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Ignacio Diaz's avatar

Let me put a plug for Redbar DC, a great community that is very welcoming and not snobby given the watches you see on people’s wrist.

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Tony Traina's avatar

most redbars are great, thanks for the shout.

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Rafal K!'s avatar

Great article, I could feel that vibe there was pretty cool!

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Tony Traina's avatar

thank you 🙏

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Michael P's avatar

Maybe your most helpful read to me yet. The difference between investing and holding value was an excellent point and I’ve spent lots of time thinking about what actual investment means for a watch.

Do you think “investing” is such a dirty word because it’s so widely abused/misused by scalpers? Or is it general frustration with rising prices and profiting from them?

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Tony Traina's avatar

it just reduces watches to financial assets/instruments, and while I know some people treat them as such there are much better assets for real ROI. On the other hand, "store of value" implies something slightly different. You're not putting money in watches with the hopes or for the purpose of making money. But they are expensive, and this terminology acknowledges this and grants that it's reasonable to expect to get, more or less, the same out of watches that you put into them. Often this is because you want to trade into a new piece.

Probably a good topic for a future newsletter...

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Michael P's avatar

Gotcha, thanks for clarifying-I agree. I think the term is more often than not misused and abused (not just in watches but collectibles at large).

To me, the better the community defines this aspect of collecting, the healthier prices can be going forward. So personally, I’d love an edition on it-but I’m a finance geek, so I might be the only one 😅

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Paulo Rabelo's avatar

Seems like the atmosphere as a whole was pretty awesome. Photography on point too, all the photos are super neat. They all have a certain “shine” to it, feel like they really did justice to the pieces. Would love to go to an event like that one!

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Tony Traina's avatar

thanks paulo! always a challenge photographing in an artificially-lit hotel conference room. but the meetup was a good time.

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Paulo Rabelo's avatar

Did a really good job, photos are very crisp. If you don’t mind, which camera do you use? Lightroom for editing? Ever since the Hodinkee days I’ve really liked your photo reports

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Tony Traina's avatar

hey! I use a Nikon Zf, usually with a Nikkor 50 MC lens. Gonna do a newsletter in the next few weeks about "the tools I use." I'm no photographer, I just play one on tv.

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Nate Thieme's avatar

There’s something undeniably amazing about a vintage gold Speedy with a burgundy bezel. Once again, great write up (and awesome pics), Tony!

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Aman Brar's avatar

That Grissom has me

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Aman Brar's avatar

And the Wing and Wheels Heuer

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Tony Traina's avatar

🦅🏎

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Tony Traina's avatar

it's the best speedmaster imo, and over the top when it's an astronaut's. the modern iteration is really good too.

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JohnCote's avatar

Nice story Tony. Sorry I was not there.

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Alex Grouet's avatar

Great write-up, once more!

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Tony Traina's avatar

thanks alex! get ready for some timefiles links on Fri.

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Huey's avatar

🔥

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