or 50 years older,
seemingly you would say,
"Well, yeah, that makes sense," right?
But at the same token, you said it:
Daytona is probably the number one
selling watch of all time.
So nobody really knows.
What you also don't know is how many
of those ceramic Daytonas are going to be
made and for how long.
Are they making for the next 20 years?
Imagine the amount of ceramic Daytonas
that are gonna be out there.
Who knows when the next time
they're gonna change up the design
of the Daytona. Or maybe they'll come out
with a brand-spanking-new one,
a year from now, discontinue these,
and they're gonna go through the roof
just the same.
There's no glass ball.
So, what it comes down to is, again,
what I always say, "Buy what you like,
first and foremost."
It sounds to me like you definitely
have a vintage itch.
Decide which model
is really itching you best,
if that makes sense, and go for that.
I agree with going older,
but yet I'm somewhat biased;
I happen to like vintage Rolexes, right?
So, as far as recommendation in mid 20s,
again, the Zenith Daytona in steel,
the Zenith Daytona is in gold,
definitely some of the older GMT's.
I also am a big fan of the red Subs,
you know. And again, spend a little more
and get ones with box and papers today.
You're gonna pay top dollar today,
but 20 years from now,
it's definitely a solid investment.
So I hope that answers your question.
I'm gonna take a question from Fenil Parekh.
I believe I-- I answered
your question before, Fenil.
"Roman, could you shed some light
on Rolex price increase?
Do they increase their prices
after specific intervals?
Do they increase their price
based on the world economy?
And what about prices of the gold watches?
Recently, gold prices
have shut up a lot.
Does that mean Rolex will soon do
a price increase? Thank you.
Really enjoy your videos.
A big thumbs up for Ian."
Thank you for that, Fenil,
and I'm sure Ian appreciates it.
I actually tell Ian, and Ian reads
all these comments as well.
And every time you guys mention his name,
it does make him feel good,
so keep the comments coming.
A lot of the creativity behind these videos
and the editing is due to Ian.
It is a collective effort, you know.
We do review  all the videos together,
but it's his creative side often
that makes all those funny things,
and doesn't make these videos as boring
if it's just me talking, right?
So I'm not gonna talk about the Rolex pricing
because I'm gonna talk
price increases in general. 
As a rule of thumb,
every manufacturer increases
prices yearly, right?
And that increase can be anywhere from 30% to,
sometimes as high as, 12%.
There are seldom times when there's
turmoil in the currencies market--
meaning, some economies are not doing
as well as others--where they'll do interim
price increases just to sort of
even out the playing field.
I talked about this before, in Europe,
when the euro was jumping from 160 to 130,
then back to 135
and back to 115.
That's when manufacturers,
at some point, actually did it
twice or three times. They--
they either decrease or increase
the prices to level the playing field.
This is what was happening.
As the Euro went down in price,
all of a sudden, the dollar was so strong
you can buy watches at retail in Europe,
and sell it at a discount in America
and make money, right?
So they obviously adjusted for that.
They try to go-- they try to go off
of the Swiss franc, for the most time,
which is pretty even key. But even still,
when when major currencies
are volatile, like the euro,
like the dollar for example,
that's when you'll so often
find a price increase.
They try not to decrease prices ever.
In fact, in my career, I don't remember
price decrease ever. What happens is
they'll increase the retail prices
in the market where the currency is volatile,
again, just to level the playing field.
As far as the price of gold,
there's no watch out there--
I don't care if you're talking about
the brick from AP.
There's no watch out there that's worth
its price in gold when it comes to retail pricing.
Do manufacturers sometimes use
gold increase prices to justify price increases?
Yes, but only in rare cases.
If you remember, when gold went up to,
what, $2,500 almost, right?
Yes, some manufacturers increase their prices
due to the gold price increase,
but, in reality, they're just jumping
on the bandwagon of that.
Because I don't care what watch
you have--take that watch,
put it on the scale, figure out how much
gold is there--it's 18 karat gold, right?
