Time to buy some Watches.
- Thread starter Butcher82
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Well there are no problems to purchase Breitling, they are everywhere. So it will not be good for reselling. But thanks for the offer 🙂
It's not so easy and it's not an investment.
The point is, no watch is guaranteed to raise in value, but the ones that may do so, are already very hard to purchase at retail price - means you need to buy a lot of "not investment products" in order to be offered those pieces.
For example, the Rolex Daytona "Panda" (retailing around 17k USD, secondary market price around 30k), the store manager told me it needs 350k USD purchase history to be put in the list to be able to buy it in the future.
Of course, that depends on the retailer, the country, etc.
But this is Rolex: for higher level brands like Patek and AP it's much, much harder to get on-demand pieces (in AP, I was first offered a 490k$ piece in order to "unlock" a Royal Oak worth 40k).
On the other hand, with a retailer where I have purchase history, I got offered a Daytona at 38k which would be worth around 50k to resell. But, if you account the purchase history with other watches and jewelry, my ROI would still be negative.
If, on the other hand, you plan to buy on secondary market and resell on secondary market - so, just hoping to monetize a market trend, keep in mind that you're paying the store fee twice (and they're the ones making the real money).
Chrono24 prices are fine when you buy. But when it's time to sell, account for 70-80% of that price, because the retailer buying it from you needs to have his margin.
And, in this disadvantaged position, you also hope for a market raise to not only recover your losses, but even make a profit. While it's technically possible, I don't believe there's pieces obviously going to raise in price, especially for smaller price points.
Some Pateks were built in very limited supply, sure, they may raise in price.
Rolex makes millions of pieces, so you're actually betting the market demand will increase faster than their production. Good luck with that.
So... If you like watches, go for it, but it's not an investment strategy.
The point is, no watch is guaranteed to raise in value, but the ones that may do so, are already very hard to purchase at retail price - means you need to buy a lot of "not investment products" in order to be offered those pieces.
For example, the Rolex Daytona "Panda" (retailing around 17k USD, secondary market price around 30k), the store manager told me it needs 350k USD purchase history to be put in the list to be able to buy it in the future.
Of course, that depends on the retailer, the country, etc.
But this is Rolex: for higher level brands like Patek and AP it's much, much harder to get on-demand pieces (in AP, I was first offered a 490k$ piece in order to "unlock" a Royal Oak worth 40k).
On the other hand, with a retailer where I have purchase history, I got offered a Daytona at 38k which would be worth around 50k to resell. But, if you account the purchase history with other watches and jewelry, my ROI would still be negative.
If, on the other hand, you plan to buy on secondary market and resell on secondary market - so, just hoping to monetize a market trend, keep in mind that you're paying the store fee twice (and they're the ones making the real money).
Chrono24 prices are fine when you buy. But when it's time to sell, account for 70-80% of that price, because the retailer buying it from you needs to have his margin.
And, in this disadvantaged position, you also hope for a market raise to not only recover your losses, but even make a profit. While it's technically possible, I don't believe there's pieces obviously going to raise in price, especially for smaller price points.
Some Pateks were built in very limited supply, sure, they may raise in price.
Rolex makes millions of pieces, so you're actually betting the market demand will increase faster than their production. Good luck with that.
So... If you like watches, go for it, but it's not an investment strategy.
thats nuts, just buy on the gray market. No wait and "only" 50% upmark which is still way less than 350k spent on stuff one might dont want or dont need (unless the girlfriend is into jewelry. )
Yes that's my point: f you are interested only in one specific watch, it's better to buy gray.
Actually I found a dealer in Denmark who had plenty of Rolex watches, used, on stock, you can buy them immediately, there were also 5 - 10 new Rolex watches you could pay for and walk out the door.
They knew there were wait time on the watches but told be they have special connections and therefore able to get the Rolex watches for direct sale without wait time. It is a huge shop in the middle of a big city.
They knew there were wait time on the watches but told be they have special connections and therefore able to get the Rolex watches for direct sale without wait time. It is a huge shop in the middle of a big city.
Probably a gray dealer selling at market price.
If it's a Rolex authorized dealer, they are low-demand pieces, guaranteed.
ADs are authorized to sell to anyone walking in, but they will empty their stocks in one day with no extra profit.
Since these watches are guaranteed to sell anyway, it's more profitable for them to play in the long run and reserve those watches to high-paying clients, rather than giving them to the first person entering the store.
yeah its straight from econ 101 book, at the market price theres no shortage at all. I know a few of these gray dealers and I could get basically most models at very short notice.
It seems to me that running an official Rolex shop is a better move than investing in watches.
I know a few countries that don't have one yet...
Why I got initially interested in this topic is that I have a couple of friends who all the time buy Rolexes for themselves and their wives and they always buy them from some resellers paying them 10-15k over the original price. For example, the steel Daytona is around 25K and they pay 40-41 for it. So I was thinking why not get those Daytonas somehow and sell to them or someone else with this good margin. But all this hype is only about Rolexes, I didn't see anyone hunting after other brands like that.
For now from the posts of people here who obviously understand things in this subject, I see that there is no sense in using the watches for investing, but they are still good for fast flipping if you can get a good initial price.
For now from the posts of people here who obviously understand things in this subject, I see that there is no sense in using the watches for investing, but they are still good for fast flipping if you can get a good initial price.
30k right now on Chrono. Unless they do some other trickery (like falsely claiming VAT refunds, which is a criminal offence btw), the margins are not so great.
You would get better returns investing in Pokemon or MTG cards imho. Also much easier to store and travel with.
Not all people buy online such things. Many want to pay cash.
"As of January 2025, the retail price of the stainless steel Rolex Cosmograph Daytona (reference 126500LN) is approximately €16,000."
If you get it for 16k and resell for 30k, why bad margin?
interesting discussion - I always wanted to understand luxury watches
on one hand it makes a good sense when it comes to old watches not made any more (discontinued irreproducible model, famous watchmaker passed away, manufacture closed, ...) - like vintage old cars or any scarce collectible
on the other hand I don't get the logic behind waiting for given model of Rolex for example.... what value can have such an impractical superfluous thing whose availability is apparently controlled by the producer to signal artificial scarcity? it's a weird "investment" like buying a new BMW hoping it will somehow appreciate over time (well the car has at least undeniable practical use-case)... what am I missing?
on one hand it makes a good sense when it comes to old watches not made any more (discontinued irreproducible model, famous watchmaker passed away, manufacture closed, ...) - like vintage old cars or any scarce collectible
on the other hand I don't get the logic behind waiting for given model of Rolex for example.... what value can have such an impractical superfluous thing whose availability is apparently controlled by the producer to signal artificial scarcity? it's a weird "investment" like buying a new BMW hoping it will somehow appreciate over time (well the car has at least undeniable practical use-case)... what am I missing?
You are missing the fact called "available alternatives" and the fact that the watches at least can be worn on the arm. If you invested in Swissair, you got paper, if you invest in bitcoin, you get nothing.
Also, you need to decide what to do with your time on this planet. With a Rolex, you certainly can keep track of it better than without. But do you want to make 4k per month by running from Asia to Frankfury to Paris to Rome buying watches and handbags for reselling? If you are broke, it is a good business. If you have 4k per month, it is a waste of time.
And then, there are people that like collecting. The like spending time in auction hauses buying and selling. If you do enjoy this, then trading second hand watches, stamps, coins, paintings, etc. is heaven.
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