Rolex an investment?

[bgriz]

I'm a financial advisor "by trade" and am curious to know who thinks of their Rolex as an investment? By definition from wikipedia: Investment or investing[1] is a term with several closely-related meanings in business management, finance and economics, related to saving or deferring consumption. An asset is usually purchased, or equivalently a deposit is made in a bank, in hopes of getting a future return or interest from it.

If you apply the actual definition one could say that most Rolex's are indeed an asset that will produce a future return (appreciate in value). The key here is TIME. A 16710 for example if held for 20-30 yrs may very well produce a sizable return from the original amount paid. However, if a 16710 Rolex takes 25 yrs to double in value.....you avg'd a whopping 2.88%/yr return from this "investment".

So, the argument can certainly be made that Rolex is indeed an investment. I would offer that it is generally not a good investment considering the same money put into a decent mutual fund would have made far better returns over 25 yrs than 2.88%/yr. There are of course exceptions with certain Rolex watches with new or hot models. I'm not telling you anything you didn't probably already know here, and most will probably reply with the same thing I would which is "I buy my watches to enjoy, if they happen to go up in value over time that is just a bonus."

What I really wanted to know is if people are actually buying these watches in lieu of investing in other more traditional investments? Too much time on my hands today....