A hedge fund that invests in the world’s most expensive watches

With collectible watches selling for big bucks lately, it’s no surprise to see dedicated watch hedge funds coming into the scene. Watch connoisseurs have been showing great interest and spending money like anything on the watch memorabilia and exceptional luxury watches. One of such watch hedge funds is Precious Time, which invests in the world’s most expensive and collectible timepieces. Ms. Mascherin and her partner, Michel Tamisier, former managers at the French fund Carmignac, created the dedicated hedge fund last year. To date, the hedge fund has raised €6 million ($8.5 million) to buy about four of the world’s most expensive watches. Ms. Mascherin cited…

By early March, we had raised €6 million for the first quotation and are looking to grow about €100 million to €250 million. Our objective is to generate 15 percent returns per year in the next few years.

Precious Time is primarily targeting the vintage watches, with high preference to the highly sought-after signed Patek Philippe. Patek Philippe references have managed to turn heads with their sale prices over the last few years. Since 2006, Christie’s has sold 18 Patek Philippe watches for more than $1 million. They have plans to buy collectible watches through dealers, private collectors and auctions

The composition of the hedge fund would be 70 percent vintage and 30 percent modern. It would also have 80 percent complications and 20 percent simple mechanicals. For compilations, it will be 50 percent in Patek Philippe and 30 percent in other top brands, such as Breguet, Rolex, Audemars Piguet, Lange & Söhne, Vacheron Constantin and Cartier. In metal composition, it would be 50 percent gold, 35 percent steel and 15 percent platinum. Ms. Mascherin further said…

We will focus on top brands, small productions or small series, limited series of 200 to 300 pieces. More and more passionate watch collectors will spend insane amounts to acquire the watch they covet. It is just the beginning of the cycle of interest in watches.

With time, we are sure to see some more hedge funds coming into the limelight, which will be dedicated to investing in watches only. Now, let’s take a look at the some of the most expensive watches in the world.

1. Patek Philippe’s Supercomplication – $11 million in 1999

2. 1943 Patek Philippe—$5.7 million

3. Patek Philippe Reference 2497—$3.3 million

4. Mahatma Ghandi’s Zenith Pocket Watch—$2.1 million

5. Patek Philippe Reference 2499—$1.3 million

6. Albert Einstein’s 1930 Longines—$596,000

Via: BusinessInsider/NYTimes