In episode 20 of Wake Up to Wealth, Brandon Brittingham interviews Zac Castillo, as they dive into the world of luxury watches as an investment. They discuss how luxury watches like Rolexes can appreciate in value and serve as a stable store of wealth.
Tune in to learn more about how luxury watches can be a smart investment choice.
TIMESTAMPS
[00:01:24] Luxury watches as investments.
[00:06:44] Importance of box and papers.
[00:10:10] Grill watch preferences.
[00:12:31] Investing in Rolex watches.
[00:16:26] The allure of luxury watches.
[00:18:11] Freedom and passion for work.
QUOTES
SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS
Brandon Brittingham
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mailboxmoneyb/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brandon.brittingham.1/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittingham/
Zac Castillo
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/watch_adicto_llc/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100084115562472
WEBSITE
Brandon Brittingham: https://www.brandonsbrain.org/home
Watch Adicto LLC: https://watchadicto.com/
This is Wake Up to Wealth, a podcast dedicated to helping you change the way you think about wealth. And now here's your host, Brandon Brinningham.
Can you consistently buy, say, a Rolex, and it's gonna hold its value or appreciate from an investment standpoint?
You won't make a lot of money with these, but you won't lose any either. I'm not the cheapest, but I'm the best. You know, I back my stuff 100%. Let's use the first question.
What can I buy that'll go up in value? Hey, what's up, everybody? We are back again. Another episode of Wake Up to Wealth. I got my main man, Zac, here today, and we're gonna talk about something that I'm super excited about. It's the market of luxury watches. Thanks for being here, brother. Yes, sir. I appreciate the invite. So what's kind of crazy is a lot of people don't look at luxury watches as an investment and a lot of people aren't educated on that subject. But man, I've done really well and I didn't get into it to buy it as an investment. I just, you know, always wanted a Rolex. But I've bought Rolexes and made a ton of money on them. And it's actually a great storage of wealth and it's a great place to invest money. Give us, for someone who's a novice, they don't know anything, why is that true? Why is that the case?
I mean, first of all, they're so hard to get from Rolex. I mean, if you really want to walk in today and buy one, They don't want you to spend $10,000 in a whole nother direction just to get the watch that you want. They may only be $10,000. So that's where the demand comes in. You leave there, you start looking online, you find a guy like me that can get it for possibly the same price without buying that jewelry or whatever it was, and you get it in your hand, and that's where the demand stays so solid on the investment side of it.
Yeah, so, you know, just like, You've seen it and I've seen it like you don't always know but some watches I mean I've seen watching double in price right and like what and just for some of those out there like what models of Rolex specifically do you kind of see just you know always hold their value or even appreciate at a crazy crazy rate?
First, at the top would be Daytona. You know, you got the stainless steel Panda, goes for $15K at the AD, flips for $30,000 as soon as you walk out the door. The platinum Daytona goes for about $70,000, and it'll run about $120,000. So those are the ones that really the big collectors are building up to grab, to either collect or flip, make that money on.
Yeah. So, true or false, a lot of One is that I see appreciate, hold their value or appreciate a lot of the stainless steel models. Yes.
Yes, definitely. I think it's mainly because they're affordable. Yeah. And it makes less of them. Less of them. And even when the market's down in a slump, people still buy. So they choose to buy something, say, $20,000 or less and not so expensive where they're taking a big gamble because they still want to buy. But they know the market's down, so it's kind of like, those always roll.
Yeah, and then you've got on, you've got a, what do you got on today?
This is a 40 millimeter sub.
So, I mean, that usually always goes up in value, or stays, right? Solid.
It's solid. You won't make a lot of money with these, but your money won't, you won't lose any either. So this is, this is a great first, you know, entry-level piece. Yeah. Spend about $10,000, $12,000, but you won't lose hardly a dime on it.
So it's just you could wear it for a couple of years, you take good care of it, and then you go to sell, you're probably going to get the same amount of money that you paid for it.
Same amount, maybe a little more, but you're definitely not going to lose. Right.
Yeah, so we got another one here. It's a stainless steel. Which one is this?
That's actually white gold. That's the Dayton Presidential. Yeah. So that one was discontinued in 2018, I think. Uh-huh. So there's a separate market for those that are discontinued. It takes a real collector, though, to buy one that's white gold because you really can't tell that it's white gold. Like you said, it looks stainless. It looks stainless.
