The pre-owned watch market’s stellar rise shows no sign of slowing, with Europe’s largest retailer of vintage timepieces, Watchfinder, announcing annual turnover rising to £68 million.
If confirmed in its official financial statement, the £68 million sales figure would be a rise of 76% from the £38.66 million for the financial year ended March 31 2015.
Profit figures for the latest financial year have not yet been disclosed, but earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) rose from £1.2 million in 2013-14 to £2.04 in the 2014-15 financial year; a consistent gross profit margin of around 16% over two years.
In a statement released yesterday, Watchfinder said that over the past 12 months it has sold a watch, on average, every 30 minutes.
In typical month, the company sells 560 Rolex, 175 Omega and 126 Tag Heuer watches.
The company’s average sale was just under £5,000 for this period. The highlight month, December 2015, saw the company sell over 1,600 watches, 730 of which were Rolex. The pre-owned retailer stocks just under 4,000 pieces at one time, across 50 of the top luxury watch brands.
Watchfinder’s business model is to buy watches from the public, return them to as good as new condition in their accredited service centre, warranty them, and sell them back to the public.
In the last 12 months the company has purchased over 16,000 watches from the public, an average of 1,383 per month.
Within the last 12 months, the omni-channel retailer have opened two further retail outlets: a northern flagship in Leeds and a purchasing office in Burlington Arcade, central London. The pre-owned retailer also became the only independent UK based service centre to hold certification for Omega, IWC, Panerai, Cartier and Audemars Piguet.
The Watchfinder team has more than doubled this year.
The company has also announced that it is looking to move into more overseas markets, having already opened US and Australian-focused websites earlier this year.
