this may be temporary because there is saturation of the market... and that the Patek market is really not affected by the 'economy' because there will always be a segment/market (even half percent of the richest ) that will buy/desire a Patek... and that the price ratio/proportion of high-end watch
There is this one store we went to in HK (sorry no name as per forum guidelines) all hard to get Patek's (in all metals) e.g. Patek enameled world time were just sitting in their display drawers. I'm not talking of Patek alone, all top brands APs , Panerais, VC, JLC etc etc. IN contrast when we went
The higher price you paid for the older reference would be insignificant in less than a year's time. The bonus is that you've got what you really wanted. Gilbert