Inside Singapore's Billion Dollar Luxury Watch Market (Unexpected Rolex & Patek Finds).

Singapore is home to some of the most serious watch collectors in the world. It's a place that's a bit of a mystery and is perhaps overshadowed by the Japanese and Hong Kong markets. So I've flown to Singapore to see and experience the watch market firsthand. What kind of watches are being sold here and what do people actually buy? So I've come to a place called Far East Plaza, a shopping centre full of watch stores, so I'm going to take a look and see what we can find. You said when I walked in before that I could fly to Japan, fly back, and it would still be cheaper to buy here. Correct. And most of our watches, we do service and polish them first. Got you. So costs are added in, so yeah. So of these rare vintage GMTs, which do you think is the most rare of all these? Maybe this one? I would say this, the 1675 Nippon Dao with the plated bezel. All original? All original. Maybe only the crystal is changed out, that's all. Just the crystal? Yeah, which is very polished. I love the bezel, how it's faded. Yes, correct. So nice. Super nice. These are different years, so which is the oldest of these? Maybe this one? No, this one. This one is the oldest? Yes, correct. So what do customers care about the most? Do they care about the condition? The condition? The bezel. Yeah, correct. Is there any scratches, the fit of it? Yeah. The flat four is a really rare watch, right? Yes. It's just the four. Bigger, right? It's just the four is different. It's a big watch. Yeah, amazing condition. What year is this one? This is 2004? Yes, correct. What a beautiful watch. What is the oldest watch that you have in stock? Oldest watch, let me think. We use that one, 1947. Oh, really? Wow. Byzo 22 and byzo. Okay. So this is the oldest one you have? One of it. 1961. Wow. Always perpetual. Yeah, I mean the 6694, which dated around this and about late 1980s. The Buckley Oyster Pops, 17013. So that's a 1980s. Yeah. Before the land dwellers released. Yeah. Everyone said that this looks like the land dwellers. Do you like this? I like it. Yeah, it's nice. It's unique. And this is one of the few models that Rolex do quartz. True. Yeah, I really like it. Especially the bracelets. So cool. Yeah. So cool. And the dial is special. Yeah, it's a really cool dial. Oh, wow. I've never seen this. It's the original dial. It's original? Yeah, exactly. What is it called? This dial? We call it a boiler gauge. They don't make anymore. What is the box for? Which watch? This watch here. It's for this one. It's full gold, 18K yellow gold. Everything's original. Mother of Pearl. Mother of Pearl and the rubies. It's a green. It's quite unique also. Is this original? Everything's original. What do people ask for most often from you? Usually it will be our ladies' date jars. It's one of our best sellers. We do have hundreds of them. Wow. Oh, wow. So they are discontinued size. They are 26mm. So they discounted in 2015 before they switched up to the non-28mm. Some of these bezels are crazy. Yes, all original except for the bezel. I would say in Asia, a lot of people tend to change up with something more bling. 800 bucks to 1,000 bucks when you change to the market bezel. Okay, so they ask for these the most. And then of the men's size watches? Men's size watches usually will be like the 16233. 16233, okay. 16233, 16234. Why so? Because I would say it's value for money and sell movement-wise. Yeah. Yeah, these are our best sellers, guys. I like these. Yeah. So how much are these then? That's a good price. Yeah. That's a very good price. 15% to 20% difference, price difference in terms of like watch only and full set. Upon purchase, usually we open up to show clients like the model, the serial and the movement inside. Yeah. We snap some photos using a microscope. We send to client and we proof them also. Oh, wow. So usually that's part of our service here. Do you find that people here are worried about the watch being completely original? Do they think about this when they buy or not really? I would say some of it, yeah, they do. But most of them, no, they are not scared. Because Singapore, we can't sell fake watches. Yeah. It's so strict. You go to prison if you sell a fake watch? Because we're all regulated under Singapore Police Force. Yeah. So any fishy stuff, yeah, our license will get revoked. Got you. Yeah. That's why Singapore is very safe to buy watches. Got you. I see a lot of Singaporean people wearing amazing watches. A lot. Are a lot of people rich here? You can say so. Yeah. Because part of it is they feel safe to wear in Singapore. True. I would say willingness to spend. Okay. Spending power in Singapore is quite strong. Yeah. People aren't afraid to spend their money. And part of it is because Singapore is quite a one-dimensional brand. Locals like us, everybody loves Rolex. After speaking with a local watch dealer, it's clear to see that there's a huge demand for watches in Singapore. But I was a little bit surprised to hear the best-selling watch was a 30-year-old Datejust. I didn't expect such a big demand for vintage watches. In fact, this particular business, which had hundreds of watches for sale, didn't have a single modern watch. So I set out to see what else I could find. But this is where I bumped into a big issue. Almost every single watch store was closed. And that's because I'd come during the middle of Chinese New Year. So the next day, I kept looking for more watch stores, hoping that there would be another place to visit. Is that an original Onyx dial? Onyx. It's original? Original. And it's full set actually. So this is very rare because you don't see Datejust coming in in precious metal back then. Yeah, because mostly are stainless