As the country’s premier purchaser and consignor of luxury watches, we are entrenched in watches all day, every day. We receive all different kinds of watches from the vintage to the brand new, from the less expensive to the ultra expensive. Needless to say, we are very knowledgeable in the watch market. One trend we find interesting is the increased interest in the vintage and pre-owned luxury watch market. We did some research on the demand of vintage watches and thought we would share some of it with you.
All watches must start out as new. The fact that the watch industry is growing is very evident. In 2012, over $20 billion brand new Swiss watches were exported throughout the world. This is almost an 11% increase from 2011. Also in 2012, Baselworld, the world’s largest luxury watch trade show, built a $460 million facility to accommodate the rapid increase and interest in it’s show and luxury watches in general. Because of this increase in demand for luxury watches, luxury watch brands are constantly coming out with brand new watches, resulting in more and more watches moving from the “New” category to the “Used” category.
These brand new watches are making all of the headlines. But why isn’t anyone talking about the older, pre-owned, vintage watches? Most publications want to feature the news coming from each specific brand, whether it is Rolex, OMEGA, TAG Heuer, etc. For the most part, these big retailers do not sell pre-owned watches. The big retailers are the ones who steal the headlines with their new watches. The smaller retailers, such as mom and pop shops that do sell the pre-owned watches, do not get the coverage that is given to the big name brand retailers.
The pre-owned watches reside in a smaller, some-what mysterious, secondary market that is extremely fragmented. This is why we created Crown & Caliber. Selling a watch can be stressful and often very difficult. While places like Craigslist are fine for selling smaller, cheaper items, that is not the place you want to sell a $10,000 Rolex watch. Crown & Caliber provides luxury watch owners with a secure, easy, and rewarding way to sell a watch. Our company has grown significantly in the past 18 months, evidence to the fact that the pre-owned luxury watch market is strong and growing.
Not only is there an increased interest in purchasing pre-owned watches, but, specifically, vintage watches. In the last year, there has been a 21% increase in watches listed on Google as “vintage.” Take a look at Sotheby’s sales from the past three years. Total watch auctions have gone from $22.7 million in 2009 to $85.8 million in 2012.
What is the reason for the increase in interest for pre-owned and vintage watches?
