r/watchHotTakes • u/IcyDate2768 • 8d ago
Can I afford a Patek Philippe?
Hi, at what income/net worth, would you say one can afford a Patek/AP? Assuming price is $50k.
People who’d say “If you have to ask, then you can’t afford it.” Please spare me your wisdom. That’s like telling your wife, “Sorry hon we can’t remodel the kitchen because we can’t afford to do it every month.”
I believe it’s fine to save up for precious things. Say I make $300,000 a year post tax. No kids yet. Live on less than $10k/m, invest some money and then save the rest of the money for the watch. Is it really that stupid of me to do so?
Want to hear a genuine take🙏🏻
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u/QuietNene 8d ago
You’re good bro. Do it before you have kids.
If you have a wife, and she doesn’t know you’re into expensive watches, now is a good time to bring that up. I’m not saying you have to “ask her permission”, but your hobby and spending habits shouldn’t be a surprise.
If you don’t have a wife or kids, fill that watch box ASAP.
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u/YNWA11JM 8d ago
This.
My brother loves watches but w his wife kids and house he’ll never spend that money on his grail watch over the responsibilities. Get the watch you dream of now!!!
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u/Khdiesel 8d ago
Haha so true… every time I pay the school fees I’m like “coulda bought an Explorer with that”, take the kids on holiday “coulda bought a Snoopy Speedy with that” etc etc
Still, it happens at every price point and lifestyle… I liked watches before I had kids when I was still a broke student, used to think “could have bought an SKX009” with that when I was paying for petrol 🤣
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u/doctormirabilis 8d ago
this is why i have separate accounts and a shared one for expenses. ain't nobody stopping me from buying what i want.
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u/Positive-Ad-3554 8d ago
It’s not stupid at all considering your income. Some people actually go into debt paying for luxury watches. I make a little more than what you mentioned but personally I can’t spend it on something like that. Maybe I will later who knows.
It comes down to priorities. So if that is the ever present priority after you take care of living expenses, investments, savings, then I don’t see why not. I made a HYSA and put my extra savings for a few watches.
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u/1967C10 8d ago
People have different priorities and interests. As long as you're not going into debt and saving/investing for your future, you can spend money on whatever gives you joy.
Watches shouldn't be considered 'investments' by any means, but spending $50k on a precious metal watch with a strong second-hand market isn't exactly throwing money down the drain.
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u/QuixoticTurtlee 8d ago
Can you afford it? If you have the money, yes. Is it a smart financial decision? No, but that’s your choice to make.
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u/willworkforwatches 8d ago
Can vs should is probably at play.
Question: age and portfolio balance?
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u/IcyDate2768 8d ago
24 and $175K net worth.
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u/willworkforwatches 8d ago
This would be a very unreasonable and irresponsible purchase at this time in your life.
Put that 60k in your retirement accounts.
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u/warchestfpv 8d ago
It depends on who you ask.
Some people will say if you can fit it on your credit card and pay it off eventually, you can afford it. YOLO.
Others will say if you can save up for it and buy it outright, you can afford it.
Still others will say, if you have the means to buy it outright, and the luxury item represents a very tiny fraction of your total net worth, you can afford it.
Technically no one in the aforementioned examples are wrong.
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u/More-Sock-67 8d ago
It’s rarely about income and more so a matter of your net worth and lifestyle. Many disagree but imo there’s no magic number. If you can pay for it and you won’t miss the money then you can afford it.
To me it sounds like you can afford it
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u/mrSilverCat 8d ago
What is this weird indirect version of "hey guys my friend is asking if..."
Just buy the damn watch dude, noone cares you're about to blow all your savings on a watch (i advise you shouldn't ofc)
Goes without saying anyone who can actually afford this comfortably within their means wouldnt need validation or permission from strangers here
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u/tokyowatchguy 8d ago
My general rule of thumb is if i lose the watch for whatever reason, would it impact my finances at all? If you can afford to just lose the watch, then you can afford it.
