This Watch Worth Tens of Millions That Was Impossible to Buy... Prices Are Dropping Rapidly, What's Happening?

Continued Decline in Pre-Owned Luxury Watch Prices Including Rolex
Experts Say "Fewer Resellers"...Good News for General Consumers

The prices of some pre-owned Rolex watch models, which recently experienced scarcity, are declining, leading to an overall drop in the luxury watch secondhand market.

On the 20th (local time), Yahoo Finance reported, citing Morgan Stanley's analysis, that the prices of pre-owned Swiss luxury watches, including Rolex, have fallen for two consecutive years since the COVID-19 pandemic.

The price of pre-owned watches is an indicator of the value of specific watches and also influences the prices of new watches sold in the regular market.

According to the report, the index of the 'Watch Chart Market Index,' which tracks the prices of 60 representative watches from the top 10 Swiss watch brands, was recorded at 64,687. This represents a 2.1% decrease from the previous quarter and a 1.2% decrease year-over-year in the second quarter. Morgan Stanley analysts explained that the index peaked in the first quarter of 2022, when the pandemic was at its height, and has declined for nine consecutive quarters since then.

Rolex watch

Analysts pointed out that the supply of Rolex watches to the gray market, including the secondhand market, is decreasing. As prices of items in the gray market fall, the profitability of resellers who buy from luxury watch stores at a premium and resell has declined, reducing their incentive to sell watches.

However, as investment demand from resellers decreases, it is becoming easier for general consumers to obtain watches. Charles Tian, CEO of Watch Chart, said in an interview with Yahoo Finance, "With speculative buying demand decreasing, it has become relatively easier to acquire Rolex watches in the primary market."

The waiting time to receive new products has also shortened. According to analyses by Morgan Stanley and Watch Chart, the waiting times for the Submariner, GMT-Master II, and Explorer collections have decreased compared to last year.

The waiting time for the 2022 GMT-Master II model was 180 days, but this year it is recorded as 90 days. The Submariner's waiting time was 90 days in 2022, 105 days in 2023, and now only 68 days are required to purchase one.