Collectors drive up pre-owned luxury watch prices – and big brands want in

[ad_1]

Brands handled by the 1916 Company group include Switzerland’s most popular – Rolex, Patek Philippe, Tudor, Omega, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Tag Heuer and (WatchBox-owned) De Bethune. That said, it’s in pre-owned Rolexes that the company expects to make its mark, and it will enjoy membership of the Rolex Pre-Owned program from day one.

The 1916 Company chairman is WatchBox founder Danny Govberg, who is on record predicting it will be the largest certified pre-owned Rolex dealer in the world with immediate access to US$200 million ($312 million) worth of pieces.

Govberg has stated the aim is to be highly competitive on price, and early indications are that this is the case. Industry website WatchPro gives the example of a pre-owned Rolex GMT-Master II on offer last month; its market value is $US16,481 whereas certified and pre-owned at Bucherer it’s $US24,500. At 1916, it’s 20 per cent less at $US19,950.)

The Rolex GMT-Master II. 

Not that the company will be relying purely on price; there’s the sheer depth of its offering to watch lovers. In addition to bricks-and-mortar showrooms, the company operates one of the biggest new and used luxury e-commerce sites backed by a sophisticated media business catering to a client base reported to number around 60,000 high-net-worth individuals around the world.

The company’s consultants will advise on both new and pre-owned purchases and it is also addressing another bugbear of enthusiasts, prompt and expert servicing, with new workshops being set up in New York to handle 3000 to 4000 watches a year.

A Rolex shopfront in the US. Getty

As to whether we’re likely to see similar developments in Australia, we already have, albeit not on the same scale. Melbourne-based Time & Tide began a decade ago as a watch website, then morphed into a marketing adjunct for brands before offering watches for sale itself, and a few weeks back opened a retail “discovery studio” in Collins Street.

Such activity marks a definitive step in the coming together of the primary and secondary markets, one that makes sense and facilitates trade-ins.

And why now? It’s because the market has become a collector-driven one and collectors don’t distinguish between new and used: they distinguish between fine and not so, sought-after and everyday. And they respond to a transactional environment that recognises watches aren’t a mere purchase, they’re a shared passion.

The Summer issue of AFR Magazine – plus Watch special – is out on Friday, December 8 inside The Australian Financial Review.

[ad_2]

Source link