Two months after Rolex unveiled its 2020 line up of steel Submariners, with or without date, and Oyster Perpetuals in a range of sizes and colours, the secondary market is passing judgement on which are the most desirable and hardest to buy from authorised dealers as market forces influence prices.
An early frenzy for the new models saw them listed on sites such as eBay and Chrono24 — brand new with boxes and papers — for up to double their retail prices, but the watches have been changing hands in recent weeks for slightly less eye-watering mark-ups.
Trends are emerging that demonstrate how well Rolex judged such a difficult market this year.
Oyster Steel Submariners were certain to be hot ticket items, but the Stella dialed Oyster Perpetuals in a range of colours are proving just as desirable with the Tiffany Blue 41mm model trading at 70% over retail right now.
The only watch commanding a higher mark-up is the new 41mm steel Kermit Submariner with date, which is changing hands at 81% over retail.
Erik Boneta, chief executive of New York-based Boneta Inc, which has trading offices all over the world helping authorised dealers and fine watch stores handling aging inventory, compiled the latest pricing data for WatchPro from a range of sources including WhatsApp groups and the thousands of deals the business is doing every day. Mr Boneta is keen to be clear that his business does not lobby authorised dealers to sell new watches, a policy that separates the company from the “flippers”.
His data reveals the following pricing today:
Submariner
Rolex Submariner 41mm with Date in Oyster Steel with black dial, Ref. 1266610LN, selling now for £9,900 to £10,300 (retail £7,300) +38%
Rolex Submariner 41mm with Date “Kermit” in Oyster Steel with black dial and green bezel, Ref. 126610LV, selling now for £13,700 to £14,100 (retail £7,650) +81%
Rolex Submariner 41mm No Date in Oyster Steel with black dial, Ref. 124060, selling now for £8,750 to £9,100 (retail £6,450) +39%
Oyster Perpetual 41mm (Ref. 124300)
“Tiffany Blue” dial Rolex Oyster Perpetual 41mm in Oyster Steel, Ref. 124300, selling now for £8,000 (retail £4,700) +70%
Red, green and yellow dial Rolex Oyster Perpetual 41mm in Oyster Steel, Ref. 124300, selling now for £7,200 (retail £4,700) +53%
Oyster Perpetual 36mm (Ref. 126000)
“Tiffany Blue” dial Rolex Oyster Perpetual 36mm in Oyster Steel, Ref. 126000, selling now for £7,200 (retail £4,450) +61%
Green dial Rolex Oyster Perpetual 36mm in Oyster Steel, Ref. 126000, selling now for £5,850 (retail £4,450) +31%
Pink dial Rolex Oyster Perpetual 36mm in Oyster Steel, Ref. 126000, selling now for £6,850 (retail £4,450) +53%
Yellow dial Rolex Oyster Perpetual 36mm in Oyster Steel, Ref. 126000, selling now for £6,300 (retail £4,450) +41%
Red dial Rolex Oyster Perpetual 36mm in Oyster Steel, Ref. 126000, selling now for £6,085 (retail £4,450) +37%
So the game continues, When will the bubble burst ? Will it ever burst ?
Looks like they ripped off LaCalifonienne.
No, never. Until other companies will manage a price policy competitive with Rolex. Pretty hard to beat. I can say only that Rolex is among the few today who is offering what they marketing. Look at today’s plastic cars and so on . They are still doing the same quality as 50 years ago. Amin…
No matter how much I would love to have a new model rolex I’m not going to pay a penny more than retail price .
Obviously Rolex does not care. With technology Rolex can easily solve the problem of flippers but they don’t want to. It is at the point where people are too embarrassed to walk into a Rolex AD and ask for the watch they want assuming the sales rep will just laugh . One AD asked me outright how much I am willing to pay if they give me the watch I want (basically telling me they won’t sell me the watch at retail).
It is a matter of time until people stop bothering with Rolex and go for other brands. I already have a nice collection of Omega’s . I refuse to pay one cent over retail for any watch .
I agree But even on the secondary market people are asking fanomonal pricing for preowned
I feel embarrassed wearing a rolex.. its everywhere, and most people will think its fake or the wearer is shallow…