article to read

[triton]

click here to read about tudor latest limited edition to 75 pieces

it is a pity that the tie up is not with rolex which would have been more appropriate IMHO

[Oceanklassik]

What is it with ROLEX that is more appropriate?

[triton]

birth place?

protecting the crown?

What is it with ROLEX that is more appropriate?

[Oceanklassik]

ahhhhh.....maybe ROLEX isn't too keen

[triton]

will you be keen on such a collaboration between rolex and supreme?

click here to read the article

[Oceanklassik]

Not for me.

[Oceanklassik]

Straits Times Life!, Friday, February 23, 2018



Pre-owned timepieces a growing business

With growing competition from online retailers, watchmakers are exploring selling used timepieces to avoid losing out to third-party dealers

image.jpg

About four years ago, Mr Maximilian Busser, founder of the boutique watch brand MB&F, bought his wife a 1970s Rolex Air-King for US$2,500 on the website Chrono24.

When it arrived, he was dismayed (though perhaps not shocked) to learn that he had been conned.

“The crown was not original, the dial was not original, the case was not original and the glass was not even glass, but a piece of Plexi glued to it,“ Mr Busser recalled.

“Buying a pre-owned or vintage timepiece is extremely risky business. Most brands have turned their backs on the market and left it in the hands of a lot of individuals who are not to be trusted. It’s time to reclaim it.”

Come summer, the brand will do just that, when its website begins selling pre-owned MB&F timepieces offered mostly by customers. Mr Busser emphasised that the models will be limited editions no longer available at retail “because I don’t want my retailers to think I’m competing with them”.

His announcement is likely to prompt some soul-searching among watch executives.

Unlike car manufacturers, which maintain networks of “certified pre-owned” dealers, watchmakers have long neglected the second-hand market, fearing both its strategic and logistical challenges.

Spurred by growing competition from a new, more trusted breed of online retailers, however, the Swiss houses have reached an inflection point in their relationship with used timepieces: regulate their distribution and sale or lose out to third-party dealers.

Mr Aurel Bacs, the auctioneer who leads Phillips’ watch department through his consulting firm, Bacs & Russo, cited the example of someone buying a 20-year-old watch by Vacheron Constantin or Patek Philippe “from the Internet”.

“The brands don’t stand behind it because it hasn’t gone through their workshops; they can’t be happy about it,” Mr Bacs said. “Every watch that doesn’t satisfy the owner doesn’t reflect well on their brand.”

More important, industry experts say that every time a consumer sells or trades a fine watch – a phenomenon that happens with increasing regularity as a result of the information and price transparency now available online – the wearer’s next watch purchase is more likely to benefit the dealer that facilitated the transaction rather than the brand that manufactured the timepiece.

“If you can create a certified secondary market, then it’s going to change a lot of the dynamic in the grey market,” said Mr Edouard Meylan, chief executive of the boutique Swiss brand H. Moser & Cie, which plans to start selling certified pre-owned models on its website this year.

Mr Jean-Claude Biver, president of the LVMH watch division and chief executive of Tag Heuer, said that the topic of pre-owned sales had preoccupied him over the past year. But he added that the brand’s first priority must be mastering e-commerce because the pre-owned business “will be run mostly through online”.

He said: “I’m 100 per cent sure we will do it. But i cannot tell you when.”

Mr Wilhelm Schmid, chief executive of A. Lange & Sohne, has been working on the second-hand sale issue for 2.5 years.

“I know in depth the challenges,” added the former BMW executive. “Cash flow, mark-ups, residual value, platforms to re-sell it. And on top of that, you have to run your normal business. We are prepared to jump on it if necessary. But at the moment, I’d clearly label this as important, but not urgent.”

The lack of urgency owes something to the fact that the second-hand market appears to be working reasonably well without the brands’ explicit involvement. Thanks to the proliferation of trustworthy websites specialising in pre-owned merchandise – including “never worn” models that come directly from brands’ overstock – people already have outlets to buy and sell used timepieces.

Last November, for example, saw the debut of WatchBox, a global e-commerce platform for buying, selling and trading pre-owned luxury watches that is backed by CMIA Capital Partners, a Singapore-based private equity firm.

Equipped with sophisticated pricing algorithms, and teams of in-house watchmakers, these e-tailers say it is only a matter of time before brands recognise the sites as allies in the pre-owned watch business.

Mr Tirath Kamdar founded the pre-owned watch and jewellery site TrueFacet in 2014. With the help of Mr Andrew Block, a former Tourneau executive who was named president of TrueFacet last June, he is working hard to convince Swiss brands that the secondary market will not cannibalise new watch sales.

Instead, he said, it will grow their brands’ perceived value, especially among recycling-obsessed millenials. Mr Kamdar said: “The younger generation who has money – they’re not looking to shop the same way their grandparents did. They’re looking to buy pre-owned, not new”.

Last May, British watchmaker Bremont teamed with the pre-owned watch e-tailer Crown & Caliber for what they called a first-of-its-kind pilot programme. For a month, consumers could use the website to exchange any of their timepieces, regardless of brand, for cash or for a store credit at the Bremont boutique in New York.

“It came about because a lot of people are trading our limited editions,” said Mr Giles English, co-founder of Bremont.

“Ideally, they’d like to go into our boutique and buy a second-hand watch. So we talked to Crown & Caliber about formalising something.”

Although the trial was a success, Mr English said, it was just a test as the obstacles to a permanent second-hand business are considerable. “Everyone is walking on eggshells because they don’t want to upset their retail chain,” he said.

An even thornier issue, especially for brands guilty of overproducing inventory, is resolving their watches’ poor performance in secondary channels. As Mr Bacs said: “The absolute bitter truth is that some watches are selling above retail and some are selling at a fraction of retail – maybe 20 per cent of the retail price – after five years. No manufacturer wants to tell that to its owner.”

He said of the secondary market: “If a brand gets it right in today’s market, meaning they don’t lose money, they have revolutionised the landscape.”

- NYTIMES


Victoria Gomelsky

[triton]

another version of luxury watch brand entering resale market published by ST

click here to read it

[Oceanklassik]

Just reported hours ago:

http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/cons...es-second-hand

Wonder if the other big watch brands will follow suit?

another version of luxury watch brand entering resale market published by ST

click here to read it

Posted on 19 Jan liao

[triton]

why rolex is still better than every other watch brand

do you agree that rolex is better?

click here to read the article

[triton]

vintage rolex sold to benefit children action

click here to read about the only white gold manual winding daytona ever produced.

[triton]

rolex top 8 models in 2018

click here to see if you agree

[Oceanklassik]

Is there an error in the clip? I saw the sequence like this:

08. DJ41
07. YMII
06. Explorer
05. Lady-DJ28
04. SD Red
03. SD Red
02. Sky-Dweller
01. YMII

[triton]

if you can't decide between rolex submariner and rolex explorer II, click here to read about it.
hopefully it gives you a clearer picture to decide

[triton]

augustman's recommendations for daily beater can be found here.

do you agree with them? maybe 1 model is for ladies?