Is now the best time to invest in luxury watches? Our guide to scoring collectible pieces from Rolex, Omega and others on the secondary market, with help from the experts at Chrono24 and Christie’s
The luxury watch market is cooling down after the pandemic-fuelled boom, offering an opportunity for collectors to snag coveted timepieces at more affordable prices
In 1636, Dutch society went crazy for exotic tulips, prices rose and people got swept up in the speculative fever, spending a year’s salary on rare bulbs in the hopes of reselling them for a profit. A year later the bubble burst and wreaked havoc on the Dutch economy.
Though what has happened in the primary and secondary watch market over the past four years is not as dramatic, there are clear parallels – in the way that production scarcity during the pandemic, coupled with soaring demand when people with time and the means to spend got into collecting watches, sent prices skyrocketing around the world.
Given the limited supply of new luxury watches and closure of retail branches during Covid-19, people with cash liquidity turned to the secondary market where certain hyped models saw unprecedented levels of appreciation in value, creating a boom that peaked in early 2022.
According to the Bloomberg x Subdial Watch Index (Europe and US markets), prices have dropped markedly, around 27 per cent, over the two years since, across thousands of tracked models. For some models the market is down even more. This is due to increased interest rates in some markets, as well as economic uncertainties. At the same time, brands have been quietly raising their prices to match those inflated in the secondary market, resulting in a correction in the pricing since that boom.
One of the world’s largest luxury watch marketplaces, Chrono24, points out that while prices have dropped, there is no decline in the transaction volume on their platform, where a quarter of their deals are in the Asian market. According to the ChronoPulse Watch Index, “Passionate watch lovers are happy to be able to buy their favourite watches at cheaper prices and may even expect value gains in the long term.”
Other experts agree that now may be a good time to consider investing, as limited and discontinued watches become more accessible. “The current market conditions offer a good opportunity for both new buyers and seasoned collectors to invest in high-quality and vintage watches at more favourable prices,” says Kana Mackie, director of Asia-Pacific at Chrono24, citing some notable examples.
A Tudor Black Bay Harrods 79230G showed a 12.41 per cent decrease from the beginning of 2024, sitting at a current median secondary price of €3,986 (HK$33,834), and the Tank Must De Cartier Blue 2021 WSTA0055 is currently selling for around €3,289, a drop in price of 9.96 per cent over the same period. Perennial higher-end favourites include the Omega Speedmaster “Silver Snoopy Award” with a current median price of €15,794, a 7.27 per cent slide in price, and the Rolex GMT-Master II at around €17,445, 6.57 per cent less than at the start of 2024.
The secondary market is also an important source of prized, hard-to-find and discontinued models. So what options are available to buyers, and how can they test or feel out a piece that’s in someone else’s hands, and know they’re getting good value?