Business News: Used Watch Market Posts Best Quarterly Performance In Three Years As Rolex, Patek Philippe, Cartier, and Omega Prices Stabilize: Morgan Stanley

An index of prices for pre-owned Swiss luxury watches stabilized further in the second quarter, with key brands including Cartier, Omega, Rolex, and Patek Philippe outperforming the wider market and pacing declines to the slowest since the peak of early 2022, according to Morgan Stanley and WatchCharts. Average prices fell 0.3% from April to the end of June compared to the quarter before, representing a slight improvement from the 0.4% declines in the first quarter, according to the Morgan Stanley report, which uses secondary market price data and brand market indexes compiled by WatchCharts. That’s the slowest rate of decline in more than three years, as buyers were willing to pay more for some pre-owned models, particularly those from these four key ‘Blue Chip’ brands, the report says. Supply levels for pre-owned Rolex are normalizing, and absorption rates are recovering, while demand for mid-level brands such as Cartier, Omega, and IWC is growing and has neared record highs during the second quarter, according to the report. 

Still, prices for pre-owned Swiss watches have now declined for 13 straight quarters from the post-pandemic era peak. Of the 35 Swiss brands tracked, 29 experienced negative quarter-over-quarter performance during the period, and 25 saw an average price decline of at least 1%, according to the report. Meanwhile, value retention levels are under pressure as U.S. tariffs on Swiss, European, and Japanese imports have prompted U.S. retail price increases of between 2% and 10% from nearly all brands, according to the Morgan Stanley and WatchCharts report.