This is an edition of the newsletter Box + Papers, Cam Wolf’s weekly deep dive into the world of watches. It’s currently being manned by Jeremy Freed, watch writer extraordinaire, while Cam is on parental leave. Sign up here.
While we never tire of talking about watches here at B+P, we like shopping for watches most of all. That’s why, when Chrono24’s 2025 Watch Market Review hit our inbox last week, we dropped everything to give it a read. As one of the world’s largest marketplaces for buying and selling secondhand watches, Chrono24’s annual data dump is a prime source of intel, particularly for anyone who considers browsing watch listings on the internet a legitimate hobby. (Which it absolutely is).
Among Chrono24’s observations for 2025, dressy aesthetics outperformed sportier models, with rectangular watches like the Cartier Tank up nearly 10%, and gold-tinted champagne dials also gaining significant ground over more pedestrian options. Rolex sales are starting to correct for the frenzy of recent years, with a -3.3% drop in volume (a change that the platform says signals a healthier, collector-driven market, as opposed to one driven by investment potential), while Vacheron Constantin and IWC both gained ground with double-digit sales growth. To get the story behind these numbers (and, most importantly, how it might affect our watch shopping habit in 2026), we called up Balazs Ferenczi, Chrono24’s head of brand engagement, for a chat.
Balazs Ferenczi: Watches are becoming smaller, simpler, more elegant and more dressy. They're moving away from the 42mm and 44mm larger watches, to a more vintage-esque size. There are also more dressy pieces and time-only pieces, that, if they have a complication, it's something traditional and elegant like a moon phase.
And Bad Bunny had a 37mm Audemars Piguet on. The Royal Oak has an integrated bracelet, so it looks bigger, but it's definitely smaller than the average AP.
You're absolutely right. I think it ticks a lot of boxes. The size is important, the price is important, and also that it's reusing something that’s already there. You buy a new strap, put it on, and you’re ready to go.
That's an interesting question. What did your president say? It was definitely great television. There was significant growth in the US market. Once the tariffs were announced the retail market started to raise prices, and when people started to see retail prices going up, they turned to the secondary market where there was a lot of supply from US dealers. Now, of course, the tariffs have been changed, and some of them have been reduced, but we still feel like domestic listings are a more cost-effective alternative to buying new.
I would say four-digit references in the Submariner, the GMT, or the Explorer 1016. The supply for these classics is super limited compared to modern watches, but they really haven't reached this extreme level that you see with the Daytonas, or some of the newer pieces like the Pepsi GMT. Of course, within that, there are $15,000 watches and $50,000 watches, depending on your dial, box and papers, and so on, but you can still find good deals there.
I think Tudor is doing really cool stuff and the secondary market prices are very affordable. You're not paying peanuts, obviously, but you're getting a lot for your money. You have a lot of Black Bays, you have a lot of Black Bay 58s and Pelagoses, but it really is great value, and you can choose from all different sizes and colors. They’ve been getting more and more popular for the past few years.
There's an account on Instagram, @mostlymovado, and that's my friend Lawrence from London. He's great. If you ever want to talk to someone about Movado, he's your guy. It's a world I don't want to step into, because I know I will start spending money, but you're absolutely right. There are some really, really cool pieces there. And it's a bit off the beaten path, right? The Angeluses and the Excelsior Parks and the Movados aren’t as popular, but they have a very dedicated smaller audience who know everything about them.
I think we saw the first one almost immediately, but sales took a while, because they wanted three or four times the retail price, so of course it’s not going to sell. But we saw quite a lot selling at almost 100% above retail, which is pretty crazy. It's up there with the white dial Daytona, which I think is also about 85% above retail.
It’s interesting. If you look at the primary market prices for luxury watches, the prices went up because of the rising cost of materials. But the effect on secondary market gold pieces isn’t really noticeable, because these prices are driven by supply and demand. So you can buy a gold perpetual calendar for $200,000 retail, but the secondary market price—which in the end, is the actual market price—is $130,000 because of demand.
It wasn’t just us, but there was this influx of watch collectors who came in to try to get Rolexes. I saw a video on Instagram of a guy whose collection was like, every steel sports Rolex, with the bezel protector on, in a briefcase. That's not a collection; that's a duffel bag full of money you’ve taken to a dealer for 20 watches. There were a lot of those guys, these so-called ‘tourist investors,’ who came because there was money to be made, or so they thought. They bought their watches, and then they maybe made a few thousand bucks, maybe more, or maybe they didn’t. We saw those guys moving away last year, and the people that remained are the people who are actually interested. I'm sure there still are some flippers, and there always will be, but I think the majority now care about the watches. They're not buying them as an asset to resell.
It's always a good time.