Do you follow watch charts?

What!! There are charts for watches!!!!!

The mere idea of these charts is hilarious. Watches are not investments: at least, not sensible investments. Having been in this hobby for 20+ years, I’ve seen it time and again. Panerai were the hot brand a decade or so ago, with limited editions fetching silly premiums. Now… love the brand but ain’t no one buying them to flip em. And it really wasn’t that long ago that you could pick up a Rolex sports model at the airport, with the duty free discount: and I’m not talking OP, I’m talking Kermit’s available in Hong Kong for below retail NEW! With Covid and the crypto madness unwinding, watch prices are reverting to normal, which means the non-limited edition models going for well below retail in the used market: with premiums being reserved for limited editions and rare vintage.

These charts are misleading in the way that they seem to be able to peg a specific value to watches. But watches are not stocks, meaning that a watch may be worth X, but it may take quite some time to find a buyer at that price. Sales transactions are also not necessarily disclosed, as the market isn't regulated. The chart also doesn't tell me if we are talking wholesale or retail prices, or more importantly, the transaction frequency.

We don't need no stinkin' charts

Watch charts is entirely unreliable price wise, but likely directionally right. If I am not mistaken (please correct me otherwise) the site aggregates data from various listing sites (forums and eBay for example) based on for sale listings. As we know, just because someone asks a price, doesn’t mean they get it. Rarely have I ever paid asking price. The site has no insight to what the actual final selling price is.

Also, as many said, watches are lousy investments.

I could not care less.

I have a Chrono24 account, and have my primary collection listed. I don’t think that watches are ‘investments’, and am not there to sell watches. When I started collecting I thought Chrono24 might give me a reasonable reference to value in the event I wanted to trade up one of my watches. But when I went deeper, I quickly found that values listed are sometimes wildly inaccurate. For instance, I bought a Seiko 5 Honda Cub colab. I love it, and got it straight from my favorite AD. Technically it’s ‘limited edition’, though it is still available new at ADs for MSRP. Yet, Chrono24 has the value as having risen 73%. BS! Another failure is the Chrono24 value on my Breitling Crosswind Special. The site can’t give a value, even though there’s usually at least a dozen available as comps. Now, I’m not interested in selling any of my watches. And, listing my collection on Chrono was something I did while still learning. While I’ve lost nothing to have dipped my toe in the site, I’ve learned that Watch values are the new Wild West. If I ever decide to trade up for a new acquisition, I do feel that being able to sift through the current listings will have value to determine what I might think is fair in trade value. But the charts themselves are not reliable. If you have your watch listed you can, however, click on it to see the listings. That’s where the valuable information is. You can see what dealers and collectors are asking. But asking is the operative word. The watch market sites are an outgrowth of a largely shady market. I guess that’s why I have stuck with my favorite AD. Take chart information as a reference but not reliable and it can be fun to explore.

I agree with much of the shortcomings citing for the watch charts posts. While I have no interest in selling any of my collections I am intrigued by the flow of the watch market. So if you understand that it’s just a snapshot of the market it’s not invaluable