2023-09-24 20:48:38
Certain watches from Rolex, Patek Philippe or Audemars Piguet have become almost impossible to find. To obtain them in official stores, you have to wait for years on waiting lists and this encourages speculation and the gray market, reveals a Mise au Point investigation.
Today, it is no longer enough to have 14,400 Swiss francs in your pocket to acquire a legendary Rolex Daytona. Official stores don’t even take your money, they just put your name on a waiting list.
“I am registered on one of these famous lists”, testifies a Genevan on Sunday in the program Mise au Point. “I was warned that I had to wait between 3 and 6 years.” This thirty-year-old is nevertheless a good customer: he already owns three watches from the crown brand.
On the internet, collector forums are filled with negative and frustrated comments. They suspect major watch brands of promoting the rarity of certain watches in order to inflate prices.
The effect of the new speculators
“This situation is explained above all by a massive increase in demand,” says Olivier R.Müller. The founder of the consulting firm LuxeConsult is one of the leading experts in the watch market.
“With the Covid crisis, new customers became passionate regarding watches. The brands were unable to keep up with orders,” he explains.
Rolex currently produces over a million watches per year. Its production is expected to increase further in the coming years with the construction of a new factory in the canton of Fribourg.
>> Read regarding it: Rolex will temporarily settle in Romont this year before establishing itself in Bulle
“Another factor is the arrival of many speculators on the watch market. These people, these ‘flippers’, buy new watches with the sole aim of reselling them at a margin. This impacts the entire market” , continues Olivier R. Müller.
>> Listen regarding it:
Alter Eco – “Flipper”, a watch in a restless watchmaking / La Matinale / 2 min. / September 24, 2020
During the peak of speculation in 2022, certain Rolexes, Patek Philippe or Audemars Piguets purchased in an official store might be resold for more than three to four times their value. However, prices have stabilized in recent months. “Currently, a classic Rolex Daytona ‘only’ sells for double the store price on the secondary market,” notes the expert.
“Skip the line”
The secondary market includes second-hand watches, collector’s items but also the gray market, the development of which is favored in part by customer frustration with the rarity of certain models in official stores.
Intermediaries thus offer new, never-worn watches for resale and charge for their services commensurate with the rarity of the models requested.
These independents have access to watches that are impossible for ordinary people to find. They use more or less ethical means to avoid waiting lists. “Line-cutting,” describes Olivier R.Müller.
Small arrangements
They sometimes get their supplies from speculators who resell on the internet. But they also buy directly from official retailers without queuing. Sometimes, they negotiate preferential treatment by agreeing to buy unsold watch models, in exchange for a few highly prized models.
Official retailers benefit from this. They thus avoid selling off watches and breaking the brand’s luxury image.
A man active in the gray market also explained to Mise au Point that intermediaries also offer bribes to unscrupulous store employees. This allows access to the rarest models, but the practice is obviously prohibited.
Brands clear customs
The gray market theme is sensitive for large watch groups. The president of the Swiss watch federation Jean-Daniel Pasche declined all requests for an interview.
Faced with the rise in prices of watches on the secondary market, these groups have adapted prices in store. New watches like Rolex or Audemars Piguet have increased between 10 and 30% in a few years.
Rolex, however, denies any cause and effect link. By email, the company justifies the price increase by an increase in the quality of its watches and currency fluctuations.
For its part, the Vaud company Audemars Piguet specifies: “The gray market has always existed and goes well beyond the watch industry. It is not a question of a struggle, but rather of an integration within of our thinking. Certain indicators, such as the price of certain watches on the second-hand market, can reflect the state of health of a brand. It must therefore be used as such.”
The growing importance of the gray market
In an economic sector in full transformation, the secondary market is more than an indicator of the health of watchmaking companies: in 2022 it represented no less than 25 billion francs in sales, compared to 52 billion for the primary circuit.
Its importance continues to grow and its turnover may soon exceed that of watches sold by watch manufacturers and their official retailers.
François Ruchti/jop
1695589557
#gray #market #luxury #watches #exorbitant #prices #small #arrangements #rts.ch