And you will quickly find out
that there's just not enough gold
for the retail price
that the watch is set at,
or even, again,
at grey market price.
As far as Rolex having a price increase,
again, expect a price increase
from manufacturers just pretty much
year in and year out--
unless there's something crazy going on
in the market--but not necessarily across
all models, too. Because there are certain
models that they don't want to price
themselves out of a market.
Notice the stainless steel Rolex
still retailed under $10,000,
for most of them, right?
Granted there's a crazy shortage right now;
they're trading at twice its list value.
But if you look at the list prices,
they're still reasonable.
It would be unreasonable for a Rolex Pepsi
or for a Rolex Submariner
to retail at $26,000.
It will never actually get there
unless we're talking about 20 years from now,
taking into consideration inflation,
and all those things.
But again, in a short amount of time,
you're never gonna see
a crazy price increase. And, at some point,
some years they'll skip certain models
because it just doesn't make sense.
Because if they continue raising prices--
year in, year out--in every single
model, your lower end models
or your "cheaper models"
as I would say,
they would price themselves out of a market.
Because consumer--
there'll be consumers out there
that will say something like,
"Well, I don't really think the retail price
of a stainless steel Sub with no date
is reasonable at $20,000."
I hope you see where I'm going with this,
and I hope that answers your question.
There was a question in here
from TooWoundup.
"Can you do an AP 15400 versus 15300
versus 15500
versus 15202 versus 15402?" As much as I would love
to do that--and I would do that on What's on My Desk
episodes--having, one, two, three--
well, I have the 15402;
I actually have a 15202 here,
in rose gold.
I don't have a 15500;
I sold one last week though.
And I don't have the other two at the moment.
But whenever I gather all those together
in one room, I will do my best
to do that comparison.
So, sorry I couldn't answer that right now.
Here's a cool question
from Mr. Inzeo.
"Did you hear a story of a man getting
his Richard Mille stolen in Spain?"
Yes, it was all over the news.
It was all over social media.
Ian, if you please.
But the question is, "What is the best way
to protect yourself and watch,
while out in public?"
Um, Insurance.
If you're gonna buy an expensive item,
what's the point of having an expensive item
if you can't use it, right?
It's like buying a Ferrari and never driving it,
afraid you're getting carjacked, right?
So insurance is probably gonna be
your number one protection,
but there are many ways
to take precautions.
Know where you're going,
first and foremost.
Know what you're gonna be doing
while you're there. If I'm out in Mykonos
and I'm partying my ass all day,
drinking at a club,
or I'm in Vegas, and so on and so forth,
there's no reason for me to put on
a million-dollar watch. There's no reason for me
to put on a very expensive watch,
period, because I'm probably gonna be
drunk out of my mind,
not knowing what I'm doing,
and I might just lose the watch
or somebody can take it off my wrist,
and I won't even notice it, right?
Know the areas that you're going to.
If you travel in countries,
or areas of countries, that are
notoriously not safe and notorious
for stuff getting stolen, then by all means
don't wear your watch.
But if you insist on wearing your watch,
as long as you have insurance,
then you really don't have anything
to worry about.
I'll tell you a quick story:
A guy comes up to my booth
at a Hong Kong show.
He brought me a-- It was an RM 010.
It was a limited RM 010, PVD edition;
I don't know what it was.
I'm looking at the watch,
and where the rubber strap is,
one of the rubber straps is cut in half--
literally right down the middle,
more or less--and somebody,
literally, took a thread to it
and, like, sewed it back together.
This guy comes up to my booth and says,
"Hey, I'd like to sell this watch."
I didn't-- I didn't know the guy... 
as far as I could throw them.
And by looking at that, it literally looks like
somebody ripped out some--
off someone's wrist. I respectfully declined.
I said, "Thank you. This is not for me,"
and then a guy, a dealer friend of mine
from Moscow tells me,
"You know why that's the way it is?"
I'm like, "Why?"
He's like-- This is what they do
in Europe now," right?
