Comment by onetimeusename | Hacker News Reader

Comment by onetimeusename | Hacker News Reader

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This article didn't mention it but luxury watch demand went up a lot, especially for Rolex, in 2020-2021. There was abnormal demand. Prices rose a lot on the grey/second hand market. Rolex designates the MSRP to dealers and grey market prices were actually substantially higher than the MSRP dealers are required to sell at. A lot of these watches could be dealers selling them under the table. That's presumably how new watches end up on the grey market. You can search around for it online where some articles mention it and a lot of blog posts and watch forums discuss prices back then.

What's interesting is why that happened. It was probably a result of having more free cash available.

The crazy aftermarket prices caused a lot of people to consider a Rolex watch as an investment rather than the status symbol it was supposed to be.

People who had no intention to wear a Rolex IRL flocked to dealerships for the sole purpose of reselling at a profit. Which further inflated the apparent demand, which again inflated aftermarket prices.

It was a bubble, pure and simple. There was a lot of liquidity sloshing around in Covid times that people didn't know what to do with. At least a watch lasts longer than a tulip, so this bubble won't burst as dramatically.

Inflation was crazy and collectibles looked like one of the possible exits.

IMHO, I think bitcoin ramping up in value starting holiday season 2020, Available cash and COVID did a lot to bubble the market as well.

I don’t think these were dealers selling them under the table either to pump prices. Last I’d heard, Rolex had a retail waiting list since before COVID started, may have changed recently.

Edit: Rolex also supposedly has a marketing budget percentage higher than most brands as well, so there may well be truth to them pumping prices in that manner.

Everything related to luxury and travel went up. It was usually explained as rebound from covid and free money. It might be a viral social media trend too

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