Chrono24, the world’s leading luxury watch marketplace, has released the first part of it’s Watch Collection Report, which makes fascinating reading.
The total value of all Watch Collections tracked within Chrono24 is more than €46.6 ($49.7) billion – which, according to LuxeConsult, makes up almost 7% of the estimated €700 ($748) billion value of all watches in global circulation.
The Chrono24 Watch Collection tool allows everyday watch collectors to track the financial performance of each of the watches in their personal collections, much like popular stock tracking apps. When users add a new watch to their Chrono24 Watch Collection, they can see at first glance the value development compared to the purchase price.
Overall, their users were able to record an average increase in value of 31% from the purchase date to the present day. As with any market, the watch market experiences periods of volatility, as evidenced by the past twelve months. This illustrates that even with the volatility of the last twelve months, collectors fare well in the long term.
The returns of watch collectors in Japan (40%), Switzerland (40%), and Hong Kong (38%) are particularly high. Germany's watch fans were not quite so lucky, but still managed to make a profit of 25%.
"Often what we see during recessions and turbulent times in the economy is a flight to those kinds of assets that have low or minimal default risk. One of the advantages [of watches] is that they can be a somewhat stable store of value, although you do have to be careful because, as we've seen, some particular references have seen corrections in their value."
Dr. Brendan M. Cunningham, Professor of Economics and Founder of Horolonomics
In terms of brand preferences by region, it is interesting to see the variations in ownership by country (below). It may come as no surprise that Germans buy the most NOMOS watches on the site, the French the most Bell & Ross, or that British collectors love Tudor more than anyone else.
The Swiss love Rolex the most, occupying about 35% of Swiss collections on Chrono24. However, they are also represent top market for IWC.
The top 5 countries for Patek Philippe on Chrono24 are all in Asia. Thailand (13.3%), China (10.9%), Taiwan (8.8%), Indonesia (8.3%), and Hong Kong (7.8%) lead the pack. It’s a similar picture for Audemars Piguet, with the brand making up about 12.7% of brand share in Chinese watch collections on Chrono24. Taiwan comes in second at 7.2%.
We will wait for the second part of this report with great anticipation and see how the wonderful world of watch collecting will evolve over the period.
For more information please visit Chrono24