The Road to Your Luxury Watch Collection: How to Start, What to Know

24 December 2018, updated 8 October 2026

A luxury watch collection starts with one or two pieces from houses and models that mean something to you, not with a list of watches that are supposed to rise in value. Buy them from the brand's own boutique or from an authorised retailer, so that each watch comes with a dated warranty card and its papers, on which Omega, for example, makes its five-year warranty conditional. After that, a collection needs care: Omega recommends a service every 5 to 8 years, Patek Philippe every 8 to 10 years, and Audemars Piguet whenever the accuracy starts to decline.

Collecting luxury watches is an aspiration for many of us. Of course you can go out today and buy whatever watch your heart desires; the team at Veltracon Lifestyle is simply here to give you some guidance on what is worth knowing first. This guide first appeared in December 2018 and has been rewritten for 2026: every figure and rule below comes from the organisation that published it, and links to its source.

Which watch should start a collection?

The first watch in a collection should be one you will wear often and want to keep, which is a more useful test than any list of models said to be in demand. The first version of this guide suggested building around occasions, with a watch for sporty outings, one for casual-chic gatherings and one for black tie events, and that is still a practical way to plan the second and third piece.

Meaning can come from the house, from a complication you admire or from a moment in your own life. If you would like to begin with the houses themselves, our Journal has portraits of Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet and CVSTOS.

What is the watch market doing in 2025 and 2026?

Swiss watch exports fell for the second year in a row in 2025 and have been growing again in 2026. It is important to have a certain understanding of the market before starting to buy watches, and the public figures that describe it come from the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry (FH): its report on the world watchmaking industry in 2025 and its monthly communiqué for August 2026.

Two details deserve a closer look. The FH's 2025 report describes demand in the higher price segments as strong, while its own figures show wristwatches with an export price over CHF 3,000 down 1.9 per cent in value for the year. And the recovery in 2026 is uneven: in August, when total exports grew 9.1 per cent, exports to the United States fell 19.4 per cent.

The FH also states that its figures refer to exports and not to sales to end consumers, and its price bands are export prices rather than retail prices. The statistics show the direction of the industry; they do not tell you what a particular reference costs in a boutique or what it might fetch later. How the recovery divides by market is the subject of our analysis of the Swiss watch market in 2026.

What do allocation, grey market and box and papers mean?

Three terms come up as soon as you start buying, and each affects what you can buy and what comes with it.

Allocation is the way scarce models are distributed: the house or the retailer decides who is offered a piece, rather than selling it to whoever asks first. Patek Philippe states that all of its sales are handled exclusively by its distribution network and asks buyers to contact their nearest authorised retailer for information on availability. Swatch limits purchases of the MoonSwatch and Royal Pop collections to one watch per person, per day and per store. For the pieces our clients ask about, the waiting list is not an administrative delay, it is how the maison allocates scarcity, and getting around it is a question of relationships that were built long before the request arrived.

The grey market is the trade in watches outside the manufacturer's authorised network, and its risk lies in what may be missing. Omega warns that watches bought from non-authorised retailers may be damaged or counterfeit and may be sold without a warranty. Its international warranty only takes effect when the warranty card is dated, completely filled in and stamped by an authorised Omega retailer. Audemars Piguet recommends buying within its authorised network to avoid counterfeits and says that the authenticity of one of its watches can only be confirmed by examining it in its own workshops.

Box and papers means that a watch comes with its original box and documents, above all the warranty card or certificate issued at the first sale. Omega's card carries the serial number, the reference, the date of purchase and the full name and address of the retailer. Audemars Piguet issues its warranty card only once, when the watch is bought from an official point of sale, and Patek Philippe states that its Certificate of Origin can never be re-issued. On the secondary market the paperwork matters more than the discount.

How long is the warranty, and how often does a luxury watch need a service?

Warranty periods and service intervals differ from house to house, and the table shows what Omega, Patek Philippe and Audemars Piguet publish on their own websites.

Because the intervals are long, the service record becomes part of a watch's history, and the receipts belong with the box and papers. When we source a piece on the secondary market, it is checked for provenance, service history and authenticity before a number is discussed.

Do sought-after watches always resell above their retail price?

Not reliably, and the price on a listing is not the price a watch sells for. On 16 May 2026 Swatch launched the Royal Pop collection, eight pocket watches created in collaboration with Audemars Piguet and sold only in selected Swatch stores, at no more than CHF 375 each. By 20 May 2026, Swiss Marketplace Group counted around 290 Royal Pop listings on Ricardo, but only around one in five had led to a sale, and the highest price paid was CHF 1,699. Swiss Marketplace Group itself describes the collection as highly sought-after but not limited.

The highest price is the figure that travels; the roughly four in five listings that had not sold are the part that tends to be left out. The same caution applies at every price level, and in our sourcing mandates expert opinion, certification and insured transport are part of the work, not an extra.

Collecting or investing: is a luxury watch an investment?

Collecting and investing are different reasons to buy a watch, and the manufacturers cited here stay out of the second. Patek Philippe says it cannot provide information on the current resale value of its watches. Audemars Piguet provides a value only for insurance purposes, and for watches more than 25 years old or limited editions it gives no indicative price and refers owners to auction houses. We have found no public primary source on the long-term returns of watches that meets the standard of this guide, so it quotes none.

A collection is about your passion, your pleasure and your preferences, and what it gives without any forecast is the pleasure of wearing it. If you are weighing watches against other luxury assets, our article on investing in luxury looks at the wider question.

We specialise in sourcing watches for our clients and will gladly assist you in building a meaningful luxury watch collection. Sourcing a single piece and building a collection are different pieces of work, and the figure is agreed before we start. We are not an authorised dealer for any house. We act for the client, and that includes selling a piece discreetly through collectors and dealers when the time comes. To see new models in person first, we arrange VIP access to watch fairs such as Watches and Wonders in Geneva.