Ultra-high-end Patek Philippe timepieces made from precious metals are driving a sustained recovery in the used watch market.
Patek Philippe watches were the biggest gainers in the latest Bloomberg Subdial Watch Index, which tracks the 50 most-traded watches by transaction value. They included a 26-place jump for the white gold Patek Philippe Nautilus Perpetual Calendar, while the Patek Philippe Rose Gold Travel Time Chronograph returned to the benchmark.
Though the Swiss luxury watchmaker has only seven models in the list — the remainder are all Rolex — the latest sales picture “represents a material disruption” to the latter’s dominance, said Alexander Nussbacher, head of data at UK-based watch trading platform Subdial. “Rolex still leads in volume, but Patek is driving growth.”
Photo: Bloomberg
The index was reshuffled this month for this year with a clear tilt toward pricier models, after prices in the secondary market for luxury timepieces jumped to their highest level in more than two years last month.
“High-priced watches are driving returns in the index overall,” Nussbacher said.
Along with the Patek Philippe model, the Rolex Lady DateJust Bimetal also made it back into the index.
Meanwhile, a separate index tracking pre-owned Patek Philippe prices has gained 18 percent since the start of last year, compared with a 10 percent rise in the Rolex index, according to Subdial.
Subdial also said the steep rise in raw material prices including gold and silver was affecting the market. Gold models were among those jumping most in the latest rankings.
HORMUZ ISSUE: The US president said he expected crude prices to drop at the end of the war, which he called a ‘minor excursion’ that could continue ‘for a little while’ The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Kuwait started reducing oil production, as the near-closure of the crucial Strait of Hormuz ripples through energy markets and affects global supply. Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) is “managing offshore production levels to address storage requirements,” the company said in a statement, without giving details. Kuwait Petroleum Corp said it was lowering production at its oil fields and refineries after “Iranian threats against safe passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz.” The war in the Middle East has all but closed Hormuz, the narrow waterway linking the Persian Gulf to the open seas,
Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技) yesterday said the DRAM supply crunch could extend through 2028, as the artificial intelligence (AI) boom has led the world’s major memory makers to dramatically reduce production of standard DRAM and allocate a significant portion of their capacity for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips. The most severe supply constraints would stretch to the first half of next year due to “very limited” increases in new DRAM capacity worldwide, Nanya Technology president Lee Pei-ing (李培瑛) told a news briefing. The company plans to increase monthly 12-inch wafer capacity to 20,000 in the first half of 2028 after a
Taiwan has enough crude oil reserves for more than 100 days and sufficient natural gas reserves for more than 11 days, both above the regulatory safety requirement, Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said yesterday, adding that the government would prioritize domestic price stability as conflicts in the Middle East continue. Overall, energy supply for this month is secure, and the government is continuing efforts to ensure sufficient supply for next month, Kung told reporters after meeting with representatives from business groups at the ministry in Taipei. The ministry has been holding daily cross-ministry meetings at the Executive Yuan to ensure
RATIONING: The proposal would give the Trump administration ample leverage to negotiate investments in the US as it decides how many chips to give each country US officials are debating a new regulatory framework for exporting artificial intelligence (AI) chips and are considering requiring foreign nations to invest in US AI data centers or security guarantees as a condition for granting exports of 200,000 chips or more, according to a document seen by Reuters. The rules are not yet final and could change. They would be the first attempt to regulate the flow of AI chips to US allies and partners since US President Donald Trump’s administration said it rescinded its predecessor’s so-called AI diffusion rules. Those rules sought to keep a significant amount of AI
RSS