Watches See Price Plateaus, a "Healthier Market" and "Bright Outlook"

It’s been a wild ride for watch collectors as of late. Frenzied buying during the pandemic caused prices to double or triple on sought-after models, only to top out in March of 2022 and embark on a two-year plunge.

The good news? Prices are finally plateauing. “It’s now a much healthier market because there isn’t as much speculation,” says Ryan Chong, head of watch operations at Bezel, a leading online marketplace for luxury watches. “There are a lot of buying opportunities now that prices have bottomed out.”

Buyers will find Omega Speedmaster models, which are solid entry-level collectibles with a history of price appreciation, available for 12% less than at their 2022 peak, according to Watchcharts Analytics. Prices on the Rolex Submariner, a diving watch introduced in 1953 with prices ranging from $7,000 to over $100,000, are down 30%.

Chong advises sticking with top brands and models with a long record of price appreciation. Despite the recent long decline in collectible watch prices, the most sought-after models such as Rolex, Patek Phillippe and Audemars

Piguet have had positive returns over a longer time horizon. The ChronoPulse Watch Index, which tracks prices of more than 140 luxury watch models, has a 23% five-year return through September 30, 2024.

Looking ahead, he expects a strong market not only for the leading brands for functionality— such as Rolex and Breitling—but also for designforward brands like Cartier. “There has been a renaissance in design-driven watches—Cartier has seen an explosion in vintage watches,” Chong says, adding that collectors who buy and hold are likely to see solid long-term gains.

There are some current challenges: Younger generations are drinking less wine, special interest groups are pushing messages against alcohol consumption and U.S. tariffs, proposed by former President and Presidential-elect Donald Trump, could shift the focus among U.S. collectors away from foreign wines to domestic vineyards.

“We’re cautiously bullish in the short term,” he says, but “in the long term, wine is a great investment because it trades out of sync with stocks, real estate and precious metals so it can reduce portfolio risk,” Parker says, adding that if a bottle does lose value, there is still an upside: “You can drink it.”