And a lot of these hot places,
like Central or Khan,
or  Mykonos, or a lot of these party places
where rich people go to party
and wear these expensive things.
It's a two-guy team.
You have a guy that walks by you;
what he has is a metal hook
on the inside of their palm.
They walk by you and they go
like this.
By doing that, that hook
hooks your strap.
It really cuts the strap in half.
As that happens, a guy
usually on a scooter or a motorcycle,
pulls up, the watch is grabbed,
and they take off with your watch.
This is a true story.
This is being done right now in Europe
and in some other places in the world.
And that's why the watch
that was brought to my booth,
literally, was cut right down the middle,
right here.
How do you prevent that?
Well, if you-- if I was--
if I'm wearing an AP, there's no way
anybody's cutting through that.
You can't yank this watch off my wrist
because the buckle is really tight.
The only way to take this off is you really
have to just press this little thing,
and only then it pops off. So the only way
this could be taken off my wrist,
if say, I passed out drunk somewhere--
in a couch or at a pool party,
which I actually never do;
I never lose control.
I do like to drink. You guys have seen
plenty of my videos.
But you will never see me out of control, 
falling over drunk, because I know my limits
and I stay within those limits.
So again, the best way to protect yourself,
first and foremost, get insurance.
Don't worry about anything.
Your watch gets stolen--it's covered.
It is what it is.
But for the most part, be aware of where you are,
be aware where you're going,
be aware of your surroundings.
And wear appropriate watches
to appropriate places.
That's the best advice I can give you.
I hope that answers your question,
and I hope you like the little side story.
I'll take one more.
This is a really good one from Shaya,
whose questions I think I've answered
before, in the past, as well.
What's up, Shia?
"Roman, great videos as always."
Thank you.
"I wanted to know what your thoughts are
on limited editions in the area of F1
and other sports.
The Schumacher is probably the most popular
F1-related watch, with respect
to RM Felipe Massa editions,
but it seems like none of the new guys
have anything with their signature on it.
I know a lot of people don't watch F1
in the States,
but Hamilton is probably the face of the sport
globally and has a lot of value
to add to the brand.
With other sports and athletes as well,
I think LeBron AP was the last athlete
edition I can think of.
I know Serena Williams, Roger Federer,
and many others are ambassadors
for the brands,
but have we hit the end of athlete editions?
Are company's just not taking
that risk anymore? Thanks as always
and congrats on the 10k."
Thanks again, Shaya.
Yeah, a lot of good answers
in your question.
Yes, Schumacher, undoubtedly, is probably
the most popular F1-related watch
from Audemars Piguet. It's still a limited edition
that's selling way over list,
and it's hard to come by.
Felipe Massa was sort of like--
he was, like, neither here nor there. 
It was during a time where every RM 011
was a Felipe Massa Edition, right?
So, it's-- it's-- it kind of got lost
in translation, as far as I feel.
Although due to the hype of the brand
right now and how hot it is,
obviously seemingly it's high,
but it's not really high due to do Felipe Massa,
if you ask me.
Sports watches, sports stars--
you're right again.
LeBron is the last, and the most successful,
sports watch out there.
It's still trading way over list.
It's still very hard to come by.
My business partner, Arthur, owns one;
he will never sell that watch.
He absolutely loves the watch.
Shaquille O'Neal--popular right out of the gate;
not so popular afterwards
and not so popular today, a watch
you can pick up under $20,000.
They usually trade
at $35,000 to $40,000.
And they're still hard to sell,
mainly due to the fact that it's very bulky.
As far as, you know, other ambassadors,
there are plenty of sports ambassadors
out there that are with the brand,
and I think that's a better way
to go for the brands. Now, don't think
for a second you're not gonna see
more editions that are related to F1
or that are related to sports,
but you're limiting yourself when you make
a limited edition for a particular individual.
Let's take a Jay-Z watch, right?
A total of 60, 70 watches.
You're limiting yourself. Because if you're trying
to create a limited edition,
it has to be a limited edition, right?
