How investing in Rolex watches beats stocks, gold and real estate – models like the Cosmograph Daytona, Submariner, Date and Datejust have exploded on the resale market
- Bob’s Watches, a leading reseller, says the brand outperformed even though they are affordable compared to other Swiss brands like Audemars Piguet and Patek Philippe
- CEO Paul Altieri says the Daytona is worth two or three times its retail price on you leaving the store, while the classic steel Submariner remains the most popular model
If you chose the Submariner, you’d have come out ahead, according to new data from Bob’s Watches, a leading reseller of Rolex watches.
For the past decade, Bob’s has been buying and selling thousands of watches using a consistent pricing strategy that has given the company unique insights into the real market value of every Rolex model.
“We are the only company that can go back and grab 10 years of data,” CEO Paul Altieri said.
And global demand is picking up.
“Rolexes have been a good investment over the years, but not like the last five,” Altieri said.
Indeed, the sales numbers for Rolex show an uptick beginning in 2017, followed by an even sharper bump up in 2020. Now the average Rolex price is more than US$13,000 – nearly three times the 2011 average of US$5,000.
Rolexes have been a good investment over the years, but not like the last five
While the price roughly tracked the performance of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, Rolex pulled ahead in the past year. Other investments like gold and real estate (as tracked by average home prices) were nowhere close.
But even at these elevated prices, Altieri still maintains that Rolex is a “relatively affordable luxury”, especially when compared to other Swiss brands like Audemars Piguet and Patek Philippe, which routinely go for well north of US$30,000.
