Educating self on non-Patek perpetual calendars
 

One of these days I would love to buy a Patek perpetual chronograph. Along the way, however, I find myself looking at non-Patek perpetuals and perpetual chronographs. For example, I passed by IWC and have been wondering if I would love to wear a Top Gun Big Pilot perpetual (46 mm) or the new Portugieser Eternal (44 mm), though these are interesting choices given the size alone. I'm also looking forward to trying the Lange Datograph Perpetual Tourbillon Lumen Honey or whatever you call it this month, another classic perpetual that respectably can be discussed alongside the Patek 5070 and 5370.

Patek grails are well discussed, but how do you educate yourself on non-Patek perpetuals? This ranges from what distinguishes them mechanically to how they hold value and whether you are better off picking them up used. As a practical question, would you buy a used IWC Portugieser Perpetual in platinum at US$30,000 if you could, on the way to buying a Patek perpetual chronograph at US$250,000 and up?

Honestly not sure how to educate yourself and, for example, there seems to be little meaningful discussion of IWC online especially on the actual IWC forum.

thanks, that is an excellent overview.

any counterpart on buying these kinds of perpetuals and being careful about buying something that depreciates instantly?

For me the perpetuals that are interesting are Patek, Journe, MB&F, AP.

If I wanted a much lower price point I’d do the JLC MUT PC.

What about the other perpetuals, like IWC which can be purchased cheaper secondary? How do you learn on weighing the pros and cons of buying a slightly used Portugieser perpetual, and whether you might lose money doing this (and whether the chance of losing money if you change your mind is much higher buying new)?

Most watches like that are going to be fairly low liquidity I would guess. High price relative to brand name rules out many buyers, generally out of warranty and fear of service bills for others. I would just be sure to buy right pre owned and still be prepared to take a 20% hit moving on.

A good starting point would probably be a neo-vintage pc: between 1978 to 1985, which saw the era of ultra-thin automatic pc from the likes of AP, VC and PP. ACM did a wonderful article here.

Ultimately of course, it really depends on what you are after. Personally, I went with a birth year pc and I've not had an itch to look at others since. Of course, I too have a "grail" pc -- it would be a birth year watch as well and would be a replacement. Perhaps some day when I have the resources for it.

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