Although I told you guys
I want the new Omega Moonwatch,
they made 6,969 of them.
That's a lot of watch;
it sort of loses that limited appeal, right?
So, for it to be appealing at the same time
and utilizing the same person,
that person costs money, right?
They pay that person
to make that watch, right?
Or they pay the person to be associated
with the brand.
You know, this is what stars
and the likes of athletes, of F1 racers, do--
they make money on the side
via endorsements,
and there's actually there's nothing wrong
with that. You know, I'm all for that.
So when you make a limited edition,
like the LeBron watch,
let's say it cost you XYZ money to make
that limited edition for LeBron, right?
To pay LeBron himself. Then you have to
make an x-amount of watches
in order to turn a profit, right?
Because that's part of your cost.
It's not just manufacturing anymore,
right? Because again,
the manufacturers don't make money
when these things sell and then go over a list;
they sell them at list, right?
Maybe through their boutiques
so that they don't have to pay
an authorized dealer, per se.
You're done, and that person is really not
an ambassador for you anymore.
You may-- He is associated with the brand.
Everybody knows the AP LeBron,
or everybody knows the Schumacher and LeBron,
right? But that person is not for sale
like an ambassador.
You don't see him in advertisements,
and so on and so forth,
maybe here and there.
When you simply take on an ambassador
and you create a contract with him,
where the guy does photo shoots,
where the guy wears your watches,
where the guy talks about your watches,
where the guy was out and about
for a prolonged amount of time,
then you get more light shed on to your brand.
It's more of a brand recognition thing
than anything else.
I think the advertising of the market value there
is greater than that of creating
a single limited edition. When you create
that single limited edition,
it's a hot limited edition
and everybody wants it.
That does well for the brand,
but I feel like that's more short-term
than getting an ambassador
and having him stay on for a while,
like Rafael Nadal, for example
for Richard Mille, today.
I think that has a lot more value behind it
than actually taking one limited-edition
and making it for someone.
The last thing you asked is, "Are the company's
not taking--?" It's not a risk.
I think that... yeah, there were plenty of
limited editions that were flops,
but  usually, they were not limited editions
for humans,
or for individuals, like Schumacher
or Montoya or LeBron.
A lot of the flops were some
of the boutique editions,
whether it's the Geneva boutique or a New York
boutique, or something like that.
Some of the other things were flops,
and the reason they were flops is
because people care a lot more
about LeBron James or Roger Federer
than they do about a particular boutique location
or a particular authorized dealer
that had a limited edition
made for them.
Unless they're against somebody
extremely famous, right?
The AP Ginza, the AP St-Honore,
the AP Geneva boutique editions,
Wempe editions--all those things--
you don't see them being traded
through the roof right now
because nobody really cares.
Movie watches do better.
Arnold Schwarzenegger watches
did a lot better because Arnold Schwarzenegger
is still a human being.
People can relate to a star.
Whether it's a movie star or a sports star
or a racing star, it doesn't really matter--
people always relate to them.
They, I guess, call them--
they want to be like them, you know,
it be in their image, right?
We all follow celebrities.
It's-- it's a multi-billion-dollar
industry on its own,
especially in the United States.
But, you know, it's tough to relate
yourself to, you know--
I've been to St-Honore boutique, right?
I've been to the Monte Napoleone boutique
in Italy-- right?--for AP.
I went there once. I said,
"Oh, I've been there. I've seen it."
But to have that watch--it doesn't do much
for an individual as much as a watch
that's made for a star would do.
I hope that answers your question.
Well, guys, that's it for me for today.
I hope you enjoyed today's episode.
As usual, hit that "like" button
if you like what you saw.
Subscribe if you're not a subscriber
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Oh, what am I wearing?
I'm wearing the old 39 mm Royal Oak
stainless steel with the blue dial.
[closing music]
I always forget to do that.
Other than that, guys,
I'll see you next Tuesday.
[closing music continues]
♪♪
