Agree with you Jeff, there are certain Heuers (and I'm sure the same in other brands) which are super rare, but don't have huge value because they are unknown to the general watch collecting public. In the general watch collecting public I'd classify everyone from those that own a couples of Rolexes or Omegas and know that the Mcqueen Heuer is an icon, to a serious collector with say 5-10 Heuers. Then beyond this there are the few brand "anoraks" who are obsessive so they would care about some rare variation (the term anorak is a british term, half disparaging, and half affectionate, used to describe any obessive collector, soriginating with the guys who stand for hours on railway platforms collecting sightings of rare trains. OK, maybe I exaggerated about the half affectionate.) But there are too few of these "anoraks" to sustain any sort of value in the watch. So you are right, you have to ask yourself do I really like this watch to pay up for the rarity (the first one that comes around has 2-3 people pushing the price up).

For myself, I can think of some examples - the TMH "non" calculator, which I bought - I really love the design, so I was happy to bid like crazy for it, and I love it now I own it. It doesn't matter to me that it is just a weird oddity and will not keep (or increase) it's value like a classic carrera or monaco. Picture is below.

A contrary example (OK, this is one with more widespread appeal) is the diver autavia 11063. I never really liked the design (too rolex wannabee for my tastes) but one the other hand I really need it to complete my otherwise full collection of the 11063 line. The one someone was selling on the forum a week ago was really superb (I loved the decompression bezel - very rare!), but I can't justify the cost as I would rather have other heure models (or omegas) at that price. So that will just have to remain a hole in the collection.

Talking of stupid rare models to love - the 2446 autavia case skipper is now no.1 on my wishlist, so if anyone wants to sell theirs for an excellent price or trade for something serious, please contact me!