A lot of people – particularly younger, tech-savvy men – are watch lovers. And I certainly can’t blame them for this particular addiction. Fine mechanical watches are one of the great luxury goods of the modern era. Unfortunately, some of these young wristwatch aficionados are occasionally tempted to get their mechanical wristwatch fix on Kickstarter.
What is Kickstarter?
Kickstarter is an online crowdfunding platform where regular people can pledge their monetary support for almost any type of creative venture under the sun. And, unsurprisingly, luxury wristwatches happen to be one of the more popular projects on Kickstarter.
But I’m here to tell you that it’s a very bad idea to buy a Kickstarter wristwatch.
Why? Well for a lot of different reasons, actually. Let’s go through the list.
First, there have been hundreds of wristwatches funded via the Kickstarter platform over the years. When I did a search on the Kickstarter website, I came up with 1,062 – over a thousand – fully funded projects through February 2020. Now, how can a thousand different types of watches all be unique or highly desirable? The brutal answer is that they can’t, although that reality might not become apparent for a number of years.
The next thing to hate about the average Kickstarter wristwatch is the gimmicks. Nearly every single one of these watch projects got funded because of some over-hyped hook. Want a Kickstarter wristwatch with a carbon-fiber/Damascus steel/titanium case? You can have it! Do you possess a burning desire for a wristwatch that was hand-assembled in Geneva, Switzerland by alpine gnomes? Kickstarter has it! Do you have an unquenchable thirst for a watch inspired by a vintage World War I trench/pro-diver automatic/luxury ultra-thin wristwatch? Step right up and choose from dozens of different (yet all vaguely similar) Kickstarter models!
There is also the issue of the name brand (or lack thereof) attached to the typical Kickstarter wristwatch. You see, when an individual or company goes to Kickstarter for funding, it is generally because they can’t get the funding elsewhere.
Why is this a problem?
Because in the world of collectible watches, name brands matter. Rolex watches consistently sell for higher prices in the secondary market than Bulova watches because of the difference in the prestige of the two name brands (among other reasons). The same thing applies to vintage watches, where a no-name chronograph wristwatch by Liban, Hilton or Clebar will sell for much less than a comparable Seiko or Omega chronograph.
Can you imagine trying to sell a Kickstarter wristwatch in 30 or 40 years? “I know it looks just like a 1970s Omega chronograph wristwatch, but this one was made in Todd’s garage in 2017, so it must be better!”
These selling points would not go over well, especially when you consider that there will be dozens of mid-market and luxury watch brands of a similar vintage (not to mention better quality) to choose from. So the average Kickstarter watch will not only be competing against mid-tier brands like Raymond Weil, Tag Heuer, Bell & Ross and Breitling, but also high-end brands such as Cartier, Rolex, Patek Philippe and Blancpain.
The final nail in the coffin for Kickstarter wristwatches is that their movements are, almost out of necessity, mass-produced calibers that can be commercially sourced by anyone. A Kickstarter wristwatch is really more accurately described as a Kickstarter-cased watch. The mechanical movement found in a Kickstarter wristwatch will invariably be a Seiko, Venus, ETA or some other third-party caliber. And that assumes you aren’t dealing with a cheap $10 Chinese quartz movement!
As a result, the prognosis for recovering whatever money you spend on a Kickstarter wristwatch is not good.
So why do people buy watches from Kickstarter if they are such money pits?
I think there are a couple of reasons.
First and foremost, Kickstarter wristwatches are inexpensive in a relative sense. Maybe you can’t afford that brand new $6,000 Panerai watch from the dealer that you’ve been salivating over, but a $400 Panerai look-alike from Kickstarter may be in the budget. Kickstarter watches can be had for amounts starting as low as just $100. Of course, you’ll get a quartz monstrosity with effectively no resale value for that price, but you’ll still get a functioning watch.
Second, I think a lot of younger watch enthusiasts simply don’t know how reasonably priced many vintage watches are. $500 to $1,000 is enough to allow you to choose from a wide variety of different brand name, mechanical wristwatches produced between the 1920s and the 1970s.
You can find beautiful vintage Longines, Ulysse Nardin, Hamilton and Jaeger-LeCoultre watches in this price range. They can be your choice of dress watches, divers or chronographs. While many of these wonderful older watches are cased in stainless steel, it is possible to find some in solid 14 or 18 karat gold for that added bit of sophistication.
Of course, if you have your heart set on a Kickstarter watch based solely on its own merits, then by all means go ahead and buy it. Just know that your chances of ever recouping your money are slim to none.
That seems like cold comfort to me when there are so many better options available.
Why throw your money away on a $300 or $400 Kickstarter wristwatch that will never be worth anything, when you can invest in a genuine vintage mechanical watch from a well-known maker for just a few dollars more? Kickstarter may be great for funding some projects, but not for funding watches.
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