The luxury watch industry is in a bit of a free fall , and crypto bros may be in part to blame. In the last quarter, several of the leading watch companies saw their sales plummet. Part of that is because those who spent their savings on timepieces over the past couple of years are now using that money for other expenses like travel.
But part is also due to speculators like crypto bros no longer banking on luxury watches as a safe investment , The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. Earlier during the pandemic, luxury watches were considered an alternative asset for those looking to make a little extra cash. Charles Tian, the founder of WatchCharts , told the WSJ that crypto bros diversified their portfolios by buying up and then selling high-end timepieces.
At the height of demand, for example, a $14,550 Rolex Daytona could be resold for $47,000, according to WatchCharts data shared with the newspaper. While the same watch still sells for more on the secondary market than a brand-new model would cost, the resale premium is now just 43 percent . Crypto bros and the like are also turning away from the resale market because they don’t want to get stuck with watches they don’t want, The Wall Street Journal noted.
A Rolex that would have sold on a secondhand site in less than three weeks in 2021 is now sitting unsold for more than three months. Patek Philippes, meanwhile, can take some six months to change hands. Plus, crypto bros generally prefer sport watches, but the market is moving more toward small dress watches , making their investments less desirable.
While this may not bode well for the watch-resale market—or the watch market overall—it does largely benefit watch lovers. A couple of years ago, you may have had to join a long, long waitlist to get your hands on a coveted model. That may still be true to some degree, as brands like Rolex keep supply low to increase demand , the WSJ wrote (though our research tells a more nuanced story ), but companies like Patek are able to dip into their customer backlog to keep sales strong during a larger decline.
Since the pandemic began, the watch market has been on a roller-coaster ride. And while crypto bros may be pulling out of the secondary market, it leaves space for other watch collectors to move in, perhaps at a better price than a few years ago..