When I grabbed it, I realized it was
Yeah, so stainless, you're looking at about 15 grand. That watch, that one goes for about 40 to 45. So somebody that's going to spend 45,000, they want it to really shine like it's actually, you know, they can tell it's a precious metal.
Yeah. So in your opinion, I mean, there's other watch brands out there, you know, AP, Patek is one. You know, for somebody that's listening, what brand seems to hold their value the most and essentially appreciate?
I put all my money in Rolex. Yeah. Yeah. I think it's most solid. People wake up daily and want Rolex. By the time you get into Patek and stuff like that. Takes a guy who's been in it for a long time. He's really going to do his homework. The Rolex can get in and out of quick if you need it to. Yeah. Especially if you're a first time buyer. You don't want to buy something you don't know you're going to love, you know. Invest a whole lot of money in. So, yeah, I'd always say start with Rolex.
Yeah. And so, you know, Kind of one of the things I think that we all know is Rolex kind of keeps a tight supply chain To your point you just can't people think you can walk to Rolex store and buy when you can't yeah, right So that creates kind of the gray market, which is where you play in a lot right, right? Right. So, but the other side is, you know, not just from the investment side, you got to buy from people that are reputable that like, you know, they're still us.
Exactly. So there's so many corners that can be cut on a bezel, a link, paperwork, a fake box or anything. So That's where that comes in. I always tell people I'm not the cheapest, but I'm the best. You know, I back my stuff 100%. That's a big issue in the jewelry watch game is the cutting corners on this and that.
And you just mentioned another thing for, you know, if you're, you know, if you're out there and you're new and you don't know anything about this, it's super important that you get the box papers, all that. Talk about that for a second.
Yeah, box and papers is important if you're getting charged for it. I mean, it's not a huge deal. They all cause, you know, the box is worth three or four hundred itself. The papers, not all watches without papers are fake. Some of them, you know, some owners will, like we said, they play the A.D. game where they buy and flip. They'll keep the card so their name ain't floating around. Right. And so. If you're a first-time buyer, I would always recommend go ahead and get the full set, boxed papers to get the full effect. But if you're buying without boxed papers, you would definitely get a cheaper price that way. Yeah.
So, buy accordingly. So, in your opinion, can you consistently buy, say, a Rolex and it's going to hold its value or appreciate, I mean, from an investment standpoint?
Certain ones, yes. Yeah. That's what I do. I kind of say you call me tomorrow and you're new to the game, want to know what to buy, what to spend. I break it down for you. If you have, you know, a $10,000 price range, I'll show you what's safe, what's not. Yeah. Or and you say, hey, but I really like this. And I'll just tell you, hey, you know, you might lose a couple G's wearing this one. Right. Or, you know, you might It might bounce a little bit, and there's some that just won't bounce. Like these subs, they don't rebound. But it's there when I need it, you know?
Yeah. So what do you think in the $10,000 to $15,000 range, what's the safest watch to buy?
So, good question. You're either a Submariner guy or a Datejust guy. Yeah. So, there's like the Wimbledon that goes for about $14,000. Yep. Full stainless steel. Real nice watch. I like that one. That's about top tier Datejust. Yeah. And then the Submariner like this. Yeah. Stainless steel, black dial.
Yeah. And then if you were, say, you step up a little bit and you go the $20,000 to $30,000 range, what do you think? Daytona.
Daytona. Black dial, stainless steel. Even though it's about 10 grand over sticker, I think it's gonna stay there if not go up for a while. Daytonas always, they're known to stay solid.
I mean, is it even possible to get a Daytona from an AD?
No. I mean, not walking in. Right. I've heard people do it just and it's it's it's more of a principle thing I think with the stuff like that you might have an AD over here that a guy's been begging for for years that's like begging in the wrong manner and you have another guy that's never been in the Rolex store and this AD's like you know what I'd rather just sell to this guy and this guy's been hounding me he ain't bought no jewelry so I've heard of people walk in and buying them lending. I had a client last week in San Antonio He's bought one day just for like 10 grand. Second one was a Panda. Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah. You just never know, man. Yeah. You never know what their supply looks like either. It's hard to, it's hard to gauge.
