0:14 The wider market
2:00 Steel & Gold Submariner
2:26 Rootbeer
2:41 Guinness
3:01 Sprite & Pepsi
3:32 Day-Date
4:13 Explorer
4:43 Explorer II
5:06 Datejust 41
5:52 Submariner
6:20 GMT-Master II
6:54 Oyster Perpetual
7:51 Daytona
Last month, new Rolex models were released and some were discontinued, impacting the market prices of select pieces.
Peak prices in the market happened around March of 2022. At this point many Rolex models were very difficult to obtain at retail price from Rolex authorised dealers. High demand and low supply pushed up market prices to levels far above their original retail price.
Since then, market prices have been slowly returning to pre-pandemic levels. Meanwhile, Rolex retail prices from authorised dealers have been rising year on year. The gap between retail and market price has been gradually closing and there are now less models that trade above retail.
We are seeing some macro trends across the Rolex catalogue. The majority of full gold pieces available at a notable discount. Steel and gold also tends to be available under list price. Steel professional models on the whole are sitting above retail price depending on individual popularity.
Steel and gold Submariners can be found at a discount. The blue still outperforms the black by around £1,000 but both can be found under the £13,750 list price. We’re seeing two tone watches available for the same price or less than their steel counterparts across multiple ranges.
The Rootbeer 126711CHNR has been one of the best sellers at Watchtrader but we’re now seeing them very close to the list price of £14,300. If you don’t want to wait on a list, you can pick these up for a touch over retail in the market. It’s a similar story with the Guinness GMT-Master II 126713GRNR.
The Sprite and the Pepsi were few and far between in the market before Watches and Wonders, particularly the pepsi. Both are still in production and as a result there are now more in the market from people who don’t want to hold on until 2025. This has resulted in a value reduction of around £1-2k depending on the bracelet and age.
The rose gold olive dial Day-Date 40 didn’t get discontinued and prices have softened. The market price is closing in on the retail price so it’s one to keep an eye on if you’re looking to buy this watch this year. The model that we get offered most and have the most demand for is the yellow gold green dial. Again, the price has softened slightly in the market to around £45k, still over the list price of £33,800.
The Explorer is edging closer to list price. At Watchtrader we tend to have more people looking to buy and sell the 40mm model. Now, I know that many enthusiasts prefer the 36mm and I agree that the Explorer looks great in that size but in general the market seems to favour the larger size.
The Explorer II is a watch that a lot of you guys have been buying from the AD’s, we’re seeing a lot of them being offered to us and you can now buy them in the market at retail price.
The mint and wimbledon Datejust 41 continue to be the most sought after dials that you guys are looking to buy and this is reflected in that we’re offered these dials most frequently in brand new watches. We’ve sold a number of two tone models under list price. People looking for steel and gold can save money buying on the market as opposed to brand new.
We buy and sell the date model Submariner in greater numbers than the no date version. I personally prefer the symmetrical dial of the Submariner but the buyers out there prefer the Submariner Date. The demand for the Starbucks and lesser supply results in the highest market price for a steel Sub.
The BLNR, Batman or Batgirl are both holding strong at around £13-14k and continue to be one of the most popular watches for us to buy and sell. Interestingly, since the announcement of the steel GRNR which, at this point, the watch community has named the Bruce Wayne, we’ve seen a peak in interest in the older full black bezel GMT, the 116710LN.
The Oyster Perpetual conversion revolves around the green dial and the celebration dial. The green tends to be purchased by people who have multiple Rolex watches and are looking for something a little bit different and less serious with a pop of colour for their rotation. The celebration on the other hand is a watch that has very little demand from buyers in the market.
The steel Daytona, 126 reference models are strong with the white selling around £29k and the black around £25k. This brings us to one of the precious metal expectations in that oysterflex Daytona models are holding value better than the majority of precious metal Rolex pieces. The best ones in terms of demand here at Watchtrader are the white gold ghost, and yellow gold Pikachu.