Secondary market flat in June after April goldrush
WatchCharts has released its secondary market data for the month of June, with Patek Philippe up, Rolex down, and the market overall looking flat, month-on-month.
The dip in Rolex prices was modest at -0.2%, while Patek Philippe’s gains of +0.4% were largely thanks to its Aquanaut model being up +1.0%.
“We are more convinced than in the June Market Report that the weeks leading up to Watches and Wonders (April 14–20) saw hype-induced listing and purchase behaviours, and that a correction has since followed, leading the market prices to stagnate or even decline,” said WatchCharts’ Mark Xu.
“Rolex, for example, saw its prices go up by +2.5% in April mostly led by the stainless steel ‘Pepsi’ Ref. 126710BLRO, before dropping by -2.2% in May and now -0.2% in June,” Xu continued.
Looking ahead to the rest of the year, it remains to be seen whether the cooling off in demand in May and June was entirely due to the panic buying/selling ahead of Watches and Wonders (the WatchCharts Overall Market Index gained +1.5% in the second quarter, after all).
“The key question is whether the supply build-up proves transitory or structural. Listing volumes had already normalised as of June, but the inventory accumulated in the first half of the year has yet to be worked through and may continue to weigh on prices this quarter,” Xu concluded.