The other thing too is you never know. I mean, I always tell people like buy the watch that you want. Um, and that would usually hold its value, but also you never know. So I had the bat, you know, I bought the Batman when it first came out. Yes. I had it for eight years and when I sold it, I sold it for, you know, probably at the height, I sold it for $23,000 and I paid $8,900 for it. Yeah. Right. I mean, that's just insane. And I had it for seven years. What, for seven years? Yeah. So, I mean, that's some, to your point, sometimes when things get discontinued or it becomes a hot watch or whatever, I mean, the value just goes, just goes insane.
Yeah, you never know, man. People, that's usually the first question. What can I buy that'll go up in value? I can't really answer that. And then, like right now, in two days, we have the new models dropping. Certain models will be discontinued. So it could be one of these sitting right here in front of you and it's gonna go through the roof. You never know. Yeah. Some people, like the Bluesy, for instance, that one's been out so long and there's kind of some rumors going around it being discontinued. So it's kind of keeping it solid. The Pepsi right now is supposed to be discontinued. That one's going up daily. Yeah. So, and it could not go that way. You never know.
Yeah. A hundred percent. Yes, sir. Yeah, absolutely.
It's a fun game to play though.
What's your grill watch? What's the one you really want?
Man, I like the, I've had four or five watches in play at a time. This is Old Faithful, of course, so I'd hold this one tight. Yeah. I'd walk in, if I could walk in the AD and buy the black stainless steel Daytona, that would be the one I'd take. I mean, I like flashy stuff, but I'm pretty simple. You know, I wear a small chain, stainless watch, so it wouldn't be too much.
What is that you've had in your possession before? What's the one that is appreciated the most that you've actually had? Whether you owned it to sell it or you owned it yourself?
Probably the John Mayer. Yeah. That one. And it bounced quick and it came back down. So that one was like right now where we're at, that was, everybody knew it was going to be discontinued. So as soon as it did, it went from 70 to about a hundred grand. Yeah. And it lasted for about a month. Then it went right back down. So that's about 30, $30,000 pop. Right there. Right.
That is appreciated. Yeah, I appreciated that.
But you have some that I haven't had in possession that I've sold that some people made, you know, look who's the money on.
Yeah, I had a a white gold Pepsi and it had the I don't know what you call it, but it had kind of like the marble fate. Meteorite. Meteorite. Yeah. And in Covid, I paid forty eight thousand for it. I sold it for one ten. Yeah. At the height.
Yeah, so yeah, I forgot about that. So that's probably the biggest watch. Yeah, that one went up and down 50 grand.
Yeah. Yeah. And I also had a had the The Daytona, that was all rose gold that had the sunburst rose gold face that they discontinued. Right. And that one went up a lot. Yeah.
Yeah. The Meteorite, man, those are real special. All the Daytonas are discontinued that had Meteorite. Yeah. And they're said to do it to the rest of the watches. And man, some of those Meteorite Daytonas go for $85,000, $90,000 when they're only $40,000 at the store, you know? Yeah. But that Meteorite is something special.
So someone who's listening to this, they've never owned a Rolex before. My assumption is if you were going to tell somebody to buy, if you're looking at the investment side, you're going to tell them to buy a Rolex, right? Oh, yeah. Yeah, definitely. And they've never owned one before and they're just starting now. Which one do you think, you know, what's the one you can't go wrong with? Submariner.
Yep. You can find, you know, an entry level, some that even more solid than this model, like a 2005, 2008 model for about $8,500. And man, it's hard to even go anything less than that if you ever try to sell it. Yeah. Yeah.
Now, someone, let's just say, has a bigger budget and they want to buy, you know, we call it the investment piece, right? Right. What's the investment piece to go after?
So there's tons. You go to AP, Patek.
If you were to pick a Rolex one, what would you think?
Rolex, I like the olive dial, rose gold Day-Date. That's the presidential, right? Yeah, presidential. That one's pretty solid. It's about $10,000, $15,000 over MSRP, but that's in the $50,000, $55,000 range. I think that's about the next step. The problem is when you're getting like $20,000 watches, people, they don't shine enough for, you know, like the Daytonas and all that. They don't shine enough to do them justice to spend that much. So it's either low $20,000 or under or real high-end watches. The middle ones are kind of struggle. So you can find good deals in that area. Got it.
Yeah. Yeah. Awesome, man. So, you know, what if someone wanted to, not just the love of watches and watches, but do you think there's a play that could be had where you could actually consistently invest in them as like an investment?
