Prices of used luxury watches rose slightly last month, led by Patek Philippe, as the market continued to stabilize after its first decline in two-and-a-half years.
The Bloomberg Subdial Watch index, which tracks the prices of the 50 most traded models in the secondary market by trade value, rose 0.1% month-over-month in September.
The price index for used Patek Philippe watches rose 0.9% during the month, according to data compiled by UK-based watch trading platform Subdial. It was powered by a Nautilus 5711 with a blue dial. Used prices of discontinued models rose more than 2% in September.
The watch market has been on the rise, albeit slightly, after the US Federal Reserve cut interest rates for the first time in more than four years last month. The rise in watch prices continues the pattern of moving in the opposite direction to interest rates.
Prices for used luxury watches soared to unprecedented highs as the pandemic lockdown ended, before plummeting from March 2022. It was then that the Federal Reserve began a series of interest rate hikes aimed at curbing soaring inflation.
Prices for Patek Philippe models rose the most in September, but prices for Tudor watches, the more affordable watch brand owned by Rolex SA, also rose by more than 0.8%. Prices for Rolex, Breitling, Cartier and Audemars Piguet watches were flat or slightly lower, according to Bloomberg’s Subdial Watch Index.
The index posted a small increase in August, but is still down 1.9% this year.
According to Subdial data, the average used price for the Rolex GMT-Master II with a blue and red ceramic bezel, known as “Pepsi,” and the Rolex Daytona Chronograph with a black dial and ceramic bezel were the following in September: It fell by about 1%. These are two of Rolex’s most popular steel models.
While Pepsi’s price has increased about 4 percent in a year, the value of the ceramic Daytona has fallen slightly.
Written by Andy Hoffman
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