Where has the vintage market gone?

[gbesq]

I’m seeing some great vintage offerings sitting unsold that would have sold in a flash a year ago. A great time to buy if you have the cash and a terrible time to sell.

 

[RevZMan123]

I have 2 watches for sale and they have been sitting for months. Not perfect but decent and what should be a good price but no takers. Ones under $500 seem to be flying, but the core $1000-2000 market seems to be sitting except for special special stuff. The $5k+ crowd is all upper middle and above so don't really care about their spending habits.

 

[tyrantlizardrex]

gbesq

I’m seeing some great vintage offerings sitting unsold that would have sold in a flash a year ago. A great time to buy if you have the cash and a terrible time to sell.

I think (at least) three things are at play:

Prices went up for a lot of things in 2020/2021 and now are coming back down - the market is correcting.

There is economic uncertainty in a lot of counties/regions, and the cost of living increases are either hitting hard, or people are being cautious in the potential face of them.

The desire to own some watches has dropped off.

 

[JPE.88305]

Agree I think the economic climate is causing people to be more discerning, particularly in the $1-3k range..."Do I really need another ___?"
The answer is usually yes but then said potential buyer goes to the grocery and sees the absolutely insane prices of literally everything and thinks twice about the watch.

Though there is a nice Bulova DD with some beautiful tritium that's been sitting for some time in the marketplace and the price is very tempting.

Edited: Oct 17, 2023

 

[RevZMan123]

JPE.88305

Agree I think the economic climate is causing people to be more discerning, particularly in the $1-3k range..."Do I really need another ___?"

Yah, I know I am slowing in that range for sure.

I also checked out that DD, but a subdial hand is incorrect and the case/movement years don't match. My wife would have loved it, and probably wouldn't even care about those details as much as me. lol

 

[redpcar]

$25 - $500 stuff is still going strong. Been watching a ScubaPro and Synchron sit at $1K for weeks. Something I would have bought but ....

 

[bardamu]

Nice watches still go fast, imho. But I agree, this is a bad time to sell and a good time to buy.

 

[gbesq]

All my $ is going to watch maintenance instead of watch acquisition. That’s vintage in a nutshell.

 

[Fallout Boy]

At the moment, I am waiting for the prices to drop - since 3 months I am targeting a beautiful vintage OMEGA. I will wait for the next price-adjustment (below 6k) .
He started at 7.8k....

 

[tyrantlizardrex]

JPE.88305

Agree I think the economic climate is causing people to be more discerning, particularly in the $1-3k range..."Do I really need another ___?"
The answer is usually yes but then said potential buyer goes to the grocery and sees the absolutely insane prices of literally everything thinks twice about the watch.

Absolutely this.

I have a discretionary watch pot of cash that would cover up to £2500, and most weeks there are two or three things that I get the pressing urge to blow it all on... and then I sleep on it, or buy groceries, or fill up the car, or pay our childminder... and the money stays in the bank.

redpcar

$25 - $500 stuff is still going strong. Been watching a ScubaPro and Synchron sit at $1K for weeks. Something I would have bought but ....

I found recently that the few £250-£500 watches I was selling were a PITA to get gone - lots of tyre kickers and silly offers.

The X-33 and the Marine Chronometer which were both around the £2500 mark went relatively quickly, with zero hassle or nonsense.

And a handful of sub £100 things that i put up on ebay went quickly and with no hassle at all.

I wonder if there is a sum of money at which point people are quite serious but also more difficult than they should be.

 

[ecarpino]

I can give my thoughts on the upper middle market, not vintage though.. recently here in Switzerland a Bulgari Octo Finissimo Boutique edition (Titanium with rose gold hands, 200 pieces) was bought on auction for 8.4k. Last year you would sell it instanly for 15k+.

Indeed, it is a great moment to buy for people with capital.

 

[tyrantlizardrex]

ecarpino

I can give my thoughts on the upper middle market, not vintage though.. recently here in Switzerland a Bulgari Octo Finissimo Boutique edition (Titanium with rose gold hands, 200 pieces) was bought on auction for 8.4k. Last year you would sell it instanly for 15k+.

Indeed, it is a great moment to buy for people with capital.

I think we might be seeing an "emperors new clothes" moment with a lot of modern watches.

Once the bloggers have stopped hyping the seemingly infinite number of new "important" releases, and they are for sale in the open secondary market, the sale prices seem to be significantly below retail in a number of cases.

Every watch isn't an "appreciating asset"... who knew?

 

[Bernhard J]

ecarpino

Indeed, it is a great moment to buy for people with capital.

Definitely! And for funding watch and clock purchases, I have begun selling off my classic cars. As long as strong prices are still paid for those (my prognosis is negative in view of all this environmental activism here in Germany). Just recently my Espada went to Belgium.

 

[Zman4eva]

I know that I've been more selective on what I'm buying now compared to the past. How many pie pans does someone really need? If I'm buying, I'm looking for one in really good condition even if that means overpaying a little.

 

[itsjustausername]

Seeing a swathe of layoffs in my industry certainly has put the skids on my courage to spend cold hard cash, tbh. I had a recent bonus payment earmarked for watch purchasing, but have not pulled the trigger

 

[PerJ]

The market have been slow for a long time. I always wondered who actually bought things the past year. I guess reality finally cought up.

Let’s see how this develops. I am not even going to try to sell my 2915 now. Just leave it in the bank until they are appreciated again. Could take a number of years though…

 

[mac_omega]

P PerJ

Could take a number of years though…

this!

 

[Twocats]

I know this thread is about vintage pieces but the modern models are also suffering. CH24 today has a Snoopy 3 brand new for 15,950 euros. It's still 4k over list but is way down on what they were 12 months ago.

We are all nervous watching interest rates rise and the cost of food increase like never before. I fear there is a lot of room for much more pain into 2024 before we see the good times again.

 

[Kapka]

It's definitely time for buying if you have some cash laying around. There has been correction quite some time ago on less desirable, lower condition watches. But now even nice pieces are selling very slow.

 

[BlackTalon]

My wife does most of the grocery shopping so thankfully I don't get worried about rising food prices. There are some vintage watches I keep an eye out for, but for the most part they are still quite a bit ore expensive than they were 4-5 years ago.