Investment with returns: Luxury watches
Shares, fixed-term deposits, under the mattress – or Rolex, Omega and Patek Philippe
Karlsruhe, 10, October 2013 – The euro is losing ground and real estate is so overpriced as to be almost unaffordable. As a result, investors are looking for investments with more stable value. Assets such as vintage cars or coins are highly prized, and the market for luxury watches has proven to be equally stable. Tim Stracke, managing director of global online luxury watch marketplace Chrono24 (www.chrono24.com), confirms the trend: “We estimate that, at the moment, every second watch purchased is also an investment.” According to consultancy Knight Frank, the watch market has increased in value by 83 per cent over the past ten years. While watches may still lag behind the market for high-class vintage cars, they are available at lower introductory prices. Many models of luxury watches are highly sought-after. Using the searches on Chrono24 alone, experts are able to filter out the best investment watches. The Submariner model from Geneva-based Rolex is one of these highly-prized watches.
“For a supply of approx. 2,500 Rolex Submariner watches, we currently receive more than 2 million queries per quarter,” says Stracke, “demonstrating the enormous demand for a very limited supply.” Prices on the open market are often equal to, or even higher than, prices at authorised dealers, where watches are generally only available following long waiting periods. The average price of a luxury watch from Chrono24 is 6,000 euro, and the company has an annual trading volume of approx. 300 million euro. The top brands according to search queries are for the upper range of the luxury segment – Lange & Söhne, Rolex, Patek Philippe or Vacheron Constantin. Volume brands such as Tag Heuer are also in demand – the Monaco model, for example, of which 360 are now available on the Chrono24 marketplace to meet the demand of 300,000 search queries. Certain underdog brands in the high-price segment also benefit from the current interest in watches as an investment. Brands such as Richard Mille, Graham or F.P. Journe only build a few watches each year, meaning that market price, value stability and even growth are correspondingly high. Limited editions or rare watches such as tourbillons are therefore considered by the industry to be the bank accounts with the best interest rates.
In a few weeks, Chrono24 will begin its own live auctions over the internet. Watches will be sold in cooperation with live auction provider Auctionata, which carries out auctions in real time using a TV studio and via web streaming. The first auction will consist of extremely rare tourbillons from luxury brands such as Lange & Söhne, Chronoswiss or Hublot; watches for which increases in value are guaranteed by their rarity and manufacturer. When purchasing luxury watches, however, certain points must be considered – and buying from a trustworthy source is an important factor. Expensive and stable value brands come before small manufacturers who sometimes employ foreign factories. In-house manufacturing instead of externally-purchased components is a form of value guarantee. As a marketplace, Chrono24 already provides a clear overview of the market with the winners for a successful watch investment.
Chrono24 (www.chrono24.de) is the world most popular online marketplace for high quality luxury watches with more than 150,000 offers from over 70 countries. More than 1,000 permanent and professional dealers as well as several thousand individual private-sellers offer luxury watches of all brands – Omega, IWC, Rolex, Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin, Longines, Lange & Söhne, Glashütte Original, Zenith and many more. Chrono24 has more than three million page views per month, selling vintage watches, NOS pieces (New Old Stock) as well as new and unworn in safe kept watches. Safety is an issue of great importance: Before the dealers are allowed to trade on the online marketplace, they are strictly checked.
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