The Real Cost of Owning a Luxury Watch Long-Term

By CJ Horn, President of Happily Ever Timepieces

Let's have a conversation nobody at the watch boutique wants to start.

You bought the watch. You wore it proudly. You told yourself it was an investment.

And then the service bill arrived.

The Purchase Price Is Just the Opening Act

Everyone talks about what a watch costs to buy.

Almost nobody talks about what it costs to own.

Those are two very different numbers, and the gap between them has surprised more than a few collectors who thought they had done their homework.

Servicing: The Bill You Forgot to Budget For

Mechanical watches are mechanical. That means they need servicing. Typical service intervals and costs in 2026:

• Rolex: Every 5 to 10 years, ~$800 to $1,500 depending on complexity

• Audemars Piguet

  : Every 3 to 5 years, ~$1,000 at AP boutique — and that is the base. A Royal Oak Chronograph runs ~$2,000, and complications climb to ~$2,500+.

• Patek Philippe: Every 3 to 5 years, ~$1,500 to $4,000+

• Grand Seiko (mechanical): Every 5 to 10 years, ~$300 to $600

• Hublot: Every 3 to 5 years, ~$1,000 to $2,500+

• F.P. Journe: Every 3 to 5 years — bring your checkbook and a backup checkbook

This is not optional maintenance. A watch that is not serviced loses accuracy, degrades internally, and eventually stops doing the one job it was hired to do.

Tell time.

AP owners in particular should factor this in before purchase, not after. The Royal Oak is one of the most iconic watches ever made. It is also one of the more expensive watches to keep running properly. That is not a criticism. It is just math.

Straps, Bracelets, and the Accessories Rabbit Hole

You buy the watch on a bracelet. Then you want a leather strap. Then a rubber strap. Then a NATO because someone on a forum convinced you it looks better.

Strap costs add up fast:

• OEM bracelets and straps can run $200 to $600+

• Aftermarket quality straps range from $50 to $300

• Clasp upgrades, spring bars, and tools are small individually but persistent

None of this is strictly necessary. But watch collectors do not operate on a strict-necessity basis. That is simply not how this hobby works.

Insurance: The One Nobody Actually Wants to Talk About

Your homeowner's or renter's policy almost certainly does not fully cover a $15,000 watch.

Dedicated watch insurance typically runs:

• ~$1 to $1.50 per $100 of value annually

• A $10,000 watch costs roughly $100 to $150 per year to insure properly

• A $50,000 watch costs $500 to $750 per year

That is not a dramatic number. Until you multiply it across a collection of five or six watches. Then it is a car payment.

Skip it and lose the watch anyway. The math is not hard here.

Storage and Safe Investment

If you own serious watches, at some point you will want to store them seriously.

• A decent watch winder runs $100 to $500 per slot

• A quality home safe that is fire-rated and actually secured runs $500 to $2,000+

• A bank safe deposit box is modest but adds friction to actually wearing the thing

Nobody buys a beautiful watch to lock it in a box and forget it exists. But nobody wants to replace a stolen Patek with a police report either.

The Depreciation Nobody Prints on the Tag

Here is where it gets real. Most luxury watches lose value the moment they leave retail. Not all, not forever, but as a default assumption, depreciation is the rule and appreciation is the exception. New watches can drop 20 to 30% in value the moment they leave the boutique.

Watches that tend to hold or gain value long-term:

• Strong brand recognition (Rolex, Patek, AP)

• Iconic, proven references

• Complete sets with box and papers

• Pre-owned pieces where depreciation already happened

Watches that struggle on the secondary market:

• Fashion-forward designs that dated quickly

• Complicated pieces from brands with low resale demand

• Watches missing documentation or with polished cases (collectors hate polished cases)

The box and papers thing is real. Lose them and you lose value. Keep them and they become part of the asset.

What Long-Term Ownership Actually Costs: A Back-of-Napkin Estimate

Take a $10,000 watch held for 10 years.

Cost Category	Estimated 10-Year Total
Purchase price	$10,000
Two service intervals	$1,200 to $2,400
Straps and accessories	$500 to $1,500
Insurance (10 years)	$1,000 to $1,500
Safe / storage	$500 to $1,000
Total cost of ownership	~$13,200 to $16,400

Now run the same math on a $20,000 Royal Oak Offshore. Two service intervals alone could run $2,100 to $5,000+. Add insurance at ~$300 per year and the real cost of ownership climbs fast.

That is not a horror story. For the right watch and the right owner, that is genuinely reasonable. You got a decade of daily use, real craftsmanship on your wrist, and something with a story.

But it is not free. And it was never free.

What This Actually Means for Buyers

The collectors who come out ahead long-term are not the ones who spent the least. They are the ones who:

• Bought the right watches at honest prices

• Serviced consistently instead of waiting for problems

• Kept documentation and treated the watch like the asset it is

• Did not buy out of hype and then panic-sell when the market shifted

Long-term ownership rewards patience and penalizes impulse.

Same as most things worth owning.

The Real Question to Ask Before You Buy

Not "will this appreciate?"

Not "what is retail versus grey market right now?"

The real question is:

Would I pay the full long-term cost and still feel good about it?

If the answer is yes, buy the watch. Wear it. Enjoy it. Service it on time.

If the answer is no, save yourself the service bills and find something you actually love.

At Happily Ever Timepieces, we work with buyers who want to own watches the right way. That means understanding the full picture before the purchase, not after the first service appointment.

That is not a sales pitch. That is just how good decisions get made.

--- CJ HornPresident, Happily Ever Timepieces ⌚