Rolex watches are one of the best-appreciating assets of the last decade, further suggesting that vintage timepieces are a great investment.
A new report from online pre-owned Rolex retailer Bob’s Watches shows that several of the luxury brand’s references have out-appreciated gold, real estate, and the Dow Jones in the last 10 years.
The company didn’t go into specifics, but did say that it compared its own data to inflation-adjusted gold values from macrotrends.net and median house sales price data from FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data).
The average price of a used Rolex exploded from under $5,000 in 2011 to $13,000 by the end of 2021. Even more interesting is the fact that Rolex’s price increase since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020 practically matches that of the previous five years. And the surging value trend shows no signs of slowing down.
Hypebeast has more information on the top performers:
With all models spread out, we see that every model has appreciated in some degree or another, reaching all-time highs. On the lower end of the spectrum, models like the Air-King and Cellini have grown a modest amount while the Daytona, Day-Date, and Sky-Dweller have exploded in price.
The Sky-Dweller, which was only just introduced in 2012, has more than doubled in a shorter time, but the Daytona on average is well above at the No. 1 spot having more than tripled in value in the last 10 years with an average pre-owned price of more than $30,000 USD.
According to Bob’s Watches transaction data, the most popular Rolex of the is the stainless steel Submariner reference 16610. Its two-tone steel and gold sibling, reference 16613, took the No. 2 spot, followed by the Rolex GMT Master II, reference 116710.
Bob’s Watches’ study on pre-owned Rolexes comes after reports indicating that new watches purchased directly from the Swiss watchmaker will cost more than ever in 2022, with prices on Rolex’s website showing a 3 to 10 percent increase compared to the year prior.
Rolexes are certainly a more stable investment than Bitcoin—just ask Odell Beckham Jr.
