Omega Used Watch Prices Fall Despite Olympic Push

(Bloomberg) — Prices for used watches made by Swiss brand Omega suffered declines in the past month despite the high-profile exposure it received as the official timekeeping sponsor of the Paris Olympics. 

Data gathered for the Bloomberg Subdial Watch Index shows that market prices for a basket of models made by Omega, part of the Swatch Group AG company’s stable of brands, declined by nearly 1% in the past 30 days. 

Indexes tracking prices for pre-owned models from brands including Rolex, Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet, Cartier and Tudor rose during the same period. Prices for used Breitling watches were largely unchanged, the data shows. 

Officials at Swatch Group declined to comment.

The drop in Omega prices came despite the publicity the 176-year-old watch brand, known for its Speedmaster, Seamaster and Constellation models, garnered as the official timekeeper of the Paris Olympic Games.

Omega’s logo was displayed prominently at event venues and on television during the international athletic competition. The brand was especially visible during the photo finish of the men’s 100-meter sprint final won by Noah Lyles of the US who captured the gold while wearing an Omega Speedmaster Apollo 8 Dark Side of the Moon carbon watch during the race. 

Other Omega ambassadors pushing the brand in Paris included Swedish pole vaulting phenomenon Armand Duplantis who won gold and set a world record while sporting an Omega Aqua Terra watch. Former James Bond actor Daniel Craig was also seen wearing a new, as yet unreleased, Omega Seamaster model with no date display while in the French capital, sending watch spotting types into a minor online frenzy. 

Overall, used watch prices rose slightly last month, gaining less than 1% according to the Bloomberg Subdial Watch Index, which tracks prices for the 50 most traded watch models by transaction value. The small gains follow several months of largely stagnant prices after more than a year of steep declines.

The index has fallen about 1.3% in six months and about 5.5% in a year, data provided by Subdial, a UK-based watch trading platform shows. 

Prices for the most in-demand used watch models soared during the post pandemic period as low interest rates, cryptocurrency gains and post-lockdown revenge spending fueled a luxury watch boom. The watch bubble popped beginning in April 2022 as higher lending costs, rampant inflation and a return to discretionary spending on travel and dining out by some consumers curbed demand for used time pieces.

This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation

–With assistance from Eamon Akil Farhat.

(Updates with Swatch Group no comment in paragraph four.)

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