Something that costs HK$300K
I’m sorry for the lack of posts recently, as I’ve been busy with various administrative matters both at work and in life.
If you’re one of those who views my finance/ stock market-related posts, as you may know I take a rather bleak outlook of the global macro-economy and my strategies would be to preserve cash/ beat inflation until the whole thing improves i.e. I take a rather passive stance towards those things lately, so there really is nothing to talk about except down down down…
So let’s talk about something on a brighter side - consumption! Everybody likes it (if given the money).
As you may know, my most recent hobby is watch appreciation (well not collecting as yet because I haven’t started making any notable purchases), but I always had this question in mind - What can you get for HK$300K? This is a very credible question for me because (a) I can’t think of anything to do with my money at the moment (in terms of investment opportunities), so might just spend it on something, and (b) have been thinking about this for a while.
- Down payment for a flat which would costs around HK$3M - HK$5M (depending on how much mortgage you’re going to take out);
- A moderately priced car (possibly European, but a Jap sports car would suffice);
- Expensive jewelries (just like what the Chinese gymastics team did yesterday, spending quite a lot of their prize money on gold and various types of jewelries);
- A Watch.
Of course I’m going to talke about watches here. I don’t drive in HK, and I have no taste for jewelries (primarily because I’m a male Homo Sapien), I’m already living in a flat and will move into a bigger one by this time next year, so all that’s left for me are watches.
In fact, I’m thinking about 2 watches in particular (ok so you can buy a lot of moderately priced watches with that money, but let’s use out imagination for a little bit here):
This would actually cost around HK$35xK in an AD in Hong Kong, but after the discounts given you can easily do for about HK$300K. There’s actually a cheaper Lange 1 without the moonphase for around HK$230K before discounts, so if you have no interest in moon phases (basically the shape of the moon as in th Luner Calender) I’m sure an entry-level Lange 1 will also be a good choice. I like the moonphase simply because of its extreme accuracy. According to the brand website, the moonphase will be one day out every 123 years! I’m certain that I would be fucking dead by then.
The watch comes in a platinum case (or yellow gold/ rose gold, which partly explains the price due to production cost of platinum cases), crocodile straps in-house Lange L901.5 movement with moonphase complication and 72-hour power reserve, case diameter is 38.5mm, a little bit too small for my liking actually, but certainly a very congenial choice IMO.
Or, I can get this watch for more or less the same price:
The mighty Portuguese Perpetual Calender (PPC) from IWC, possibly my favourite watch design from any brand so far. Being a perpetual calendar, once you set the time and date you don’t need to bother about it again unless you move across different time zones. According to IWC themselves their moonphase is one day off every 577 years (yes, even more accurate than the Lange 1). It has a 7-day power reserve and powered by the patented Pellaton winding system (as found in better Portuguese models like the Automatic I talked about earlier). Case diameter is 42.3mm (and the one I would like comes in white gold), and also shock resistent.
Some of you will surely think that there’s no competition, you surely get your money’s worth with that perpetual calendar (i.e. you get more for the same)! If so, why am I bothering with this little comparison exercise?
It’s primarily because they are just 2 completely different products (if I must make comparison then the IWC must be compared against the Datograph perpetual Calender or the Langematik perpetual calender, but then it is simply no match against the Langematik Perpetual), so if one must make a choice, then comparisons of the brand, movement complications, the whole watch design, and everything must be made against each other.
In terms of the complications, usefulness, power, the PPC is definitely the winner, however I’m more for the sleek and elegant design of the Lange 1. Also, one possible downer for the IWC is that it only comes in brown strap, so that I might have to buy a customised black strap for own use (I’m not a big fan of brown strap…yet). The more I think about it, the more I realise that the essence of the problem is none but “whether to buy one of the best watches made by a 2nd-tier watchmaker, or to buy an average watch made by one of the best watchmaker.” A very mind-boggling question indeed!!