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Showing posts from February, 2022

Jean Clade Biver: the Van Gogh of Veritas?

I’ve sometimes wondered if my understanding regarding the watch industry would be any different if I spoke and read the “native tongue” of horology. Of course, defining that native tongue is, itself, very difficult. For me, the language that most comes to mind is French. I spent quite a few years studying Spanish and was somewhat decent at it earlier in my life, but I’m just not sure French is in the cards for me at this point, although I wish it were. A photo I took of a display at Phillips' auction house in NYC during a retrospective of M. Biver's career and collection. Fortunately, we live in an era populated by a wide array of translation tools. Periodically I use these to “peak behind the curtain” of French dialogue regarding the watch industry. In my most recent effort, I used some online services to translate a recording of an interview that Jean Claude Biver gave to a Swiss radio station. Biver doesn’t need an introduction, but I’ll just offer a few key poi

Finance Cosplay In the Secondary Watch Market

Among some participants in the secondary watch market, I've noticed an interesting trend towards using the term "trade" or "trading" to describe watch transactions. They'll say stuff like "the 5711 was trading at $110,000 last week." Top: a well known watch dealer self-styled as a trading desk. Bottom: a real trading desk. This small bit of language suggests, to me, that people are cognitively drifting towards a belief that watches are one of many assets that do actually "trade," such as stocks and bonds. I think there are a lot of problems when it comes to this trend and I'd like to highlight them here. Honestly, this "false equivalance" between watches and financial securities is so bad, it probably should just end. I'm somewhat tempted to tell buyers that if you hear a seller use the word "trade" or "trading" during your transaction, you should probably walk away. Full disclosure: I am a