The crisis has hit luxury watches too

Everything has its time.

The decline in car and real estate sales has also hit the luxury watch market.

The downturn in the second-hand market has spread to authorized dealers as well.

Dealers where we used to queue up to buy watches in previous years are now looking for customers.

In our country, interest rates have replaced luxury watches, which were once seen as an investment vehicle.

Those receiving up to 50 percent annual interest on their money no longer want to invest their cash in cars, homes, or luxury watches.

It's all about interest rates now...

According to the WatchCharts Overall Market Index, the watch market has declined by 9.4 percent annually.

Sales figures for brands among the world's most famous watch companies, such as Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet, and Rolex, have fallen by 12.4 percent in value.

In the watch market, which has been experiencing a decline since 2022, Patek Philippe has seen a drop of 10.6 percent, Audemars Piguet 12.4 percent, and Rolex 7.1 percent.

According to Forbes, the decline in the Swiss second-hand luxury watch market reached 2.1 percent in 2024.

All other brands have also been affected by the drop in the second-hand market.

No brand with a market price above 3 thousand dollars has been able to display a good sales performance in 2024.

The biggest reason for this situation, which also affects dealer sales, is that the second-hand prices of many models, with some exceptions, are the same as or lower than dealer prices.

More than 50 percent of the current production models of Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet, and Rolex brands are sold above their retail prices.

This situation causes years-long waiting lists for many models of these brands.

The waiting list can go up to 5 years for some models.

However, for other models, these sales durations are quite high.

In the second-hand watch market, the time to sell has increased nearly 4-fold.

It has risen from 67 days to 173 days for Patek Philippe, from 46 days to 166 days for Audemars Piguet, and from 18 days to 67 days for Rolex.

Those who bought watches during the pandemic that were priced up to 4 times the dealer price on the second-hand market are now deeply worried.

Those who bought watches from dealers have put their watches in their safes to leave as an inheritance to their sons.

Remember, the most beautiful inheritance passed from father to son is a watch.