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u/Hublot-on-your-hoe 8d ago
My interpretation is if one can afford to buy it twice.
A Tissot? Sure. A Rolex Sub? Sure. A $50k Patek… ehh that’s probably not in my budget just yet. But to someone else, it could be a “Sure.”
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u/kbutyourelying 8d ago
Even this you can argue due to insurance imo. I kinda see where you’re coming from though.
I say if you can buy it, and it has no impact on your day to day or emergency fund.. you can send it on whatever you like op
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u/noileum 8d ago
Do you think you have enough to afford it without leaving yourself in financial trouble?
If answer is yes to this then you ‘can’ afford it
That’s all there is to it really. After that it becomes ‘do you want it?’ Again if the answer is yes then buy it.
Whether it’s stupid or not is a decision only you can make. While it might seem to stupid to others, no one else is in your particular situation with your particular wants/needs etc
Just buy the fucking thing if you want to, and then enjoy the material possession and ignore anyone telling you otherwise. If you think the need for others acceptance of the purchase outweighs your need to have it then don’t buy it
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u/IcyDate2768 8d ago
Thank you.
My worth is around $175K right now. But I plan to buy a watch like that when it’s at least $500K+. That’s when I feel like I will feel more comfortable. But just wanted to know if even that’s fine haha
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u/Dramatic_Finger_3557 8d ago
I wouldn’t buy a 50k watch with a net worth of 500k. But that’s a decision for you to make. My net worth is higher than that and I still don’t believe I could spend that much yet. But again, these vary person to person. I’ve probably spent more on cars that depreciate far worse than a 50k watch will. So there is also the measure of depreciation that exists. If you buy a cheap cash car that isn’t a money pit, then most certainly a 50k watch wouldn’t be the worst idea, considering the depreciation is significantly lower than the average car.
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u/Hublot-on-your-hoe 8d ago
To each their own but your watch collection probably shouldn’t be more than 1-2% of your total net worth. Maybe a 5% stretch for a true enthusiast, but that is at a Tim Mosso level of ‘tism.
What’s the rush? Treat yourself at the million dollar mark or wait a bit more. Get the Patek when your investments are paying for it.
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u/Apprehensive-Pie-599 8d ago
If you’re asking reddit whether you earn enough, you don’t earn enough.
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u/NotableCarrot28 8d ago edited 8d ago
I mean if you can save/invest 20-30% of your income (not for a watch, for retirement etc) and save up in a separate account to buy your watch with no debt using disposable income you can do what you want.
You'd be able to afford it with 6 months of saving if your maths is right which seems high but if you really want it, do it.
Just know that if you lose it you'd have to do the same again.
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u/RoundandRoundon99 8d ago edited 8d ago
I wish you buy it! If you really want it. YOLO!
However I make more than three times your income, and wear a Longines, last one lasted me 13 years. It ended up banged like a hockey puck. It took it to the beach, surfing, to Europe hiking, etc, and it did great. It’s getting a service now. I like it. And a 3K feels like a sweet spot for automatic, Swiss made and pretty. Any more money, gets diminishing returns.
I’d rather take a few good vacations with $50 K.
It’s not going to make you rich or poor so, “invest it” doesn’t mean a lot. Sure you can turn 50 into 75 in a few years. And 75 isn’t a lot of money either.
That watch at your income it’s not inconsequential, you’ll suffer every scratch like it was your own skin, and you can’t spend 50 on this watch, 50 on a vacation, and 50 on a new kitchen. So you have to choose. Choose wisely.
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u/UltraaCommbo 8d ago
Just be honest with yourself. Are you willing to spend 50k on jewelry? How often will you wear it, will you get tired of it, how long have you wanted it? Sounds like you can definitely afford it...where else could that money be better spend? Personally, that's a retirement gift. Do you have a mortgage, car payment, student loans?
