Prices for discontinued watches such as Patek Philippe’s blue-dialed Nautilus and Audemars Piguet’s Royal Oak Jumbo have been falling since peaking in March.
Chrono24, a global online watch trading marketplace, says reports of the price collapse in the secondary market are exaggerated.
As WATCH PRO recently revealed, popular watches such as Rolex, Patek Philippe, and Rolex were already trading at many times higher than retail prices earlier this year.
The rarest and most popular, especially discontinuing models such as the replica patek philippe Nautilus 5711/1A and the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Jumbo, continued to rise in price before falling at the end of March.
Rolex’s range of the most in-demand Oyster Perpetuals also went out of production at the end of the first quarter. Their values soared until then, but have since fallen sharply, in some cases by half from their peak to the end of June.
Chrono24 acknowledges that prices have softened in some areas as traders put more of their popular watches up for sale.
“We’re currently experiencing a consolidation in the market – there’s more supply and therefore prices are falling. The supply of unicorns or trophy watches, which were very limited for a long time, such as the Patek Philippe Nautilus 5711A or Rolex Daytona, is now much more available, so individual watches are getting cheaper,” describes Tim Stracke, co-CEO of Chrono24.
There have been reports that dealers have virtually stopped buying and selling among themselves – a significant volume on the secondary market – but Mr. Stracke says trading has risen.
“In the first half of this year, we saw a significant year-over-year increase of more than 50 percent in trading volume for Chrono24,” he reveals.
The secondary market overheated in the first quarter of the year, but has since cooled off.
While prices have fallen in the second quarter, they are still well above the levels seen in recent years and significantly higher than the authorized dealer prices of the prestigious Unicorn best replica watches list.
Chrono24 data shows that the Patek Philippe Nautilus 5711A ($35,000 AD) still sold for as much as $240,000 in the first quarter before dropping 21% to $190,000; still more than five times its list price.
Audemars Piguet’s Royal Oak Jumbo peaked in March at around $158,000 before dropping back 22% to $123,000 today.
While dealers are making a profit by selling more unicorn watches, an alternative market for the usual AP, Patek, and Rolex watches is creating buying opportunities.