Part III: Investing in collectibles “Solution 2: Give a miss to expensive brand names” -Larry Haverkamp, 07 Aug 2013

An even better choice than “riding a fake thoroughbred” is to get off the horse entirely. 

What? 

That’s right! Why be a slave to brands in the first place? 

Do you really need to overpay for brand-name watches just because manufacturers tell you to?  Keep in mind that a $100 watch keeps time just as accurately as one costing $10,000.

That’s because nearly all watches use identical quartz movements, 95 per cent of which are made by ETA, a subsidiary of the Swatch Watch Co in Switzerland.  It’s true whether you pay $100 or $10,000 for a watch. What goes inside is the same for all quartz movements, which is what nearly all watches use.

LOOKING RICH IS UN-COOL 

Try jumping off the high-cost branded bandwagon and go with the latest trend: Under-consumption. 

It has caught on in the US, especially among the high-tech novo-rich, many of whom don’t own a single collectible, unless you count their collection of hoodies and torn blue jeans – (and the chance of those being fake is close to zero).

You can do it too. Go for the laid-back look.  Before you know it, you’ll be wearing a hoodie over your faded t-shirt and living the humble life!

 Larry Haverkamp

August 7 2013

Source: http://www.btinvest.com.sg/blogs/2013/08/07/part-iii-investing-in-collectibles/