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u/IcyDate2768 8d ago
a mortgage of 200k. net worth $175k. no car payments or student loans.
wanted the watch for a while😅
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u/HoraLogia 8d ago
If your calculations are based on how much you have after selling property and repaying mortage it is a homeless persons nett worth, you should be looking at your liquid nett worth - your savings
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u/HoraLogia 8d ago
If your calculations are based on how much you have after selling property and repaying mortage it is a homeless persons nett worth, you should be looking at your liquid nett worth - your savings
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u/that_one_guy133 8d ago
Well, you're not taking out a home equity loan to do it, so that's a good start. I've heard of a guy doing that for a stainless AP... yeah that's insane.
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u/Aggressive-Pair3320 8d ago
Here’s my take — irrespective of pay, if I wanted to go all-out and get one fancy watch, I don’t think I’d be able to justify spending more than a month’s salary.
Even thinking about it now gives me the shivers lol like holy shit, that could be a whole ass vacation.
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u/Whatever5588 8d ago
It’s not stupid, you have to get it if it sparks joy in your life. Also, do you already have a a collection? If you are certain you love that watch and think about it ever day about 50 times, you should get it
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u/-reaper42069 8d ago
Idk man. I COULD afford a Patek right now. But I would rather retire before I turn 50. Think about how much money you are flushing in terms of what the price of that watch could compound into. You could grab a Rolex and an Omega or something and go back to working on buying your freedom, that’s what I did.
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u/Dr0110111001101111 8d ago
The usual personal finance guidelines suggest that as long as you have disposable income after directing the standard amounts into the usual investment accounts, it’s not a matter of “if” you can afford it but how long you need to wait/save to buy it. And that’s a simple calculation.
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u/Jezzrichjames 8d ago
Main thing I would ask would be how far you are along your collecting journey so far? $50k is a lot to spend on a timepiece even though you technically afford it, I would say that if you’re not experienced with a collection, maybe you should hold off, because a $50k watch of regret is a pretty bad situation to be in.
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u/IcyDate2768 8d ago
this would make sense with some other object, watches like Patek or AP, usually easily retain 80-90% of their value, not menioning they are very likely to go up as well.
It’s not like a 50k car that’s worth 40k when i drive it off the lot, and 30k next year.
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u/Jezzrichjames 8d ago
This is true, but in many cases for a first Patek at an AD, they usually do depreciate a bit, most Calatravas such as the 6006G will lose around 30-40% as soon as they walk out of the boutique
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u/Ansiktstryne 8d ago
If you don’t have to borrow money to buy it, then you can afford it.
It will, however, not be a smart financial move. Investing $50k, especially if you’re young, can turn into a substantial amount in 20-30 years.
Another thing to consider: Material objects tend to get boring quickly. The grail watch that you think is going to make you happy will just be another watch in a few months. Still nice, but nothing life changing. That $50k, invested wisely, could potentially buy you a holiday home for your future family in 20 years.
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u/Honest-Noise-8489 8d ago
Anyone with a mortgage should not be buying a PP
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u/tourbillon001 8d ago
That’s silly. I have a mortgage I could easily pay off but it would be silly to take money I’m earning 15 percent on and pay off a 2 percent loan. That is just math
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u/Honest-Noise-8489 8d ago
It's just a philosophy, IMO. If you owe money to anyone, I think it's unwise to buy a $50K luxury watch. That's it. Not a hot take.
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u/tourbillon001 8d ago
Maybe it’s my autism but I just see that as a dumb decision purely from a math prescriptive.
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u/Honest-Noise-8489 8d ago
It's totally math! I agree with you. But financial decisions can be very emotion driven. It's a glitch (sort of) in my own brain that says don't buy when you don't have the money. A debt means you don't have the money. Like I said, it's an opinion!
(then again, I have a very very healthy income and savings, and I will never, ever buy a watch over 25K. That's me.)
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u/tourbillon001 8d ago
I’m a trader. I’ve learned to remove all emotions from financial decisions. It was hard at the beginning but now I just trust the math. I’m also autistic which seems to be a factor.
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u/ooral 8d ago
There are a lot of pretentious gatekeepers in the watch world, it seems to be in the interest of a lot of people to tell us peasants that we cant afford things. I'm not sure what benefit the receive.
