- The secondary watch market has declined over the previous years.
- However there are nonetheless makes and fashions that may promote for properly above retail worth.
- These are the ten fashions which might be the most effective funding proper now — if yow will discover them new.
Final yr was not form to the secondary watch market — and issues are usually not wanting a lot better for the primary quarter of 2025.
After peaking in Might 2022, watch costs on the secondary market have fallen for 11 straight quarters, in keeping with a report from WatchCharts and Morgan Stanley that got here out earlier this month,
Within the final months of 2024, the resale watch market continued to say no, with costs for the complete yr down 5.7% in comparison with 2023.
Over the previous couple of years, stock has flooded the resale market as those that bought watches as an funding when the market was scorching rushed to money out. On the similar time, the luxurious market has struggled amid rising rates of interest and financial uncertainty.
“As soon as they see the costs falling and that there is much less liquidity available in the market, they attempt to promote,” Charles Tian, the founder and CEO of WatchCharts, advised Enterprise Insider. “That floods the market with stock and inevitably drives costs down.”
The market could not have reached an inflection level fairly but. The WatchCharts and Morgan Stanley report predicts secondary costs will “proceed to fall for the foreseeable future.”
“Most manufacturers might want to navigate the widening hole between retail and secondary costs, driving extra value-oriented customers towards the secondary market and difficult model notion by probably making retail costs seem overpriced to some clients,” the report’s authors wrote.
Nonetheless, some watches make higher investments than others.
The Massive Three — Rolex, Patek Philippe, and Audemars Piguet — nonetheless make up about 64% of the market. As of January 2025, most Rolex and Audemars Piguet fashions commerce above retail — 56% and 63%, respectively — as do 38% of Patek Philippe fashions, per the report.
“Luxurious manufacturers like Rolex and Audemars Piguet have a method of sustaining restricted availability at official retailers, which regularly signifies that a lot of their most fascinating fashions are perpetually bought out in shops,” Paul Altieri, the founder and CEO of on-line luxurious watch retailer Bob’s Watches, mentioned of the Massive Three producers, likening them to luxurious trend gamers like Hermès.
“Anytime you have got demand exceeding provide, the place the provision is proscribed, or demand is hyperinflated, you get this huge disparity between secondary market worth and retail worth,” he added.
Recognizable fashions just like the Rolex Daytona or GMT-Grasp II are perpetually in excessive demand, Tian mentioned, whereas different types can rocket into the stratosphere due to social media developments.
Altieri mentioned that basic Rolex types, just like the Daytona and Submariner, are typically timeless, including that the model makes up greater than 75% of Bob’s Watches gross sales.
Chrono24, a Germany-based market, pulled the ten fashions promoting on the highest premiums over the producer’s prompt retail worth. {The marketplace} offered the resale costs in euros, which BI transformed to US {dollars} as of February third.
The vast majority of the watches on the record are Patek Philippe’s Aquanaut mannequin, a set of minimalist and sporty watches that has been round for practically three many years and is available in varied metals and finishes.
Whereas the numbers recommend these fashions make the neatest purchases, Altieri warns towards selecting a watch solely due to its resale worth.
“Discover one thing you will take pleasure in, not one thing that you simply assume will go up in worth,” he mentioned. “High quality belongings at all times go up in worth, whether or not it is actual property, shares, arts, or watches, so purchase what you want.”
