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The Ukraine war did them in. It ended the flow of free money, and since they had reduced their market to a narrow sliver of the top 0.1%, they were left alone when it all came crashing down and even the very rich were more interested in cash than in watches.
Turns out the more middle class has something to offer, it’s called safety in numbers.
The Ukraine war did them in. It ended the flow of free money, and since they had reduced their market to a narrow sliver of the top 0.1%, they were left alone when it all came crashing down and even the very rich were more interested in cash than in watches.
Turns out the more middle class has something to offer, it’s called safety in numbers.
A lot of stock sitting on their used watches section too. If it were me I'd have a sale, dump the stock, suck up the loss/break even and move on.
If they're not replenishing stock they'll end up having to flog what hasn't sold as a job lot in a year or two/three anyway....if they really want to turn the page better take the pain pill now IMHO.
The Ukraine war did them in. It ended the flow of free money, and since they had reduced their market to a narrow sliver of the top 0.1%, they were left alone when it all came crashing down and even the very rich were more interested in cash than in watches.
Turns out the more middle class has something to offer, it’s called safety in numbers.
Do you mean rich Russians and Ukrainians stopped buying?
In Europe we had a constant stream of reporting about how the Ukraine war was impacting our lives. Heightened prices of energy causing inflation, increased costs of food and home loans etc, even the supply of kitchen or bathroom tiles or mustard were impacted due to key ingredients coming from Ukraine.
I suspect many players in the luxury market thought themselves above the fray and immune to world events.
The problem is that with all that comes the political reckoning Putin has been playing for. Hodinkee are but a very microscopic and negligible casualty in all of that.
No, I just mean that the war sparked a rise in interest rates which has completely change the way the rich worldwide allocate assets. Watches were seen as an investment, they still maybe but no longer the way they were. For years on OF people have been saying “wait until interest ratea rise”— well that’s where we are now.
I had forgotten that the war has had local economic impact, especially with energy, food and supply chain.
I think a lot of people in the US (including myself apparently) forget how much we depend on imported food supplies, raw materials and “parts” (like the aforementioned ceramic tiles) and tend to blame our politicians for our woes and fight among each-other (something we are very good at) as we tend to be far more insular than we want to believe (our media is a major part of this- local conflicts garner more hits). Our headlines focus on major news cycle events of the day rather than the slow burn that has become the war in Ukraine- it’s been relegated to bottom of the page news particularly since the Middle East conflict jumped to the middle of the page.
Our friends in Europe are far more aware since it’s happening much closer, the impacts of supply far more localized and the potential for the conflict to spread to neighboring states a far more vivid reality. The ripple effect in full display with Europe at the center and the US at the periphery complaining about the choppy water but not accounting for the cause.
Yes but when it comes to the world wide economic effects of war it isn't always just our politicians that are to blame, sometimes it's someone else's politicians who are responsible, along with religious ratbags and the greed of those who take advantage of the situation for profits......corporate greed, religion and politics are always to blame!
I had forgotten that the war has had local economic impact, especially with energy, food and supply chain.
