Wristwatch fans, your time has come

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A new wristwatch every month? If you always wanted to have a rich collection of wristwatches, Watch Gang can make your dreams come true. Want to rent some luxury for your wrist? Watch Lending Club is the answer.

The subscription economy is penetrating areas that used to be strictly the domain of boutique shops. This includes men’s wrists, decorated by wristwatches, often the only piece of jewellery that a »real« man can wear.

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Watch Gang is working with an inexhaustible supply of watches to decorate the wrists of its subscribers, who can choose from three different packages costing from 29 to 299 dollars a month, with the value of the wristwatches ranging from 50 to 1500 dollars. Regardless of the package a subscriber picks, a wristwatch will be delivered to their home each month.

But Watch Gang is selling more than just watches; it's selling the expectation of a surprise. Even though the subscribers pick their preferred styles before subscribing, the watches received will still often delight, but sometimes also disappoint the customers. The rule of thumb is that more expensive packages rarely disappoint. Subscribers to the 29 dollar-per-month basic package, on the other hand, often don’t even put on some of the watches.

Watch Gang subscribers receive a package each month, containing a watch from their chosen price range. The rule of thumb is that more expensive the package, the more likely they are to be satisfied with the monthly surprise.

However, according to opinions posted on social media, we can conclude that for a little under 350 dollars a year, the subscribers will receive on average at least four watches that suit their taste. The black package, costing 99 dollars a month, has fewer shipments that »miss the mark«, but the most satisfied are the subscribers to the platinum package. It sets them back 299 dollars a month, but the value of the received watches will often exceed this sum fivefold. Subscribers can also get lucky and win a prestigious Rolex watch in one of the monthly giveaways.

Those not interested in raffles and lotteries who still want to walk around town with a luxuriously decked-out wrist, might prefer to become members of an exclusive club for wristwatch fans. Watch Lending Club (WLC) probably has the widest selection of the very best wristwatches that Swiss watchmakers have to offer.

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The number of envious gazes from friends and passers-by depends on the package selection. They do not come cheap. Each new member must first buy a lifelong membership to wristwatch paradise. This costs 1000 dollars in the bronze package, 5000 dollars in the silver, 10,000 dollars in the most popular gold package, and the membership of the platinum package, which offers the most exclusive, most expensive, as well as the newest wristwatches, costs 20,000 dollars. »The joining fee goes towards growing the club's collection and helps protect the club against fraud«, says the WLC website to justify the high membership costs.

Members get the right to wear, and the priority right to reserve, watches that cost the price of two cars or even a house, by paying a monthly subscription fee. For 100 dollars a month, the members of the bronze club can wear wristwatches selected by the WLC team, with a value of up to 4000 dollars, such as the Omega Seamaster.

The joining fee for the Watch Lending Club starts at a thousand dollars and can go up to 20,000 dollars; the amount and monthly subscription fee dictate the level of prestige of the wristwatches the subscriber can use to show off in front of friends.

In the silver package (150 dollars a month), the value of the watches goes up to 15,000 dollars, which means that the collection includes luxurious pieces by brands such as Panerai, Rolex, and Zenith. Subscribers have the chance to select and reserve the watches they wish to wear.

Life per month in the golden WLC club costs 250 dollars a month, but ticks in the rhythm of the mechanisms of collectors’ luxury watches such as, to name a few, Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore, Patek Philippe Aquanaut, and Rolex Yachtmaster II, the values of which go up to 25,000 dollars. The platinum top of the pyramid can be reached for 500 dollars a month, and the sky’s the limit.

Photo: Rolex

Are you more into renting luxury or opening surprise packages? The choice is yours. But the mere fact that the possibility exists, is proof of the versatility of subscription economy.