When I was asked, back in February, about my outlook for the luxury watch market I replied, "I think 2020 is going to be filled with a lot of uncertainty." I understated the situation. It might be plausible to describe the present level of uncertainty as monumental. There is no need to go through all the unprecedented events punctuating this year but an open question remains: how is the watch market fairing?
I make a habit of checking auction results as much as possible in order to answer this question. Many market indicators are unavailable to watch industry observers. Prices with authorized dealers are, by and large, fixed. We can't see them go up if demand is healthy or drop if demand slackens. If prices are too low for a particular reference then there is a shortage, waitlists grow and we hear grumblings but we have no measure of how bad it is because the lists are secret. If prices are too high then we begin to see watches appear on grey market outlets at ste…
I make a habit of checking auction results as much as possible in order to answer this question. Many market indicators are unavailable to watch industry observers. Prices with authorized dealers are, by and large, fixed. We can't see them go up if demand is healthy or drop if demand slackens. If prices are too low for a particular reference then there is a shortage, waitlists grow and we hear grumblings but we have no measure of how bad it is because the lists are secret. If prices are too high then we begin to see watches appear on grey market outlets at ste…