Fine Vintage Watches Find Popularity as Alternate Investments Paul Boutros, an engineer, collects Vacheron Constantin watches. FINE watches have long been about more than just telling time. They have served as gifts for graduation and retirement. They have been collected and coveted for their craftsmanship. They are often flaunted as status symbols. Even so, the current economic climate would not seem conducive for timepieces filled with wheels and springs - the finest ones do not use batteries - that start at $15,000 and go up to $1 million or more. Plus, any cellphone can tell you the time. It turns out, though, that the market for vintage timepieces has been booming. Watches are now the sixth largest department at Christie's, accounting for $116 million in sales in 2011. That was a 26 percent increase from the year before, and much of the growth is being driven by Asian collectors. "We have new collectors looking at watches as alternative investments," said Sam Hines, head of watches in Asia for Christie's. There has also been the formation of a trophy market. These trophies are watches that are very rare, if not one of a kind. Last year, the most expensive wristwatch sold at auction was a Patek Philippe chronograph from 1928, which sold in Geneva for $3.6 million, a record price for that model. The demand is only partly driven by the watches" condition, rarity and "complications" - the horological term for how many different things a watch keeps track of, from day and date to bells that chime at precise intervals. Instead, much as an art gallery does for an artist, the top-end watchmakers have created an allure around their brands. Patek Philippe, the strongest performer at auctions with eight of the 10 highest prices at Christie's in 2011, focuses on legacy, with advertisements evoking fathers and sons in earnest discussion over what a watch can mean to their relationship. Breguet has featured its most famous owners in advertisements, including Napoleon, Marie Antoinette and Winston Churchill. Audemars Piguet has gone the other way, signing up a roster of athletes whose sports connote precision, including golfers, tennis players and racecar drivers. So it would seem safe to assume that these timepieces are good investments. Certainly watchmakers and auction houses are in no hurry to dispel that notion. But many collectors - even those whose own watches have doubled or tripled in value - are quick to dissuade people who want to speculate on time, as it were. "From an investment point of view, most watches do not do very well," said William Massena, a real estate consultant who collects Patek Philippe watches. You have to be a smart buyer to have a watch hold its value. He said his collection, which began with a Patek Philippe Calatrava that he bought in Paris 18 years ago, has appreciated substantially, with some watches tripling or quadrupling in value. But he attributes that success to timing, a bit of luck and a very different market. "People weren't interested in these watches when I bought them," Mr. Massena said. I was lucky enough to get in early and to have the taste of my generation - sporty, chronograph, bigger watches. So what gives a watch investment potential as opposed to just being an expensive way to tell time? Here is some of what I learned. INVESTMENT The likelihood that watches will increase in value depends on how few were made and how complicated they are. But their value also depends on how the watch has been maintained. Paul Boutros, an engineer who collects watches made by Vacheron Constantin and Audemars Piguet, said owners often inadvertently undercut the investment potential of a watch by regularly wearing it. Sweat, for example, can enter the case and cause it to decay. Or if the face fades or shows wear, and the owner gets it refinished. "The person wearing the watch likes that, but we collectors want all original all the time," he said. We look for legitimacy in the watch.