Q&A Luxury Watches

There is no official definition for what is considered a luxury watch. In general, manually manufactured watches of extraordinarily high quality and with a premium price are classified as luxury watches. For our portfolio we chose exclusively mechanical luxury watches. Unlike quartz watches, mechanical watches are not powered by a battery. Instead they are powered by a manual winding or self-winding (automatic) movement. At least parts of the movement are handmade and signify a much higher expenditure in production than industrially manufactured quartz watches.

Luxury watches are manufactured with a significantly higher and usually a manual effort. Watch productions in Europe and Switzerland lead necessarily to much higher costs than for a watch produced in Asia. Furthermore, precious metals (gold, silver, platinum) and jewels (rubies, diamonds, etc.) guarantee a more valuable quality and significantly increase the price of a luxury watch. Last but not least, manufacturers limit production volumes to create a scarcity on the market, which is an important factor in achieving the premium price. Therefore, very popular and second-hand models, which are no longer produced today, reach market prices that are significantly above the original purchase price. 
Get further information on mechanical movements

The Internet has become more transparent and safe for the online purchase of luxury watches. Now, you are able to buy your watch with a significantly higher discount on certified retailer websites than you would get in stationary jewelry stores. In short, you are more likely to get your luxury watch cheaper online. Even second-hand watches with original papers and box can be safely purchased online. For example, eBay is the platform with the highest trading volume of second-hand luxury watches.

For finding the ideal insurance for your luxury watch you can use our guide. The guide offers a comprehensive and transparent comparison of all insurances. The comparison is of cause free of charge and works without registration.
Go to our guide

In the past, you could buy new luxury watches almost exclusively in jeweler stores. In stationary stores manufacturers of luxury watches have more control of maintaining a high degree of exclusivity. However, the Internet has become inevitably important for the trade of luxury goods, including watches.
Due to a high transparency, reviews, certified online dealers and attractive discounts, the purchase of a luxury watch online is becoming increasingly popular and volumes grow above the average rate of stationary trade. One option to buy your luxury watch online is eBay, which is in fact one of the largest trade platforms for used luxury watches.

Luxury watches might gain value, also if they have been used and therefore, possess an own character. You are able to compare all analyses on watches suitable for an investment on our website. Even if not all watches are substantially increasing in value in the short term, most of them hold their value.
Used or second-hand luxury watches offer the advantage that there is usually a lower margin in the purchase price of the watch. With an investment in a second-hand watch, the purchase price lies much closer to the market value and a gain in value might be achieved significantly faster. With good care and maintenance luxury watches do have a long life time and might increase in value exponentially over time. Therefore, it makes sense to consider buying second-hand watches confidently.

For a private person there is the possibility of selling your watch to a jeweler. Most jeweler stores offer the acquisition of second-hand luxury watches. In this case you should note that each retailer is aiming to achieve a profitable margin with the resale. Therefore, a retailer will most likely not buy a luxury watch at market value from a private person.
If you are not willing to sacrifice this margin with the resale of your watch, another option might be offering it in forums specialized on luxury watches. Last but not least, the possibility to offer your watch in portals, such as Chrono24 or eBay, is becoming increasingly popular and costs only a relatively small sales commission. eBay is, for example, the platform with the highest trading volume of second-hand luxury watches.
Get information on used watches

Patek Philippe, Rolex, A. Lange & Söhne, IWC, Audemars Piguet, Omega, Tag Heuer, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Glashütte, Nomos Glashütte, Breitling and Hublot count among the most popular luxury watch brands. It is important to buy a watch from an attractive brand, if you are looking for retaining the value of your luxury watch. For comparison purposes, we also added more popular luxury brands, which are up and coming. When it comes to auctions for rare watches from decades ago, Patek Philippe and Rolex play an essential role. We show selected watches from the aforementioned brands with their gain in value.
There are more brands offering luxury watches, such as Longines, Tissot, Cartier, etc. Those brands do also offer watches with an increase in value over time. However, we are focusing on a selection of the most promising brands from a historical point of view.
See our Selection of popular brands

We identified a set of top luxury watches by their value and trend development. Depending on how exactly you evaluate a watch’s value (by price, resale value, auction value) the ranking of the top 10 luxury watches might change slightly, but holds for a set of highly popular watches throughout the last decades.
Among our watch models, especially the highly popular Rolex Cosmograph Daytona and the Rolex Submariner are very noticeable in value and trend development. We deliberately focus on luxury watches in the range of being priced less than 20,000 € (~ 21,000 $) and choose non-limited versions. Limited watches for collectors in higher price segments might achieve higher gains in value, but we aim to show that you are able to invest profitably in standard luxury watches.
Go to our top watch list

On our website you are able to identify luxury watches that have gained in popularity and interest over the past years. Among the top most popular watches count, for example, Omega Speedmaster Professional Moonwatch (the first watch on the moon), Rolex Submariner, Rolex Cosmograph Daytona and as newcomer the Hublot Classic Fusion.
You find the trend development of these and of more watches on our list below or on each watch's page.
Go to our list of trending watches

Most of our watches are suitable for beginners. However, it might make sense to be price sensitive for your first watch and spend an amount below 5,000 €. A mechanical watch requires comparably more attention and care than a quartz watch. For example, mechanical movements are more fragile, prone to magnetic fields, need revisions every couple of years, etc. However, a low amount invested results in a higher fixed cost proportion (e.g. maintenance costs) relative to the invested amount. These fixed costs might then consume a large portion of your gain in value. After all, classic watches from Tag Heuer and models from Omega Speedmaster provide a good opportunity for beginners.
Go to our selection of luxury watches for beginners

Every watch that your wear will get scratches and needs to resist al least water splashes. Therefore, if you would like to wear your luxury watch every day, you might think about the following criteria.
An everyday watch should come with a shock-resistant mechanical movement, which is already the case for most common movements. Furthermore, the glass of the case should be made of sapphire glass, since sapphire crystal is the most scratch resistant glass you can get. Moreover, a high movement accuracy makes sense, if you don’t want to correct the time every few days. Up to now, Swiss certified Chronometers offer the highest accuracy of mechanical watches.
Go to our selection of watches for the everyday life

Since interest rates started to flow at a historic low years ago, financing your own luxury watch became more and more affordable and lucrative. Today, you are able to get an individual financing for lest interest payment than you could gain in value with an attractive luxury watch. Well-known banks normally offer loans for your chosen period of time and at a low interest rate per year, depending on your personal situation.