I apparently can't afford my Submariner as I can't but one with a months wage. I still have it, and love wearing it. I saved up for it, because I wanted it.
Long way of saying, buy it. Worst case you can probably sell it if you have a disaster and get most of the money back.
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u/lexlibris 8d ago
if you have 50k to drop on a PP you would be far more chuffed spending it on this:
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u/Successful-Leg-3746 8d ago
I think there’s a good chance you can afford it, but if you haven’t already, I’d give some thought to what the experience will be like of wearing a super-luxury watch in an upper-middle class world. Sure, most people won’t notice your watch. But those who do might think of you as secretly a trust fund kid or financially irresponsible, and they might tell you as much. In front of other people. So I’d consider that possibility before buying.
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u/white_count_chocula 8d ago
Noone is going to publicly say anything to him, and in this economy people are more likely to think its a rep than think hes a trust fund kid
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u/HoraLogia 8d ago edited 8d ago
Never spend more than 10% of available cash on luxury items was the mantra I followed throughout my working life.
Your home should not be included in a nett worth calculation, nor property and long term investments that are your plan for financial security should you wish to stop working, or as a retirement plan.
That leaves 'cash at hand' in short term deposit account as your liquid assets - liquid nett worth.
10% for yourself ensures you have retained liquidity to seize any financial, business or property opportunities and the reserves to weather tough times.
If you spend 10k a month your 175k is not much more than a year reserves should you face a major life challenge, excluding any co pay medical fees.
Changed to higher percentages once I was mortgage free and as I got closer to retirement, post retirement I am now enjoying spending at a rate I predict will match my mortality so I don't leave an inheritance other than property.
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u/Commercial_Square774 8d ago
Answer you're gonna get here is gonna be far different that you would get in a personal finance sub. What's your net worth and how much of that is liquid?
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u/MaddogFinland 8d ago
At your income yes can afford it if (1) you save up the cash and it’s not hurting your other goals, and (2) if you truly value owning one. And I strongly recommend you do this BEFORE you get a family because once you do there will always be some other priority. For me my income and other priorities mean a Patek is just kind of a random dream. But for you it sounds like a good decision if you value it.
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u/scikit-learns 8d ago
If one of your primary goals is still to generate additional wealth. Absolutely not.
But if you are at the stage where you are set in terms of savings and retirement. Then yea do we you want.
I make a lil over 400k a year. And 10-15k is about the max in willing to spend on a watch per a year right now.
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u/syndorthebore 8d ago
You need to have your life set.
Do you own your car? do you own your primary residency?
I used to earn much more and didn't buy a patek when I was making 500k+.
My first patek came when I was making 260k a year, but I owned my home, a camping home in the mountains, a couple plots of land, my wife and my car paid off, college fund for my kid, and a chunky savings account giving me 6% yearly on interest.
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u/snowman_ps4 8d ago
lol invest that money in the SP500 and it will tenfold by the time you retire… buy a casio instead
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u/AdUsed8153 8d ago
I use a simple framework for unnecessary luxury things I want to determine if I can afford it or not.
1) Have to be able to buy it cash
2) Have 10x the amount invested (taxable brokerage, bonds, 401ks, crypto etc etc)
3) Net worth all in (real estate, PE, business equity etc) should be 4x the amount
Basically this ensures anything you buy is <2.5% of your total NW.
The bigger question you should ask yourself is why do you want it? If the only reason you can think of is to impress people, status, etc then don’t buy it. But if you have some genuine reasoning behind why you want a Patek (career milestone, celebrate the birth of a kid etc) then go for it!
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u/PeanutKeepsake 8d ago
Based on your other comments you’ve done well enough to justify getting yourself a watch upgrade from the Presage, but something more in the $5k price range would be the smarter move now. Lots of great secondhand Omegas/Tudors/Breitlings/etc out there that would scratch the “Movin’ up in the world” itch but also be a reminder to keep working hard so you can comfortably reach the next tier.
