Aftermarket Prices for Rolex, Patek Philippe and Audemars Piguet Have Fallen
Its lowest since 2021.
The Bloomberg Subdial Watch Index has been tracking the used prices of luxury watches, specifically the 50 most traded models by transaction value. Top Swiss brands including Rolex, Patek Philippe and Audemars Piguet saw a decline in its aftermarket prices in 2024, hitting an all-time low in three years. The near 6% fall last year was its lowest since 2021.
The news comes after it was reported that Rolex will be raising its watch prices in the U.S. and U.K. for 2025. As the price of upcoming releases for Rolex are expected to increase, it seems that older pieces are seemingly losing its value. Despite this, Bob’s Watches reported last year that vintage Rolex watches on the pre-owned market are still popular with pieces like the “Batman” experiencing a steady 10% growth, the “Pepsi” increasing by 134.8% and the “Polar” price rising by 157%.
The index pointed out that popular Rolex models still dropped about 5% on average during the year, Pateks falling 4% and APs losing 7.5%. The decline marks the third straight years that lower prices are hitting premium Swiss watches. During the pandemic, prices soared in 2020 and 2021 to unprecedented levels. But as the pandemic tapered off, there was a sharp pullback beginning April 2022. Although the price decline for used watches were less severe in 2024, the decrease in pricing is still severe. Cartier is the only watch brand whose used pricing saw a gain in 4% in the past two years due to collectors’ interest in smaller, more refined jewellery watches. Omega also saw a decline in 1% in 2024.