steels. Usually on a President bracelet. So this is on a Jubilee. The Onyx dial looks like it has... Yes, a bit of aging there. That looks like it's painted. Yes, that's right. We send it in, watchmaker take a look. It's all good. Fake one, they're not able to do this. Sure. I've seen these Day-Dates, but not a Datejust. Yeah, there's a few on market. About three or four pieces in the market. Yes. Oh, wow. It cost me a liver and a kidney. Kidney and a leg and an arm. Yeah. 6265. Wow. Solid gold. This is a special watch. Yeah, that's crazy. Full set some more. Wow. Now for me, this is the kind of watch where whoever comes in here and buys it, they have to be very educated about what this is. That's right. Are there a lot of those kind of people here? Or do you have to educate the people? Those who want to take a look or ask some questions, you know that they know the stuff. And they say, okay, it's reasonable the price. Yeah. Very much into like, you know, this watch must go with this bracelet. Why do you think people know so much about watches? I think probably reading on the net. Like people do a lot of research. We're a nerdy lot. You're a nerdy people? Nerdy people, that's why. So where would you travel to to buy watches normally? A couple of countries like Japan sometimes as well. Yeah. Sometimes Hong Kong. Okay. Interesting. Can we see this Patek here? Sure. I love Nautilus. It's probably my favorite. 3700. This is the first generation one. It's pretty. We don't have the papers. So it's just watch only? Yeah, just watch only. But it's very nice. I love the box. The corkscrew kind of box. Yeah, it's really cool. The clasp is... Yes. Old clasp. Yeah, the old clasp type. Yeah. Can I try it on? Sure. Out of Rolex, Patek and AP, you think people here like Rolex the most? Yes. Yeah, Patek as well. Patek? Yeah, Patek as well. Yeah. Other brands like VCs, you know, VZs. Oh yeah, that's one, yeah. Like Buket or this other brand. It's... Yeah. It's not as like strong. Yeah. Very few pieces in terms of white gold. Wow. Yeah. Most of the time is... Every generation, there's three generations for the Maidas one. So most of them are in yellow gold. Yeah. And about 10, 15, maybe 20% are in white gold. Wow. So this is the second generation. So it's about slightly over 100 pieces. Yeah. Versus yellow, probably got about 500, 600 pieces. It's one of the heaviest watch back then. There you go. Are you Singaporean? Yeah, Singaporean. Oh yeah? You were born here? Born here. Served the national service. Oh, you did? Two years national service? Yeah, two years national service. As the soldier. How was that? Tough. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's quite awkward to wear this. It's quite... Yes, yes. It falls very... Yes, that's right. Yes. Technically speaking, this is considered a limited edition Rolex watch. I like your Day-Date. Oh, thank you. Is it the bark? No, this one is rarer than the bark. When you have all this pattern, they have actually three watches that comes up with this design. One of them is the Florentine. The other one is the Bart. And this is actually... Some people call it the Wavy Bart. Reference 1810. What year is this? 65, I think. 65? 64, 65. Beautiful. Thank you. Is this your watch? Yes, personal one. Yeah, personal one. Why don't you stock modern watches then if they sell quicker? Oh, yeah, because it's comparative. So we have a mix of them. Like the modern ones would be like, what I say, the bread and butter. Yeah. So other than that, sometimes we try to get like special pieces like that, all this. The margin is higher, but it moves very slow. And you also said that the Singapore market is cheaper than Japan and Hong Kong. Yes, yes. Why is that, do you think? In Hong Kong and Japan, the demand for these watches are strong. So that's why, you know, the prices there are higher. Interesting. Yeah. And there are some very big collectors in Singapore, right? Oh, yes, yes. Because they have a lot of money? Oh, yeah, there's a lot. And then they're very private, yes. Will they wear their watches? Sometimes, to events. Okay. With a lot of like very rich friends. Sure. Other than that, they won't. Very seldom, they wear it on the streets. What would they wear? These people. Modern Rolex. The modern Rolex. Like Le Bonas. Okay. John Mayer and stuff like that. But the very collectible piece, I saw one like the cut ear bamboo. Yeah. Crashed. He has a couple of pieces. He has a crash? Yeah. It's crazy. Richard Mill? No? Nah, nah, nah. No, no, no. Nah, nah, nah. Most of them. No? Nah. It's not so much of just buying the watch. The joy is in the hunt. It's so true. So what I'm learning is that Singapore is full of ultra educated and passionate watch collectors. And there's clearly a huge market for watches here. But I'm still left with more questions unanswered about the people in Singapore and their buying behaviours. So I've decided to take a short taxi ride to Little India to hear from a local collector that's lived in Singapore for a few years. So far, we haven't actually seen many modern watches. Maybe we're looking in the wrong places. Do you find that more of what Singaporeans would want to buy versus modern? From a foreigner's perspective, I've been here like six, seven years. I'm like a permanent resident as well. But I'd say absolutely not. This is a place where it's like I want the newest and the most expensive typically. And I know you're based in Dubai, but they got some pretty rich ones here. So people here, they're happy to pay a lot of money and they're also happy to wear it and let everyone know they're wearing it. Very, very much so. One watch place we went into, yes, it was just vintage. But like they had probably had 500 watches. Places like Far East Plaza and all that, you're going