Prices for discontinued watches such as Patek Philippe’s blue-dialed Nautilus and Audemars Piguet’s Royal Oak Jumbo have been falling since March. Chrono24, global online women’s watch trading marketplace, says reports of the price collapse in the secondary market are exaggerated.
As we recently revealed, popular replica watches such as Rolex, Patek Philippe, and Rolex were already trading at times higher than retail prices earlier this year.
The rarest and most popular, especially discontinuing models such as the Patek Philippe Nautilus 5711/1A and the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Jumbo, continued to rise in price before falling at the end of March.
Rolex’s range of the most in-demand Oyster Perpetuals also went out of production at the end of the first quarter. Their values soared until then but have since fallen back sharply, in some cases by half from their peak to the end of June.
“We’re currently experiencing a consolidation in the market – there’s more supply and therefore prices are falling. The supply of unicorns or trophy watches, which were very limited for a long time, such as the Patek Philippe Nautilus 5711A or replica Rolex Daytona, is now in much greater supply, so individual watches are becoming cheaper,” describes Tim Stracke, co-CEO of Chrono24.
Reports show that buying and selling have almost stopped among dealers – a significant volume on the secondary market – but Mr. Stracke says trading has gone up.
“In the first half of this year, we saw a significant year-over-year increase of more than 50 percent in trading volume for Chrono24,” he reveals.
While prices declined in the second quarter, they are still well above the levels seen in recent years and significantly higher than the authorized dealer prices for the prestigious list of unicorn watches.
While dealers profit from selling more unicorn watches, an alternative market for the usual AP, Patek, and Rolex watches creates buying opportunities.
“According to our data, we are seeing a significant jump upward in prices for fake watches like the Girard-Perregaux Laureato. Demand for almost all models in the Omega Speedmaster line has risen sharply, as have sales prices, partly due to the huge promotional success of the Lunar watch for women. watches from Cartier and Breitling have also risen significantly in price and demand,” said Mr. Stracke of Chrono24.
