Prices for used luxury watches rose modestly last month, led by Patek Philippe, as the market continues to stabilise after two-and-a-half years of decline.
The Bloomberg Subdial Watch Index, which tracks prices for the 50 most traded models by transaction value on the secondary market, edged up 0.1 percent in September from a month earlier.
An index of prices for pre-owned Patek Philippe watches gained 0.9 percent during the month, according to data compiled by Subdial, a UK-based watch trading platform. That was driven by the Nautilus 5711 with a blue dial. Used prices for the discontinued model rose more than 2 percent in September.
The modest watch market gains follow the first rate cut by the US Federal Reserve in more than four years last month. The rise in watch prices continues a pattern that has seen them move in the opposite direction to interest rates.
After soaring to unprecedented highs as pandemic lockdowns ended, used luxury watch prices dropped sharply from March 2022. That’s when the Federal Reserve began a series of rate hikes aimed at taming soaring inflation.
While prices for Patek Philippe models showed the strongest gains in September, prices for Tudor watches, a more affordable watch brand owned by Rolex SA, also rose more than 0.8 percent. Prices for Rolex, Breitling, Cartier and Audemars Piguet watches were flat or slightly lower, according to the Bloomberg Subdial Watch Index.
The index also posted modest gains in August but is still down 1.9 percent this year.
Average pre-owned prices for the Rolex GMT-Master II with a blue and red ceramic bezel nicknamed the ‘Pepsi’ and the black-dial Rolex Daytona chronograph with a ceramic bezel fell about 1% in September, the Subdial data shows. These are two of the most popular steel Rolex models.
Prices for the Pepsi are up about 4 percent in a year while the values of the ceramic Daytona have fallen slightly.
By Andy Hoffman
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