to get a lot of tourists. I think for them to be able to walk in and find a really cool like vintage Pepsi, whatever it is, is like a really big deal for them. People buying luxury items like expensive watches, do you feel like they are quite well educated on what they're buying? Or is it because they've got so much money, they can just buy whatever they want and all of it? It's probably a chicken egg. I think it's a bit of both. The people that are rich here are like super, super rich. So like you'll just see people with relationships where the 80s come to them. What is the way of wealth here? I'd say like it's an interesting country because like I think 90 something percent of the population lives in public housing. It's not cheap, but most people live there. However, there's another 10 percent that can buy property that they own forever. And the country is only like what, 60 years old, right? SG60 was just recently. And so in 60 years, they went from like a farm to what you see in front of you now. And like there's a lot of business behind that, a lot of finance. And I think those are the people that capitalize. Pleasure to talk. Thank you so much. No worries, man. Singapore is still a new and fast growing country. And there is a lot of wealth here. But what I've experienced in other parts of the world is that the wealthy are also attracted to the newest and rarest luxury items. And in the watch world, that would mean RMs, new APs and Patek Philippe watches. And after a stroke of good luck, I was able to speak on the phone with one of the owners of the biggest watch businesses in Singapore. And that's exactly where I'm heading to next. Why do you only stock modern watches? If you want me to be honest, But probably your boss thinks that these will sell better than vintage or? Yeah, I think he always has been into more modern watches and this kind of stuck and this feels good to him. And he do enjoy all of this. So it started from like, of course, passion. People in Singapore, do you think more people will wear modern or vintage? Modern. I feel modern. If you take a look at Far East Plaza alone, A lot more stores that sell in production. Of course, a little bit out of production to one, but nothing more than perhaps 30 years. Most of us carry modern watches. Got you. I have to go to a watch now, which is probably Rolex's rarest watch at the moment. I want to say probably. Yeah, it's the yellow gold Daytona Le Mans. So very limited. So these have been one year each. So the rose gold, the white gold, and now the yellow. And they only released it for one year before discontinuing it. Which one do you prefer? So to be honest with you, I've only seen this one now and the rose gold. I've never seen the white gold, but this looks very nice. Do you like this one the most? White gold is my pick. Do you think people in Singapore would wear this? Just a Le Mans that's worth $200,000 or whatever. People wear this? Yes, and this is not our first gold Le Mans. Really? Yes, yes. And people do wear them. Of course, we have collected to buy and keep it, but we do have guests that walk in and walk it out with it on hand. So yes, I feel like we do or guests here do buy and actually wear them. True, true. Do you think Singaporean local people here, do you think they are ever afraid of wearing watches? I think no. Actually, we have a lot of say tourists will come here to buy a watch and wear it immediately and they feel perfectly okay and fine. If you walk down like Orchard Road, which is where we are located, try to take a look at their wrist. I would say that most of us will be probably spotting with a watch. Do you think that people that live in Singapore are really educated on the watches before they buy them? I feel like they do know what they're buying. I mean, at the secondary market, we see a lot of guests coming in. They don't really ask a lot of technical questions. They are really well-informed and they come in, they know what's the function and everything down to the caliper and they know the price difference. So I feel like it's not just, oh, I've got money, I want to put my money into watch. I do think they know what they are buying in terms of everything. Okay, that's interesting. And obviously, we don't live in Singapore, but we hear that a lot of Singaporean people are quite rich. And there's a lot of money here. Not me. Are a lot of people here rich? Or is it just a very small percentage of people? Well, I feel like the wealth is pretty even. So I don't think you see you're super rich and there's nobody that is... I mean, there's not much homeless people. So I guess the wealth is pretty evenly spread. I mean, of course, they're about to be rich people. They're going to be dropping half a million Sing dollars, for sure. Yeah? Yeah. And they do that here? They do. Yeah? Yeah. Every week or not so often? Maybe Austin sells more. Okay, Austin. Austin is the boss. He probably sells to everybody. For people that buy these kind of watches, do people negotiate quite hard? For sure. Really? Okay, that's interesting. Is that in the culture for people to try get a good price? I feel like it is. I feel like once you send me to Far East, regardless which store you go to, I think negotiation is part of the process. Yeah. I think people enjoy, no matter how much money people have, they still like to feel like they have a good deal. Yes, I think that's it. Yeah. Singapore turned out to have one of the most interesting watch markets that I've seen, from watches over 60 years old to modern luxury like Richard Mille and Patek Philippe. Singapore's watch market really does sit at the intersection of old and new. So certainly a country that offers a great variety of watches, and so very well suited for any type of watch collector.