As in multiple watches or one watch? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Definitely. You could come up with a lot. There's so many watches out there moving, man. And there's, it's said to be like 85, 90% of the watches are in dealers hands. Yeah. So it's like, there's the guy, how these watches get here, there's higher ups that you never even hear of see. And they supply these lower guys in the middle, then the lower guys like me. Yeah. Yeah. And that's what keeps the whole thing running. So if you could, you know, kind of do something in the middle of somewhere, there's definitely there.
Yeah. So the name of the game is if you can get a rare one from an AD, which is an authorized dealer, that's the play. Yes. If you somehow get lucky and get one that is going to be discontinued. Yeah. Right. But sometimes we don't always know that. You can hear rumors of it. That's the other play and then I just think what I've seen over time is The stainless steel ones just never go down and a lot of times they go up Then if you get super lucky and you get a stainless steel they discontinue. You're probably a real good very lucky. I
Yes, and a lot of people came into the watch game during COVID. Yeah, because you couldn't get one. No, and it was climbing daily. So everybody automatically thought like, man, I need to get in. And they did. A lot of people got in. Yeah. But now that's the conversation now. Like, hey, what's going to be going up? And that's not the case unless something major like that comes about again.
I'll tell you another thing to look at this from a different standpoint. A nice Rolex, a nice AP, or even a Patek. You know, also, for me, it's been an investment from a standpoint is it's always been a conversation starter. Yes. And a lot of times someone who recognizes like this one, the one that you got me, you know, you got to know what this is. Yeah. Right. Yeah. And for instance, a paddock, as an example, or an AP, if you have one of those on, someone knows it. They're usually somebody of influence and have wealth.
Exactly. And you're being judged by, you know, people 24 7. So they might see this watch and they give me a certain level, you know, especially if it's a Patek guy or something. He sees that watch, he gives you a certain level, you know, and that's the same thing if he sees you with that Patek, he's like, whoa, you know, he gives you that much. Cause you know, you said it, I remember when I brought that watch here last time, we sat right over there and he was like, man, you saw that Patek I had and you were like, That's a billionaire's watch. Yeah, no doubt. You looked at me dead serious. I still remember that. Well, yeah, it is, man. It's up there. Those guys with those watches, you'll never even know it. Some of them. You know what I mean? When they come to do stuff like this, they'll have this on or this on, and they're in the safe.
They're out there. Yeah, it's amazing. I love watches and what's been cool is, you know, this one I know will always hold its value. I didn't buy this one for the investment side. I bought it because I always wanted it, but it was paid for by a bunch of watches that I bought that were investments that I appreciated. I think that's the brilliance of it.
Right and you know like with you buying your bust down full of diamonds you know that that's that's not the best investment it costs you a little bit to wear that yeah the investments in some of these smaller ones and you covered your bases with that to buy that other shiny stuff you know absolutely so that's the deal You got to know what the end play is. What are you trying to get to? Because you can start with a $1,000 watch and work up to the $50,000 watches, whatever you want to do.
So if someone's listening to this and they want to get into the watch game or they want to buy their first Rolex or whatever, how do they get in touch with you?
Brandon Brittingham
Look me up on Instagram, Facebook. What's your Instagram? WatchAddicto under slash LLC. My Facebook, Zac Castille. And I have a website also, watchaddicto.llc.com. You can check me out there.
Zac Castillo
So I ask everybody this when we end the show, we call this show Waking Up to Wealth. So it can be whatever version it is for you. But what is waking up to wealth mean to you?
Brandon Brittingham
Freedom. I mean, doing this is fun to me. I've sold tire for 23 years, man. It feels like six days a week. Yeah. And I still put in a lot of hours doing this, but it's fun. I like it. So freedom, you know, I got three kids, beautiful wife at home, so freedom, time, time is very valuable now. But that's pretty much it, man. Just doing this daily, having fun. It's like I never worked.
Zac Castillo
Absolutely. Well, brother, I appreciate you for coming here, educating us on the wide game. I appreciate you spending time with us today.
Brandon Brittingham
No problem, bro. I appreciate you having me. Thank you.
Zac Castillo
Thanks so much for tuning into this episode of wake up to wealth. We sure do appreciate it. If you haven't done so already, make sure you're subscribed to the show, wherever you consume podcasts. This way we'll get updates as new episodes become available. And if you feel so inclined, please leave us a review on Apple podcast and tell your friends about the show. It is how new people find us until next time.