Custom diamond set watches – Luxury upgrade or money pit?

Custom diamond watches – not the luxury upgrade or bargain you’d expect

I understand from an aesthetics perspective why some people like aftermarket or ‘custom’ set diamond watches. But from a value standpoint, short of running over the watch with your car, there is little more you could do to devalue it. Contrary to what you may have heard, ‘ icing’ out your watch does not increase its value or make it more sellable. It is, in fact, akin to driving a stake through the watch’s heart, putting concrete boots on it and throwing it in the Thames.

The cost of this aftermarket customisation doesn’t stop with the monetary figure paid to ‘bling’ it out in the first place; that will disappear into the aether, never to be seen again. But the ongoing cost of ownership will be significant. Few people realise that any customisation completely invalidates any warranty on the watch and, in most cases, precludes any future involvement from the brand. Which in English means you can’t get it serviced or repaired by the brand’s workshops. If you’re lucky, they may agree to service the watch, but only under the condition that they can return it to ‘factory’ standard first, which will be at your expense. So imagine buying a new case and bracelet for your watch on top of the service cost.

You could get a non-accredited watch repairer to do the work, but they won’t have access to the correct tooling or parts. So at best, they’ll be using cannibalised parts from old movements, but more likely, it’ll be cheap Chinese parts. Would you take a Ferrari to the local run of the mill garage? Probably not.

But that’s the least of your problems because most custom watches have custom dials, as the original dial wasn’t designed to be fitted with diamonds. Most custom dials are adorned with the brand’s name and logo, making them counterfeit. And do you know what insurance company won’t insure?. That’s right counterfeit items.

So you’re left with a custom watch that you can’t get serviced, can’t insure and has had its legs cut off value-wise. My advice? Don’t buy custom diamond set watches!