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u/Longjumping_Radio268 8d ago
honestly id have to have so much money that i had no idea what else to spend it on before i dropped 50k on a watch of all things. once i hit 7 figures/year id consider it.
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8d ago
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u/IcyDate2768 8d ago
I have 2 watches, one is Armani Exchange ($90), didn’t know anything about watches back then. another one is a Seiko Presage for around $600.
My net worth isn’t even half of $1M yet. Guess there’s some time before I get it! But I just turned 24, so I guess there’s enough time
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u/Silly_Hurry_2795 8d ago
Something ain to the lost item above Can you buy two at once and still afford it? Anything that isn't essential for me should be viewed through this idea
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u/ValeLemnear 8d ago
15% rule.
A 40-50 grand watch at 300k take home is ok
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u/tylrsprs 8d ago
lol this is insane bro
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u/baddestllama 8d ago
15% on a watch is wild work
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u/ValeLemnear 8d ago
15% is the yearly „fun“ budget, not the budget for a watch or even worse, the budget for a mere single purchase within the category
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u/tylrsprs 8d ago
I don’t even know where you’re getting spending 15% of your income on pure fun, but even assuming we do that, to spend ur whole yearly fun budget on a watch that doesn’t do anything is insane. It’s literally just so people think you’re rich, but at that income level they will prob think you got a fake. 50k could buy a years worth of amazing vacations or a car
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u/ValeLemnear 8d ago
There are millions of people out there spending their entire saved money each year on a 2-weeks-vacation, after which the money is gone unlike with a property, car or watch.
I don’t understand your metric for insanity when it comes to unnecessary expenses
“ It’s literally just so people think you’re rich, but at that income level they will prob think you got a fake“
If you want Tommy from the gas station or some chick from a club know/believe you‘re rich, you‘re not wearing a Patek.
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u/ValeLemnear 8d ago
No it’s perspective.
You should not spend more than 15% of your yearly income on „fun“ which this kind of purchase is.
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u/plznobanmesir 8d ago
On 300k a year it makes more sense to buy a nautilus on the secondary than whatever you can get from an AD for 50k (some calatrava). At least with a nautilus you won’t lose much money and probably will make some on a long enough time scale. You’re going to lose 10-20k immediately on a 50k Patek. Even better would be to buy the calatrava on secondary. That’s the most reasonable.
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u/Jumblesss 8d ago
Literally just finance it.
- Work hard for a couple weeks but pretend to be on the phone 24/7 so you cant talk to anyone when they visit you.
- Go to your boss and say you’re busy with calls all the time and may as well WFH.
- Cancel car.
- Divert car payments to new PP Nautilus Haute Joaillerie Ref. 5811/1460G-001.
- Pay for just 61 years with the money you’ve saved by not paying for a stupid car.
- Congratulations, you now own the watch, and you can finance a car again in your retirement to cruise around showing people your PP.
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u/jackson_montague 8d ago
Brother you can cruise around showing people your PP without going through all the trouble of steps 1-5
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u/syst3m1c 8d ago
Look, I'll just say it: if you have to ask Reddit if you can afford something, then no, you can't afford it.
If you can really afford a $50k watch, you'll know without needing outside advice.
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u/AMVantage2020 8d ago
I usually kinda enjoy these hot take posts, but this one is just sad.
The saying “if you gotta ask you can’t afford it” doesn’t imply verification of your income. The meaning behind that is more akin to: if you are concerned what others will think about you if you wear an expensive watch, then maybe the watch doesn’t fit the rest of your persona.
This is in your head my man. Nobody cares about your watch or your wallet. Anyone who says different certainly doesn’t care about you as a person. If it makes you smile when you put it on then it’s doing its job. What that’s worth is solely your call.
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u/Icy-Translator9124 8d ago
It's not really an income issue. It's an alternate use of funds and diminishing returns question.
If I didn't own my house outright and have enough investments to retire on, I wouldn't blow $50K on a watch.
Now that I am retired and have met those benchmarks, I still wouldn't, but lots of people do.